Lehigh Valley Friends’ Journey to Hybrid Meeting for Worship
In the spring of 2020, when Lehigh Valley Meeting shifted from in-person to virtual Meeting for Worship, we happily welcomed distant Friends from Mexico, near the New York state line and even Ireland. It quickly became clear that virtual worship was not only keeping our meeting community together, it was expanding our reach. When we also thought about people experiencing illness, aging or driving issues and bad weather conditions, we knew it was time to explore hybrid worship.
Our first efforts were very basic: we tried using an iPad, iPhone, and laptop to determine if this simple solution would suffice. We found that while we liked the wide-angle panorama effect on the iPhone camera, the sound was a problem. We next explored using an Owl [a video conference camera, microphone and speaker combination]; however, after a demonstration we decided its sound quality was also a problem, and we wanted something less obtrusive.
Our next efforts set us on the right track. Using a borrowed (many thanks to Lehigh University) Logitech system, camera and microphone, we set up in a corner of the room and used Apple TV to cast from a computer to a projector, which displayed the Zoom room image onto the wall. This worked quite well, but it still left us with the projector and cords more obtrusive than we liked. We also found that people in the meeting room tended to speak towards the peoples’ images on the wall, which faced away from the microphone and camera, making it harder for them to be heard on Zoom.
We persevered. We upgraded the projector to a short throw version, allowing us to place the projector much closer to the wall that eliminated a cord. We shifted locations so that the Logitech camera was more aligned with the projected image. Now we felt ready for a trial hybrid meeting for worship.
On July 4th, with 31 Friends in our meeting room and 17 Friends on Zoom, our first hybrid meeting went off without a hitch. Our success was short-lived; the next week we could not get the Apple TV to cast to the computer, and could not figure out why it had stopped working. Even though we were trying to document the procedures step by step, there were so many steps and variables in the settings, and sometimes they seemed to work just fine, and then the next time they didn’t. We did, however, figure out a simple solution: we bought an inexpensive, 25-foot HDMI cable so now the computer feed could go directly into the projector. Success!
The Logitech system has many advantages. In its static position, it has a wide-angle view that allows two-thirds of our benches to be visible. It also has a remote control mobility that allows it to “sweep” to most of the rest of the room. A zoom feature also allows the camera to focus in on the speaker, a bonus that is much appreciated by Friends. This does require a Friend to be actively involved. We have the camera on a high cart with wheels. This has allowed us to experiment with moving it closer to the center of the room, which has improved the performance of the microphone. However, it does make the cart and the camera more obtrusive. At this point, the community favors the better reception the “Zoomers” have. We will explore a less visible cart.
But finding the right technology is only part of our hybrid system; a person must be present to set up the equipment and host the Zoom meeting. We designate a member from our Worship and Ministry committee to act as Zoom host, to monitor the chat and ensure that Friends are muted unless giving ministry. We also find it useful for the Zoom host to have access to a separate device. Then there can be communication between the person monitoring the tech in the Meeting room and the person at home who is monitoring that aspect in case they notice an issue with the broadcast from the meeting room. A message in the chat could be delivered without it showing up on the wall projection.
We still have other avenues to explore. We would like to integrate our existing Williams hearing assistance system into Zoom, but that will require some new wiring and additional equipment.We still need to finalize where and how to mount the camera, and we are planning to purchase a secure cabinet for the meeting room to store the equipment. But these are small issues that will get resolved as time goes on. In the meantime, we are enjoying being in fellowship with our meeting community, both virtually and in our beloved meetinghouse.