<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">As an early adopter of new building technologies (automated light zones, whole house A/V system, geothermal heat) I strongly urge you to, for the moment, spend as little as possible on setting up hybrid meetings - even if fairly imperfect. Wait for 12-18 months until the industry figures out the right way to do hybrid meetings. Not only will better products be available, but they will cost a lot less. Let other early adopters debug the products before they get Lexington’s $$s.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Of course if a company wants to give Lexington their hybrid meeting technology for free in return for user feedback and ability to observe/track some meetings, take their offerings. I managed to get many of the new housing technologies either donated or offered at very large discount in return for testing and advertising. If Lexington has a grant-writer, it may be worth sending a proposal to several of the vendors who are trying to improve their hybrid meeting products.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Just my two cents worth,</div><div class="">Olga</div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jul 9, 2021, at 7:01 AM, Harry Forsdick <<a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" class="">harry@forsdick.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">George,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">This is an excellent article with many fine points. I particularly liked that the first recommendation was to provide excellent audio. As a long proponent of Internet Conferencing, I have always said that 90% of the meeting's content is in the audio rather than the video. I think the scales have tipped a bit with the wide adoption of Zoom-like facilities because of the increased use of screen sharing of the speaker's presentation graphics. Now I would say the audio content is how 70% of the meeting's content is conveyed.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">There are several other non-obvious recommendations that are about the needs of people in a meeting rather than getting enamored by new technology. These authors get to the second-order effects of how to use technology to solve meeting participants' (both local and remote) needs.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">Finally, a comment not necessarily about this article: I think developments are moving very fast in solutions for hybrid meetings. It will be a mistake to put too much trust in any one of the emerging solutions. At the same time, we need something that addresses some of the problems right now. Rather than trying to make final choices at this point (i.e., for the next 6 months to a year) I still advocate for adapting a partial solution built out of pieces that we know work now, albeit less capable than we'd like. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">I don't believe we understand all of, or even the most important issues of, this new style of meeting -- just as we didn't understand the number of times we would have to say "Please mute your mics when you are not speaking" for fully remote meetings.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">Regards,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#0b5394">-- Harry</div><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><font face="verdana, sans-serif" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div dir="ltr" class=""><font face="verdana, sans-serif" class=""><br class=""></font><table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" style="font-size:19.2px;background-color:rgb(238,238,238);margin-left:0px;margin-right:auto" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" style="font-size:10pt" class=""><font face="verdana, sans-serif" class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/resume/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">Harry Forsdick</a><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtonphotoscan.com/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">Lexington Photo Scanning</a><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtontmma.org/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">Town Meeting Member Precinct 7</a><br class=""><a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">harry@forsdick.com</a></font></td><td width="5" class=""><font face="verdana, sans-serif" class=""> </font></td><td valign="top" style="font-size:10pt" class=""><font face="verdana, sans-serif" class=""><a href="https://goo.gl/xZXT2F" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">46 Burlington St., Lexington, MA 02420</a><br class=""><a href="callto:17817996002" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">(781) 799-6002 (mobile)</a><br class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">www.forsdick.com</a><br class=""><a href="http://forsdick.weebly.com/home/my-websites" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank" class="">click</a> to see my other websites</font></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br class=""></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 7:43 PM George Gamota <<a href="mailto:ggamota@stma-llc.com" class="">ggamota@stma-llc.com</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" class=""><div class="gmail-m_-7966372329803158941WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">Worth reading from Harvard Business School<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class=""><a href="https://hbr.org/2021/06/what-it-takes-to-run-a-great-hybrid-meeting" target="_blank" class="">https://hbr.org/2021/06/what-it-takes-to-run-a-great-hybrid-meeting</a> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">George<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><div style="border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none;border-top:1pt solid rgb(225,225,225);padding:3pt 0in 0in" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><b class="">From:</b> Harry Forsdick <<a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" target="_blank" class="">harry@forsdick.com</a>> <br class=""><b class="">Sent:</b> Thursday, July 8, 2021 6:10 PM<br class=""><b class="">To:</b> George Gamota <<a href="mailto:ggamota@stma-llc.com" target="_blank" class="">ggamota@stma-llc.com</a>>; jjrudy1 <<a href="mailto:jjrudy1@comcast.net" target="_blank" class="">jjrudy1@comcast.net</a>><br class=""><b class="">Subject:</b> Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Special Meeting Computer and Technology Group<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">George and John,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">I just sent a message to Joe Pato asking if we might observe or participate in any tests that are going to happen with the loaner equipment the town has obtained. I'll let you know what he says as soon as I hear back.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">Regards,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class=""><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">-- Harry<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><table border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" style="background:rgb(238,238,238)" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" style="padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/resume/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Harry Forsdick</span></a><span style="" class=""><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtonphotoscan.com/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Lexington Photo Scanning</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtontmma.org/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Town Meeting Member Precinct 7</span></a><br class=""><a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">harry@forsdick.com</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></td><td width="5" style="width:3.75pt;padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><span style="font-size:14.5pt" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></td><td valign="top" style="padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://goo.gl/xZXT2F" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">46 Burlington St., Lexington, MA 02420</span></a><br class=""><a href="callto:17817996002" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">(781) 799-6002 (mobile)</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">www.forsdick.com</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://forsdick.weebly.com/home/my-websites" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">click</span></a> to see my other websites</span><span style="font-size:10pt" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal">On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 5:51 PM George Gamota <<a href="mailto:ggamota@stma-llc.com" target="_blank" class="">ggamota@stma-llc.com</a>> wrote:<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><blockquote style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">We might want to do some testing with one, two or more trial software during a potpourri session.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">Most vendors let you download free and give you a 30-day trial.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">George</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class=""> </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><div style="border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none;border-top:1pt solid rgb(225,225,225);padding:3pt 0in 0in" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><b class="">From:</b> Harry Forsdick <<a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" target="_blank" class="">harry@forsdick.com</a>> <br class=""><b class="">Sent:</b> Thursday, July 8, 2021 5:13 PM<br class=""><b class="">To:</b> George Gamota <<a href="mailto:ggamota@stma-llc.com" target="_blank" class="">ggamota@stma-llc.com</a>><br class=""><b class="">Cc:</b> jjrudy1 <<a href="mailto:jjrudy1@comcast.net" target="_blank" class="">jjrudy1@comcast.net</a>>; Michael Alexander <<a href="mailto:mna.ma@yahoo.com" target="_blank" class="">mna.ma@yahoo.com</a>>; Lex Computer Group <<a href="mailto:lctg@lists.toku.us" target="_blank" class="">lctg@lists.toku.us</a>><br class=""><b class="">Subject:</b> Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Special Meeting Computer and Technology Group<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">Looks pretty cool. </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class=""> </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">I'm trying not to be jealous for not having discovered this...</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class=""> </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">Questions I have:</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><ul type="disc" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">I wonder how well this works for a meeting of 30 people where the most important thing is one speaker and their technical presentation for most of the time. </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">Is it really as smooth in choosing the right person to feature in the collection of attendees?</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">I wonder whether this sort of thing will be ubiquitous around Town or ever make it to the Community Center.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li></ul><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">Until the Town does some more research, I think we should continue thinking about solutions built out of currently accessible parts in the conference room:</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><ul type="disc" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">Two or more relatively inexpensive laptops, with a USB camera with audio on a tripod. One camera for the speaker and one (or more) for the audience.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">The existing output devices of video projector and sound system.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(11,83,148)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class="">Basic Zoom software.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></li></ul><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(11,83,148)" class="">-- Harry</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><table border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" style="background:rgb(238,238,238)" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" style="padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif" class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/resume/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Harry Forsdick</span></a><span style="" class=""><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtonphotoscan.com/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Lexington Photo Scanning</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://lexingtontmma.org/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">Town Meeting Member Precinct 7</span></a><br class=""><a href="mailto:harry@forsdick.com" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">harry@forsdick.com</span></a></span></span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></td><td width="5" style="width:3.75pt;padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""> </span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></td><td valign="top" style="padding:2.5pt" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://goo.gl/xZXT2F" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">46 Burlington St., Lexington, MA 02420</span></a><br class=""><a href="callto:17817996002" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">(781) 799-6002 (mobile)</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://www.forsdick.com/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">www.forsdick.com</span></a><br class=""><a href="http://forsdick.weebly.com/home/my-websites" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" class="">click</span></a> to see my other websites</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal">On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 12:44 PM George Gamota <<a href="mailto:ggamota@stma-llc.com" target="_blank" class="">ggamota@stma-llc.com</a>> wrote:<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div><blockquote style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in 6pt;margin:5pt 0in 5pt 4.8pt" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">This week's Lexington Minuteman has a good article about what the Town is doing to evaluate Hybrid meetings. Worth reading.</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">“We Are Not Alone”</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" class="">George</span><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><div class=""><blockquote style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt" class=""><div id="gmail-m_-7966372329803158941gmail-m_-3027467933898140392gmail-m_4161782219785620596gmail-m_2493066548300140483yqt16410" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"> <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p></div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div>
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