Everyone else seems to be connecting via video conferencing nowadays.
My wife and I do it frequently with friends and family, but have never done it with a larger group. I assume we each appear about the size of a postage stamp on our monitors?
For example, we could pick the 1st of each month at 1 PM GMT (or a day of the week) and anyone who wanted could to plug in to our own HU support group. We could have an agenda focusing on certain subjects to share tips, research and information.
I've had this idea for some time and haven't raised it because I know many PWP, myself included, are not comfortable in social gatherings, but It's good for each of us to get out of our comfort zone periodically and it would be easier via video conferencing with sympatico souls.
Might be fun to try a couple meetings?
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Any suggestions? For example, for October 1, I'd be interesting to hear people's comments on the latest book, "Ending Parkinson's Disease, a Prescription for Action." Not a lot of new, scientific information, but interesting data, describes the emerging neuro-degeneration pandemic, environmental factors, prescriptions, scope of the problem, personal stories, etc.
My wife and I have used Zoom, but have since learned it screws up some computers, hers among them (so we can't put that on our puters anymore (because we've had to pay twice to get them fixed,)) so we have switched to Google Hangout (supports 25 callers) which we have found works fine or Google Meets (supports 250 callers.)
We had a virtual bar during lockdown on Facebook messenger. I'll investigate this Google malarkey. You'll need to be unambiguous with your time. Right now when it's 1pm GMT, in Greenwich the time is 2pm!
Assuming people are willing to participate from 8 AM till 10 PM in their own time zone, which time zone would allow for the most participation?
What's the name of that time zone that runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and catches a little bit of the east side of Brazil? Probably about 4 PM or 5 PM in that time zone?
That would include all of Western Europe and the US.
Since you're not likely to cover everyone's time zones individually... why not use the most neutral time zone, GMT, and everyone would then do their own calculations from GMT
Everyone will have to do their own calculation of matter which times only pick. I want to pick whichever time zone includes Pacific time not be for 8 AM and then covers all of Western Europe by hopefully 9 PM.
in other words, we want to choose a time zone right in the middle but between those 2 time points
look at the map from the link I posted and see which time zone does that.
Richard, you've confused me. "... When it's 1 PM GMT, in Greenwich the time is 2 PM." 2 PM where? In Greenwich? Sounds like you are saying when it's 1 PM in Greenwich it's really 2 PM in Greenwich?
I love this forum and I value all your input. I start my day reading the blog. I have learned a lot and the forum has helped in that I don’t feel so isolated in the disease anymore. I would love to join but just to let you know, I will probably mostly just listen, if that’s alright.
I’ve gotten a few private messages pointing out that Zoom groups above 10 or 12 people become unwieldy, limiting participation. The only thing that can be done about that is to break it into 2 groups, perhaps one in the US and one in Europe which would also allow each group to pick a time more convenient. (Any time zone we choose to try to cover 2 continents for one group is not going to be convenient for everyone.)
However, there is no way to know how many people are interested in this until 1) everyone knows about it and everyone who checks in on the forum after this thread was posted will have no way of knowing about it unless it is re-posted, and, 2) actually hold at least one and possibly more meetings and see how many people plug-in.
Therefore, just to get the ball rolling, I will initiate a HU PWP support group via Zoom video-conference Sunday, September 20, at 5 PM, UTC -2h. (Between now and the 19th, we can change this time if you all so choose.)
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Warning - this 1st meeting will not likely go as smoothly as we would all envision or hope. I will commit to launching/initiating a Zoom group meeting every Sunday thru October at a time to be chosen until some of the logistics gets sorted out or it is dropped for lack of participation.
For a support group to be effective, like any group activity, it requires structure and rules. To start with, we adopt the same code of behavior as does HU, i.e., no rude or disrespectful comments, no politics, no conspiracy theories, etc.
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This will evolve. Over the course of the 1st few meetings it will get reshaped as needed so that it functions as a satisfying support group.
This 1st meeting can just provide people an opportunity to introduce themselves, say little bit about their journey with PD, what’s important to them and what they would like to get out of the support group/how they would like to see it structured.
Many of you have a lot more familiarity with this than I do, so please feel welcome to step up and register your suggestions.
I’m going to re-post this as a new thread so that more people know about it.
PS. Just to clarify, if more than 2 dozen people indicate an interest in participating, we can start out on September 20 as a US group and a European group -- if someone in Europe would volunteer to initiate the meeting.
totally agree. I was just trying to offer flexibility. Were it to go forward, I would've liked to see it be an international group, but as you will read in other comments, many feel it undermines the forum so I have canceled it.
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