An alternative to having a full meeting on-line: it might be that we all meet
as per usual and Bill, for example, could participate from home and save a 3 or
4 hour round-trip drive. I think Skype is free for 1 or 2 people but you may
have to get the primo Skype—which costs--for more than 2, which I had at one
time for a family “get together.”
Thanks, Clif!
— Alan
On Oct 25, 2016, at 2:55 PM, Clif Graves <cgraves@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
About "I want to suggest (again) that, between us, we certainly have enough
tech expertise to conduct these meetings remotely. Anybody want to volunteer?
(Cliff?)"
I have used remote conferencing a lot for work. Unfortunately those
(GoToMeeting and Webex) are great but pricey. To be useful for all who might
want to call in a conference should offer both computer based connection AND
a call in number to allow those who are not near a computer to call in.
Two potential candidates for this are:
https://www.uberconference.com ;<https://www.uberconference.com/> - new I have
never used them - free for conferences up to 10 participants.
https://www.freeconferencecall.com ;<https://www.freeconferencecall.com/> I
have used them quite a while ago - free conferences for up to 1000
participants.
Both offer on-line and phone 'call in'.
How it would work. Given there is a live meeting someone (on computer) would
have to connect to the 'call' from the live meeting. Others could join by
phone or on their computer. The tech issue is at the live meeting. Need good
INTERNET connectivity and often the remote folks can't hear what is going on
at the live meeting. (Background noise etc)There are conference call phones
that help that but that is not something we have. I have done this with a
standard phone on 'speaker' and it is not all that fun (understandable) for
those at the far end.
Unless there is a will to have a couple of totally on-line meetings, I would
guess that it is not worth the work.
Clif
-----
Clif Graves Consulting
http://www.clifgraves.com ;<http://www.clifgraves.com/>
Serving clients throughout the United States with:
* Website design
* Custom FileMaker software development
* Computer assistance and support (Maine Clients)
On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 9:58 AM, william jefferson <wcjeffer@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:wcjeffer@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Sorry folks, I won't make it today. As for Portsmouth, we decided at the last
minute to attend only for Thursday and Friday. Started off with a terrific
slate of shorts, both docs & narrative - one in particular, "Namuli," should
be on your radar. From there it was pretty much downhill for the first day,
with more - and not so good shorts and a feature doc also disappointing. I
got shut out of two interesting sounding films, "The Golden Age" and "God
Knows Where I Am" (Good news: you can buy unlimited one day passes for each ;
day of the festival; Bad news: no priority admission) The Music Hall - easily
my favorite place to see a film, huge, comfy seats, good eats & booze if you
want it - is the only one of the venues large enough to pretty much guarantee
seating. On the other hand, it's very cool that ALL the options are within a
few blocks. Also of note: Unlike Camden, the New Hampster folks really have
their act together, very well organized. While better than Camden's the
program is tough to decipher, MIFF definitely takes the cake. It took me
almost the full two days to realize why I felt sort of uncomfortable in the
various between-film festivities. Theirs is noticeably a well-healed crowd
(even more so than Camden) Just didn't feel like I had much in common, felt
like more of these folks were there for the glitter, not the movies.
More bad shorts, then to bed.
Here's a cool thing: many, if not most, of the in-town merchants offered
discounts if you were sporting a pass.
Anyway, on Friday a really interesting - I thought - feature doc called
"Peter and the Farm." Some very tough, no holds barred footage of farm life
and a not very sympathetic , sixty-something farmer with a mangled hand and a
drinking problem.
Next, "The Architect," a 95 min. feature that tries and in some respects
succeeds to be a Christopher Guest-style parody, about a couple who hire an
architect who proceeds to design and build the house that he, not they
envision. Loses it's momentum near the end when blunders (needlessly) into
the realm of the serious.
"Zero Days" excellent, scary feature doc about the dangerous cyber wars being
conducted by U.S., Russia, Israel, et al, based on the book; compares current
state of affairs, rightly, to the aftermath of the first use of nukes.
"Trespass Against Us" Crime family story with Michael Fassbender and Brendan
Gleeson, both actors I admire. Didn't see anything new in it, put me to
sleep, but Julie liked it.
Finally, I have to add that we ate better over the course of the two days
than at any MIFF - with the exception of the satellite weekend that MIFF held
in Portsmouth several years ago.
I want to suggest (again) that, between us, we certainly have enough tech
expertise to conduct these meetings remotely. Anybody want to volunteer?
(Cliff?)
P.S. Glad the London trip was a success. Would like to hear more at some
point.
Bill
Sent from my iPad
