MAR 28, 20 (Part 2 of 2) .. ZOOM.US AND MY FIRST EVER ON-LINE MEETING

In Part 1 of 2 above, I shared how I got interested in, and decided to explore, an on-line recovery meeting or (if you will) a zoom meeting.

Now for the actual meeting itself.

I am not new to computers nor to the internet and there are some things I am unable to share with you who are either totally inexperienced or who are running other computer brands (I have a Lenovo lap top) and various operating systems (I am running Windows 10).

I am not using a smart phone. I believe that some people are and I can't imagine doing that.

You have to know how to get onto video, turn on your speakers, etc. 

So (it was actually very simple) I arrived at the meeting. I did not know about myself being either muted or able to speak into my lap top so other members could hear me. Dan led me through this simple process. In the lower left of my screen was a microphone with a vertical red line through it indicating it was muted (off). Clicking onto the icon I could then speak and be heard.

THE MEETING ITSELF

My Jury is out as to my feelings (was it good / enjoyable or not?) about my one meeting.

At a live / in-person meeting, you have the chemistry of the drive to and from the meeting and that of the meeting room itself along with the fact that you are surrounded by other attendees present. You are not literally alone. Many of us have 'our chairs' (we sit in the same location each meeting) and often 'our chairs' are comfortable for us. For some odd reason I didn't feel all that comfortable during my on-line meeting. Nor was there any pre-meeting / after-meeting socialization I am used to.

Here was a big thing for me personally.

At 'my' meetings I know many people, the attendees (to a large extent) are familiar to me. I have years of history with many of them. At my on-line meeting there were 27 members and I only knew 5 of them. So I was listening to 22 members who I'd never met nor even seen previously. Further some were not even local members but those who'd 'found' the meeting on-line even through they lived elsewhere.

In a live meeting I relax and look around. At the on-line meeting I was 'glued to' my computer screen the entire meeting. YES I KNOW I could have gotten up and walked around but I don't do this in a regular meeting. I sit and stay seated but at the same time I am not 'glued to' a computer screen. 

There were also some on again / off again transmission problems with sound and picture that were distracting to me.

I spoke with a local friend here who also had just visited an on-line meeting for the first time. My friend also had mixed feelings quite similar to mine.

Will I return? I may, at least once more. I may also try some of the very large, multi-state, on-line meetings, knowing that everyone will be a stranger.

"Does The Shadow Know?" Maybe I will publish a Part 3 in the future.

Post Script .. The date of this meeting was Thursday, March the 26th 2020