Article for Quill by Christine DG & Sam W, co clerks of the Arrangements Committee

How can we use modern forms of communication to link up and get to know each other?

We can put our Events onto the Quill listings by emailing quill@quakersinlondon.org. This will be visible on the Quakers in London website and included in the monthly email.

For example you will find the link to the regular London-wide online worship on Friday evenings (7.30 – 8.30 pm). It is  followed by informal conversation. There are details for joining the monthly Quaker Ramble. 

Some London-wide WhatsApp groups have started under the umbrella of a Quakers in London WhatsApp community.  There are a mixture of private groups for admin and social groups for chatting. There is an announcement channel where admins share upcoming events.

One friend has set up a local group for over 80s using their own zoom account.  They meet once a month online for a discussion –  not particularly on Quaker topics. They are limiting the group to twelve participants.

Anyone can arrange free 40 minute sessions on Zoom.

The Arrangements Committee has a Zoom account.  The problem with it is that Zoom security codes go to one person who must be there to open the meeting.  In our case this depends on a small number of role holders or staff members.  We can set up meetings fairly easily for ourselves but Zoom does not want security codes shared. This could become a problem if other hosts across London wanted to set up meetings on the account.  Extra Zoom accounts would be costly.

However, there is a useful alternative which Friends can access through our Area Meeting. A Google Meet account is free for charities and user accounts can be created within it via arrangements committe  The interface looks similar, as long as the host tells first timers where to find the ‘gallery’ viewing option (three vertical dots on the lower right, choose tiling). For Friends who would rather not have an account, they can ask admin@quakersinlondon.org to set up a one off or recurring meeting for their events.

We strongly recommend that QiL AM uses Google Meet for committee work.  Zoom can continue to be used by people holding individual accounts but Google Meet accounts would be ideal for friends and attenders setting up Quaker interest groups.