Group Leaders Bulletin August 2025
Late Arrival
Apologies for the late arrival of the GL bulletin this month. Hope you are all enjoying he summer though note that us retired people don’t get holidays.
Problems with Zoom
Some group leaders have reported that Zoom has occasionally started making a transcript or taking meeting notes without being requested to do so. Unfortunately, Zoom is a complex platform and frequently introduces changes without notifying account holders.
We have taken steps to disable these automatic features and believe they are now turned off. However, any recordings, transcripts, or similar materials which are nonetheless generated during your meeting, they will be stored either in the Zoom account or in the email address linked to it, and we will ensure that any such content is promptly deleted.
Please let me know if you have any such problems with Zoom.
IGO Zoom accounts
We have three IGO Zoom accounts, which are available for any groups which want one. As they fill up, it has not always been possible to provide a slot at the time requested. We have discovered, by accident, that two of the accounts allow two meetings to be run at the same time, effectively giving us two more accounts which should help with finding suitable slots.
I also plan to keep one Zoom account solely for groups which meet weekly, as it has become increasingly difficult to find slots for such groups. This will mean that some groups will have to be transferred to a different account and therefore have a different Zoom link. I hope this will not cause too much disruption, and I also hope that I don’t make any errors. Please let me know if you find I have done so!
Identifying people at Zoom meetings
Some people at Zoom meetings are readily identifiable as IGO members. iPad or Tom’s phone are not helpful. We will put a reminder in the next News Extra to members that they must provide their full names, or their first name and membership numbers, so that they can be verified as IGO members. You can ask members at meetings to do so. This is how to do so:
Click Participants on the toolbar
Hover over your name
Click More (⋯) > Rename
Enter your new name and click OK
IGO Fair
In October 2023, we hosted an IGO Fair which was open to all, showcasing IGO groups to IGO members, u3a members and non members. We are planning to run another fair early next year, and will be looking for volunteers to present “taster” sessions. We will send more details later in the year.
Reminder: updating Beacon and website group pages
Group leaders can update the information on the Beacon details page themselves. If you want to change your web page entry, you should submit the Group Description form.
Calendars
Beacon calendar
The Beacon meetings calendar for August is attached. Members can view this from the Beacon Members Portal. Please note that entries here do not appear automatically – they have to be generated by the group leader using the “Schedule” tab in Beacon.
IGO Zoom calendar for August meetings
I’ve used AI (Copilot) to compile this using the individual calendars from each IGO Zoom account to produce a single list with all the meetings on a given day group together in chronological order. I have to say it took a long time – either me or Copilot was not all that intelligent! Maybe quicker next time.
If your meeting is not listed here, please let me know and I will check it out.
Generic Zoom calendar
The Generic Zoom calendar shows which slots are booked to each of our Zoom accounts.
Days are listed as First Monday, Second Tuesday etc. There are three different coloured slots for each day, showing which groups are booked into each account on that day, as:
This calendar should not concern you unless:
- you want to change the time or day of your group meetings, and need to check when there are free slots, or
- you do not currently use an IGO Zoom account and want to see when you could have a slot.
Please also note that I compile the calendar “by hand” from the Zoom accounts so it may not always be accurate. If you notice any errors, please let me know. The calendar can also change from day to day as new groups start up and groups change their slots
To all our group leaders for your sterling work!
From Catherine, on behalf of the IGO team
You can contact anyone on the team using this email.