An idea that works
#1
A few weeks ago someone came up with the thought that it would be great if we could get together for a video chat using Zoom. Well, we tried it and it was a blast. We had five members in the test run, everyone downloaded the Zoom app to their PC or smart phones and agreed to meet at a certain time. It worked fine, I hosted to meeting and sent invitations to everyone else. They clicked on a link in the email and there they were, waiting at the door to be let in. It was great putting faces to people we've been talking to for years, and we're thinking that we're ready to do this full scale with anyone that wants to do it.

The process is simple, one person hosts the meeting and sets the day and time. They can copy the invite and paste it into an email that goes out to all the invitees. The host then opens the meeting on time, the invitees click on a link in the email, and they appear at the door of the meeting waiting to be let in by the host. We had five windows with each participant one, and when one spoke, the frame around that person would light to let you know who said that. Really cool, but best of all, it put a face on people that you've been talking to for years. Most of the discussions were not train related, but everyone is free to talk about anything they want to discuss.

So, the plan is to use this sub-forum to arrange meetings, you can use Zoom, Skype or any of the popular meeting apps, just that everyone that participates will have to use the same app. When someone decides to host a meeting, they can open a new thread here and those that want to attend can answer. Everyone agrees on when to meet and the host then sends an email to each attendee with the meeting info and a link to it. That's all there is to it. It is recommended that no more than eight be in the meeting at the same time, too many there and it'll get confusing. Also, if you haven't installed the app, both Zoom and Skype will ask you to download it. It's best you do, since during the testing, I found a five-second delay on Zoom without the app, plus it's a lot easier to join a meeting if you have the app.

Good luck, let's put some of these meetings together. Any questions, feel free to ask here, I'll do my best from what we've learned so far.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#2
As one of the participants in the test I can say it was a lot of fun and I am hoping we can do this often. It can be done one on one also. 
Facebook messenger has a video chat ap but I don't care to have folks have to join FB in order to chat, and I have had password issues with microsoft/skype. 
I can see it would be very useful to for one on one help with model related problems. 

I have heard from OBJack (Australia) and he will try to make one of the meetings but there is a notable time difference. 
I am also looking forward to many of the members north of the border joining us, as well as some of the European folks.   Worship Worship
Charlie
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#3
Another participant chiming in. We had a good time and it's so nice to put voices and faces to all the things we've been reading about. A comment was made Saturday that started me thinking (be VERY afraid). Looking forward to the next one.

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
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