Please share your experience with broadcasting interactive Sacrament Meetings

[bretbassett]

For the next several months many wards will begin to broadcast Sacrament Meetings for the first time. Some will try to use Interactive tools such as Zoom or Google Meet. Those who are trying to create an experience without disruptions caused by interactivity will try to use non-interactive tools such as the Church Webcast System or YouTube Live. We would like to find out from you which tool you used (not how you used it or what troubleshooting you are seeking to make it better) and whether you would recommend it for others to try. The church isn't going to make a global recommendation for a variety of reasons. But we would love to hear what is working for you, and what is not working.

For example my ward is going to use a webcam connected to a laptop (inside the podium), portable mic connected to the Laptop (and connected to the podium stand), and streamed through YouTube Live. Tests looked excellent. Setup was simple. And the home experience was excellent. That was the test. The technologists in the ward will run it live this Sunday to see how it goes. Please respond with whatever detail you feel is needed to help us understand what tools you used and what kind of experience you had. Thanks.

[drepouille]

On July 2nd, I bought a Logitech C922 webcam and a gooseneck stand to use with my personal laptop to broadcast Sacrament meeting, starting July 12th. I requested a church G Suite account, and created a recurring Google Meet event that has the same URL and phone number every week. We also use Google Meet for ward council and other leadership meetings.

Since Google Meet requires me to admit about half of the people who connect to the meeting, and I must mute the mic during the Sacrament ordinance, I sit at a small table in front of the podium to control the broadcast.

I run the Logitech Capture app on my laptop, so I can control the digital zoom and pan operations. I set Google Meet to use the app as a video source. I like to use Google Meet because I can chat with everyone during the meeting to get feedback on the audio and video quality. Although I can mute audio from individuals, I have to ask them to turn off their cameras. I think it really works well.

While the audio from the webcam is OK, it captures more ambient noise than I would like. I have tried to connect a Comtek receiver to my laptop, but I can't get the volume setting right. This week I plan to tape a Lavalier mic to the podium mic boom, and attach the base station to my laptop to see if that audio quality is better than either the webcam mic or the Comtek. What I really need is an audio output jack with a volume control on the side of the podium. I don't want to run a 30-foot cable from the Sacrament table.

Since we are not allowed to sing during our meetings, the bishop asked me to play hymns with vocals over the sound system. I installed the church app on an old Android phone, and connected the phone to the crab box using the splitter that came with our WD Live media player. I enjoy hearing hymns with clear vocals, but other members say they would rather just listen to the organ or the piano.

[wrigjef]

We just moved from one ward to another within the same Stake. In our old ward the had a full sacrament meeting using a paid zoom account. We had Choir music for prelude and postlude. For congregational singing we just played music from the app and families sang at home (interesting to watch), we even created a 5 min countdown video which was played for sacrament (picture of Christ introducing sacrament with countdown clock in the corner). We unmuted for assigned members to give prayers and talks, even the occasional individual or family musical number. Members loved it and we averaged 150 attendance.

My brothers ward has regular youth firesides with Q&A. He is a best selling author with some serious contacts so they are able to get some fairly big names to speak.

Our new ward has a 20 min devotional once a month, it’s quite an adjustment. Using the “Visitors Welcome” idea, I really wish I had a list of wards that had zoom meetings and links to participate.

[markkunz07]

would like paper on how you set it up
thanks

[wrigjef]

I was Executive Secretary and was involved in all of the discussions but from what I could tell they just used the tools in the zoom account. You get more control when you get a paid account.

[dmon]

What is the process for requesting a G Suite account from the church?

[jdlessley]

What is the process for requesting a G Suite account from the church?

See the GSuite Non-Profit Account? thread .

[wrigjef]

The account was purchased directly from ward budget funds following approval from the Stake

[Stiv]

The account was purchased directly from ward budget funds following approval from the Stake

For a ward zoom acct?

[wrigjef]

Yes