How many friends do we have?

I was watching Chris Eubank on TV this morning. He is a very outgoing personality. He says he has a million friends or should we say contacts but actually no friends. I wonder what this is all about. I suppose if you address people with your outer layers leaving the deeper and more profound levels aside you will never be satisfied. There is the phrase all the world is a stage and all the people on it merely actors. We can say that a friend is someone who stands by you and is available at the time of need but that’s not the whole answer. We come back to what must be a spiritual thing which is that our true spiritual home and where we are all unified as one is in the infinite world of the spirit. Could it be that we forget this and deny our basic makeup? Masochism takes many forms.

A rant about Zoom protocol

From time to time I like to have a rant about things and today’s rant is about the protocol surrounding zoom calls especially when a group is involved. If you were giving a theatre performance you would not open the curtain while the actors were still learning their lines or getting dressed. First impressions count. How often do I link into a zoom meeting to find that the presenter and the guest have not talked prior to the meeting, sometimes there is a technical problem with lighting or sound, occasionally they have not agreed in advance about how to conduct the seminar and it can be very much like the blind leading the blind.

This is my suggestion: The coordinator and the main guest or guests get together at least 10 minutes before the official start of the zoom call. They then chat and get to know each other and establish rapport. The audience should be allowed in on time. They will hopefully get the impression that they are joining something with a dynamic, they are being let in to an already existing dialogue and this would ensure that the event runs smoothly.

Guests and indeed the host please learn beforehand how to share your screen and rehearse the showing of other slides. The number of times that people have not even been able to do this or even being aware that they have to  unmute themselves is unacceptable in any event resembling a professional environment.

Other suggestions include not letting others go on endlessly, giving life history, as I have noticed with many people from the United States and Canada. They seem to suffer more than we do from not being listened to. As an Englishman that is saying something. When the time comes for questions I think we should stick to the rule ‘one person one question’. Is there a queue of people waiting to talk?

There should be a maximum time per person including the response of maybe three minutes. It is very important that everyone feels included and so if people place the little request hand up then there should be taken notice of.

I also strongly object to people walking around the room, doing ironing, eating food, things that you would not do in a real meeting. I think sometimes viewers forget that they can be seen so if you are going to do anything which could be distracting please switch off your video.

Also, if you are going  to  record the conversation then please send it to everybody *timeously. Zoom takes about 10 minutes to produce  and send the recording. Participants should note that you also get a copy of the chat file which is very good if you want to check links and references which people kindly make during the course of the conversation.

• If something is done timeously it is done quickly or before the time when it needed to be done:

The number of demands on people is very great and you should send the recording quickly whilst it is on people’s minds so that they can update themselves with anything they missed during the event.

Most of what I’ve said about is common sense but it’s amazing how many people including a number of technophobes disregard the most basic elements of professional courtesies and protocol.

Real Live Zoom Conference

This evening we had a zoom conference run by the scientific and medical network. It was unremarkable save a couple of things that stood out. A member had been living in the Isle of Wight for three years. She said that there were no social or consciousness groups in the area. I did a  search and found there was indeed a consciousness group with links to the area. It was called the international community center for mindful living and there was a wonderful picture of people sitting around being happy and joyful together.

The woman continued to complain and someone suggested she put leaflets in local libraries. I persisted and said that this group would lead her to contact with many people on her wavelength. Sometimes I just ‘know’ things and this was an example of that. I also realized that she hadn’t listened to a blind thing that I had said. I told her that if she wanted to ascend a mountain in one jump she was going to be waiting a long time and that ordinary people whom she may not find very attractive could lead her in the right direction.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. She had such fixed ideas about the sort of people she wanted that I reckon she will miss something when it is right in front of her face. This is from the Home Page of the group that is having an event on the Isle of Wight. Visit it here.
We also suggested social media including Facebook and Instagram.  Will she do anything? Not until she listens.

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Has humanity been enslaved? Are we working to more than a fraction of our potential. A powerful message via Michael Sander 1:29:36 (with a cockerel as co-host)  talking with Lee Harris. Don’t be distracted by the child.