Monthly VDG Meeting, July 30, 2020 Feedback
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Description

We would like to gather feedback about the Monthly VDG Meeting from attendees

Some questions are:

  • Did you like the format? Anything we can improve upon?
  • Did you have any problems with software used? (BigBlueButton and Greenroom)
  • What software and hardware you used to join meeting? (Browser, Camera, and Microphone)
  • Internet connection speed
  • What can be improved in software?
  • Anything that was confusing in software?
  • Anything else?

This feedback will be important for Akademy team to improve upon setup and provide better experience for upcoming Virtual Akademy.

abetts created this task.Jul 31 2020, 6:21 PM
ndavis added a subscriber: ndavis.Jul 31 2020, 6:25 PM

We haven't used webcams much in our VDG meetings, but as a general rule, let's agree not to use webcams unless we actually need to. I think using webcams greatly increases the CPU usage of BigBlueButton.

Agreed.

Overall I think it went quite well. I think on the part of the meeting hosts--both Andy and myself--we should try to talk less and let other people do the talking more. Sorry about that, everyone.

Did you have any problems with software used? (BigBlueButton and Greenroom)

I wanted to listen to the parts of the meeting I missed and the online player was slow (sometimes pausing to load, jumping around in the timeline took a while, can't increase the playback speed). I didn't see a way to download the audio file.

What software and hardware you used to join meeting?

Firefox

Anything we can improve upon?

Be aware that non-native english speakers might be slower to act in these discussions. It's difficult to get a word in when native speakers respond to each other in their usual speed. At least I felt that I was just a tick too slow on multiple occassions to chime in and then didn't want to be rude and interrupt (I can work around that now that I am aware). You might notice a direct correlation between the amount people talked, how fast they responded and their proficiency in english. I don't really think there is an easy solution to that. I guess I just want to raise awareness that a lot of contributors who would be fine discussing a topic in chat or on a forum will not be able to participate reasonably fast in such a meeting and without webcams you won't notice it by their body language. Maybe you were already aware of that in which case I am sorry for the lecturing. :^)

That's a great point @felixernst, and I apologize for my role in worsening that situation. I know I have a tendency to talk very quickly (it's a New Yorker thing :) ) will try to be more cognizant of that in the future. I'll try to slow down, add more breaks and pauses, and specifically solicit comments from people who have not spoken yet.

JFYI you never have to worry about being rude with me; I have a very thick skin. :) But you're right, and people whould never be put in the position where they have to worry about being rude to get a word in edgewise.

ngraham closed this task as Resolved.May 14 2021, 8:34 PM
ngraham moved this task from Backlog/Planned to Done on the VDG board.
ngraham claimed this task.

Looks like the feedback gathering is complete.