by Richmond Shreve, Clerk – Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Hybrid Meetings, NFM
[updated April 14, 2021]
Our committee was asked to make recommendations for making it technically feasible to have Friends attend our in-person Meeting for Worship using the Zoom Meetings technology and the Internet. We recognize that such technology has both pros and cons. What follows in this post are two documents. The first is a series of Queries created by the Quarterly Meeting to help Friends in discerning what is a good fit for our meeting.
The second is a description of three technical solutions, expressed in terms of the experience that one might have if each of these alternatives were to be realized. All three concepts are technically feasible and affordable. Each can be set up temporarily as a trial or demonstration so that Friends may judge for themselves the merits and aesthetics.
Discernment of this sort is usually an iterative process that generates new options. Soon our meeting community will be asked to begin the process of deciding what’s appropriate for us.