As we tentatively move out of the Covid era I know many clubs are wrestling with when and how to restart face-to-face club room meetings. I’ve delivered two lectures to hybrid meetings in the last week, the latest one being the President’s Evening at Southport PS, and both went really well.

At Southport there were 35 people in the room and a further 6 joined in via Zoom. The set up was very simple (see photo below); a free standing microphone about 3m away from me, a standard camera (Nikon Z6 with 24-70 lens) used in video mode connected to a laptop. The laptop then streamed the feed via Zoom to those at home. Southport used a 4G router (just like using a mobile phone) - but I know for sure Malvern didn’t last week. They linked a member’s phone to the laptop and used the 4G signal from that to stream.

Southport had implemented good Covid protocols too; masks worn when not sitting down, good ventilation, cleaning wipes given to everyone to clean chairs etc. All very well done and not at all obtrusive. If you want more details you can email Sue Critchlow at Southport and she’ll be happy to advise - critchlow517@btinternet.com

As more folk become confident enough to attend meetings maybe we’ll end up dropping the Zoom element all together. But then again, I know lots of clubs have picked up distant members in lockdown, so who knows, maybe it’s here to stay.

For my part I’m just glad to be back on the road again. There’s nothing like the buzz of a real audience.