Zoom During Lockdown
This shelter-in-place directive, quarantine, safer-at-home order, or whatever you call it, has taken over our lives in more ways than we care to admit. Worse, despite our rampant optimism, it does not appear that it will be rescinded anytime soon. However, those of us who are successful are effective because we overcome and adapt. So, just because you can’t leave your home, a lockdown does not inevitably put your life on hold, against your will! In fact, humanity has been headed in the virtual direction for a long time now. Our hopefully temporary forced isolation has simply accelerated that process more swiftly than we had anticipated.
So, with all of the advances in technology and communication, there are a plethora of choices for interacting with the rest of the world without ever leaving the safety of your home. Moreover, the really good news is that all of these services adapt to our needs ever more rapidly the longer our forced isolation extends.
Overcome and Adapt
Zoom is one of these services. Zoom is a video conferencing software much like some of the others that you may have used i.e.; Skype, Oovoo, GoToMeeting, or Facetime. However, I find Zoom more effective for the services a professional office, like my law firm, performs. Zoom allows the user to mimic those face-to-face interactions that you are used to by placing you into a conference call with the participants and highlighting the speaker in each moment, “zooming” in on his or her face to bring him or her to everyone else’s attention!
Ease of Use
Zoom is, arguably, even simpler to use than other video calling services. There’s a single host (the person who invites you to the call) and then, in most cases, up to 10 participants are permitted. This limitation is not likely to cause the average professional any consternation unless he is teaching a webinar or a class lecture. But expanding the number of participants is always an option and the call quality remains smooth, regardless.
Of course, the quality of the call may be impacted as more of us log on at once, with all of the internet issues that the additional use caused by lockdown conveys with it. Zoom has recently warned of bandwidth issues:
Important Notice:
To preserve internet bandwidth and ensure that we are making the best use of global networks, you may experience intermittent availability of HD video during Zoom Meetings with 3 or more participants hosted on your desktop or mobile device. Standard video capabilities will remain in place. If you are joining using a Zoom Room or Conference Room Connector, HD video will remain enabled.
The host of the call sends you an invite link, which I figured out all by myself, on the Zoom app. Invitees then join using their own computers or phones without the need to ever download the actual application. Personally, I prefer using my computer (rather than my phone) so that I can remain attentive and opt whether to use video myself. And, if I do, I still have plenty of room to see every other participant’s video at the same time, as well.
That said, I have used the call option, and I have even used my phone for video calling, and it is just as easy and incredible that they provide those options, as well. (Just don’t use the video if you’re driving or otherwise moving the phone around a lot; that can be incredibly distracting for the other participants! ☺)
Much of the Same
Zoom allows us, both individually to continue to live our lives and also professionally to continue to provide services to the community-at-large. We here at Open Palm Law are using it to continue to provide the amazing face-to-face service that our clients are used to. If you or someone you know is considering getting a divorce, then please, refer them to us. *Almost* nothing has changed. You can find us at www.OpenPalmLaw.com.
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About this week’s author, Joryn Jenkins.
Joryn, attorney and Open Palm Founder, began her own firm here in Tampa after a 14-year career in law, two of which she served as a professor of law at Stetson University. She is a recipient of the prestigious A. Sherman Christensen Award, an honor bestowed in the United States Supreme Court upon those who have provided exceptional leadership in the American Inns of Court Movement. For more information on Joryn’s professional experience, take a look at her resume.