The days are getting shorter, the temperatures a lot cooler, and it’s time to start preparing to overwinter our hives. While the good weather may continue for a good while longer, once that first winter storm comes in the season will end – abruptly. Always best to be prepared.
And this is just one of the subjects to be discussed at this week’s meeting:
- Thursday Sept 14th 6:30 pm
- Central Saanich Senior Citizens Centre 1229 Clarke Rd, Brentwood Bay
Larry Lindahl will be leading the Intermediates’ Corner, and we are also fortunate to have Master Beekeeper Brian Fackler from the Portland Urban Beekeepers present on the similarities and difference in beekeeping in Oregon.
I am very sorry that we are unable to provide Zoom connection to this month’s meeting due to the absence of key members.
Zoom connection
We are going to need to make a decision on whether to continue offering a Zoom connection to our meetings. In favour of continuing, some members have a longer drive, or have children at home, so find it more convenient to attend via Zoom. Counterpoint: Providing Zoom connection fully occupies one person’s time during the meeting, preventing them from fully enjoying the proceedings. To improve the quality of our Zoom product we are likely going to need to buy some better equipment. And, so far only a few people are attending via Zoom, sometimes only one or two. SO – to help us in our deliberations, please let us know if providing a Zoom connection makes or breaks your ability to participate in our
meetings. Please let me know at president@capitalregionbeekeepers.ca.
There is growing evidence that electronic meetings are the best format for meetings unless participants live far apart and the cost of travel to a meeting is an issue.
It takes more concentration to follow a ZOOM meeting, and participants can suffer from ZOOM fatigue, partly because the social non-verbal clues we rely on do not show up sufficiently on screens.
One study entitled “9 Major Benefits of In Person Meetings” by Angel Rutledge, CEO, Meetify.
Another is entitled “Benefits of In-Person Meetings (With Tips and Alternatives)” by Indeed Editorial Team.
The last is “How to Decide Between In-Person and Virtual Meetings” by Fellow.app.
If you cannot locate these studies, I can scan and email them to you.
Hi Roberta
Thank you for your feedback! We, too, agree with maintaining the in-person meetings as the main event; we have no intention to shift to virtual meetings. We did so for a short while during Covid, then on resuming in-person meetings we heard from some members that having a virtual portion would be a continued benefit; this group included those living a fair distance away (Sooke, Western Communities, up on the Malahat), those with family commitments resulting in them missing a fair number of meetings, and those no longer comfortable driving at night.
But providing the synchronous (same time, live) Zoom connection has been a burden on those doing it; the ‘Zoom Master’ found herself being unable to fully participate as her attention was on capturing the video, monitoring the chat and replying, etc. So the conversation has changed from providing a synchronous connection to simply recording the meeting and posting it online afterwards. This is much less burdensome.
And I’ve heard from several members that this would be a significant benefit. As well as the groups mentioned above, other members also find that work schedules, other events prevent them from attending some meetings, but they want to be able to access the information that has been discussed.
So our current plan is to start providing asynchronous recordings for these groups, starting in the New Year. November is our social evening, and we have no meeting in December. So come January, we should be up and running with that!
Best regards,
Bill Cavers
President, CRBA