Jive Zoom Meeting Guidelines

(this page last updated on 2024-11-21 5:35 am)

For general information about Jive meetings, please go to our home page.

Zoom is a teleconferencing service who also provides apps and interfaces which facilitate both audio (phone only) and video conferences. You do not need a Zoom app or computer to participate on a Jive meeting call. To participate on a phone for an audio only experience, please skip to this link .

Getting started with Zoom can seem daunting but the best resources are provided by Zoom off of their getting started page. From that page, you can learn how to:

  1. Set up an account with Zoom (you can use their free account to attend any Zoom meeting)
  2. Download an app to your smart phone, computer and/or tablet or login to their web interface to meetings.
  3. Watch videos explaining the features available to participate in a meeting.

In addition, most meetings evolve “customs” or “traditions” or “guidelines” for meeting conduct. Think of these like customs we have in our AA meetings like “no cross talk” or “no personal attacks” when sharing at a meeting. These are suggestions of how we can best apply our traditions in the virtual context. So, some suggestions for participation in a Jive meeting:

  1. Because AA meeting information is generally available online, we are vulnerable to Zoom trolls or “bombers” forcing us to pay more attention to security – we’re still figuring this out…
  2. You will not be able to rename yourself after you log into the meeting (this is a way that some trolls act ugly in a meeting).
  3. It’s recommended that you remain on mute unless you’re sharing. That limits the distractions from the background noise in your location. The host or a co-host may mute you.
  4. Depending on meeting host settings, you may enter a meeting with your camera turned on or off. Please be aware (your camera icon will have a red line through it and the indicator light on your camera will be off) and only have your camera turned on when you intend for your video to be seen by all.
  5. If you have to leave the meeting temporarily or work on another item which could be distracting, please turn off your camera.
  6. Also, for meetings with lots of folks, it’s usually better to watch in a “gallery view” rather than have the screen popping from person to person when the software senses the meeting focus has moved from one person to another.
  7. One person at a time shares in turn. Usually, a person raises their hand (available in the app by clicking the hand icon or “raise hand” text or on the phone using *9) and waits until called on by the chair.
  8. Feedback can also be given using the icons (e.g. hand clap) on the participants page.
  9. Chat is only allowed to/from the host. Again, this is to prevent members being hassled by trolls.

Phone only access:

In this brave new world of virtual meetings, many of us can connect even with very low bandwidth or on old fashioned land-line phones. The main 2 things to remember when joining by phone are:

  1. *6 is the mute/un-mute toggle. When on a call (doesn’t work until you’re connected to the meeting), if you press *6, your phone will be muted and you will hear a voice prompt (others on the call don’t hear it) “…your phone is muted…”, when you press *6 again, you will hear “…your phone is un-muted…”. It is very important when you call in that your phone is muted unless you’re ready to talk as it seems that phone microphones are very sensitive in picking up background noises (traffic, TV’s in the next room, kitchen sounds, snoring, etc.).
  2. *9 is the “hand raise” toggle. When on a call, if you press *9, it will notify the people on the call that your hand is raised and speak the status into your ear. Pressing *9 again will lower your hand (again, you will be notified).

Please help us improve this document:

A lot of us in AA are learning a lot about doing AA meetings on line very rapidly. This document owes much to those who have shared their experiences plus trial and error. If you have some experience or additional suggestions, please email them to LewGrothe@gmail.com and we will add them to this document as we can.