Which virtual platform are you using?

[karunamom3]

The title says it all. 

Which one do you use for virtual pack/troop meetings? It seems almost all of the scout resources we have been using are on Zoom (merit badges, virtual campfires, roundtables, etc). And this is with councils all over the country. I think we have one class with Ring Meetings. Our schools are also using Zoom. We just held our first pack meeting on Zoom and a committee member brought up the safety concerns with Zoom about 30 min before go on a forum with all of the parents. Frustrating. Is anyone moving away from Zoom?

[MikeS72]

We used Zoom for a troop meeting.  Also used Zoom for a council meeting and again for Roundtable.

There are a number of articles discussing early issues with Zoom, and what they have done to mitigate the problems.  One thing is putting everyone in a waiting room, and the host has to approve them.  If you see a name you do not know, do not let them in.  Generating random meeting ID and using a password is also a good idea.  I would also recommend disabling screen sharing from scouts, as they may tend to get carried away popping 'memes' onscreen during the meeting.  If you have a large group, consider asking people to turn off video, as it can chew up bandwith pretty quickly.

This little chart has been posted on several scouting FB pages:

 

[Navybone]

what are the safety concerns you have?  If you set it up with a waiting room, you cannot be zoom bombed.  Is it because the servers are/were in China?  I think that has been changed recently.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Navybone
update based on previous post written as same time as mine

[karunamom3]

3 hours ago, Navybone said:

what are the safety concerns you have?  If you set it up with a waiting room, you cannot be zoom bombed.  Is it because the servers are/were in China?  I think that has been changed recently.

Yes. I believe the servers are still there. So the Chinese Gov't can seize the servers if they wish. Although I imagine other platforms use foreign countries too. Apparently NY State Attorney Genera,l Letitia James, started an inquiry. Now Zoom has been banned from NYC schools by the NYC Dept of Ed, which is who our committee member works for.

From the image above the only 2 things I dont do are create a waiting room and lock the meeting. I didnt know you could lock it. I will look into it. I am honestly on no rush to make changes. It took me weeks to figure Zoom out and become comfortable with it.  

[Navybone]

For government purposes, I get why there ins concern with zoom and China, but for scouts?   Do we really understand how the internet works and cloud storage?  

[walk in the woods]

Zoom uses data centers around the globe, just like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc.  Regardless, they are addressing the concerns https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/13/coming-april-18-control-your-zoom-data-routing/. 

[Cburkhardt]

Zoom.  Works great for troop meetings even with 40+ on line.  The breakout rooms work very well for patrol corners.

[Double Eagle]

Zoom and WEBEX in my campsite. Duo is also a medium.