Conferencing

Looking for ways to run a meeting online?

We've taken the time to find the best free and paid options for your club.

COVID-19 has prevented Rotary clubs from meeting in person and the venues we meet are all closed to the public. It's important for Rotary clubs to continue to meet so we can plan our fundraising events & continue our community efforts. Luckily there are some great tools that allow us to have effective meetings online.

Zoom

Zoom has become one of the most popular video conferencing options. Anyone can create a free account with Zoom which can serve the needs of most clubs.

Zoom works on your smart phones and requires you to install their app. The first time you use Zoom, you will be prompted to install the app.

On desktop or laptop, Zoom functions best if you install the Zoom app. If you're using a corporate laptop, you will most likely require an admin to install the app. You can join a meeting on a desktop's or laptop's browser, you just need to wait until it prompts you on the join meeting screen.

Here are some details to help you choose between a free and a paid account.

FREE ZOOM ACCOUNT

Total Participants: 100 people
Max Duration: 40 minutes
Cost: Free

As long as you plan to meet in 40 minutes or less, a free Zoom account should meet your club's needs. To have meetings longer than 40 minutes, you will need a paid account.

You also cannot record meetings with the free account.

Note that even if you get a paid host account, your members can still create free accounts and use the free features.

Zoom How-To

PAID ZOOM ACCOUNT

Total Participants: 100 to 300
Max Duration: 24 hours
Cost: $20CAD/mo/host

You pay for each host. Hosts are the only ones that can start a Zoom meeting. It's a good idea to use an email address that more than person in your club has access to (like your general contact email address). That way you can share that login with multiple people in your club and only pay for one host account.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotary clubs are being given a 20% discount on paid accounts (most likely for a limited time).

Zoom How-To

DISTRICT ZOOM ACCOUNT

The district team is currently evaluating ZOOM. Through our account with TechSoup Canada, we qualify for a 50% discount for ZOOM's business account. We are investigating if we can pass on this discount to clubs in our district. News will be posted here and will be announced through regular district channels.

Google Hangouts

If you have a Gmail account, you can use Google Hangouts for meetings. Hangouts is free and has limitations as a result. If you are using G-Suite, you also have access to Hangouts Meet which opens up access more advanced features.

The district has a G-Suite for Nonprofits account and we are currently evaluating how we can leverage our G-Suite account to allow clubs to use Hangouts Meet. As we learn more, we will be sharing the details clubs here on this site and through regular district channels.

Here are some details on the Hangouts options.

HANGOUTS

Total Chat Participants: 100
Total Video Participants: 10
Max Duration: 8 hours

Hangouts have been around a very long time, but people just don't seem to use it. If you have a Gmail account, Hangouts is an option to text chat with people and to do video conferencing for up to 10 people.

On smart phones, you'll be required to install an app. On desktops and laptops, Hangouts simply work in the web browser.

Visit Hangouts

Hangouts Help Centre

DISTRICT HANGOUTS MEET

Total Participants: 150
Max Duration: 24 hours

If your club has access to a G-Suite account (some clubs in the district have G-Suite for Nonprofits) you can use Meets for your meetings. It's included with your G-Suite account.

Depending on your account, you might be able to record your meetings.

Visit Meets

Meets Help Centre

Slack

Slack is another collaboration tool that's very popular. It can be used for video conferencing as well. The free account in Slack allows you to create a "Workspace" for your club and then create channels your members can join. You can only do 1-on-1 video calls though. With a paid account, you can do group calls up to 15 people.

The district has setup a free Slack workspace. You'll be hearing more about how we're planning you using Slack in the coming weeks.

Other Options

There are many other options available to your club. We recommend Zoom or Hangouts (and Meets if available). Here is a list of other options you can explore for your club:

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