Zoom is great for hosting a video call with a large group of people. It is easy to use, quick and glitch free. You can either call for 40 minuets with your own account or get in touch with Lucie (leg13@aber.ac.uk) to host a call for longer as the SU pay for a preimum account for you to use
To use Zoom:
- Go to zoom.us/signin and set up an account
- On the top right of the page look for 'Host a Meeting' and select 'With Video On'
- A video call will start and you can invite participatnts to your meeting by sending the meeting ID or an link to the call
- If you have more than one person joining, you can select different view options (top-right), as well as being able to share your screen and chat
Discord is a popular platform among gamers. It is a great way to stay connected, interact and have a bit of fun! You can access Discord either on your browser or download it onto your device (Desktop/iOS/Android).
Getting Started
- Create an account
- Familiarise yourself with the layout, here are the most common sections:
- Direct Messages
- Friends List/Channels List
- Members list
- Search bar at the top
- Customise your account. You can change a range of settings such as your details, your privacy and safety details, connect other accounts (e.g. twitch, steam, and Spotify), etc.
Connecting with others
Join servers: Find servers you want to participate in. In order to join a server, you will need to have an invite to it. Friends can either invite you directly, or if you have a link to a Discord server click on that.
Add friends: You can add people to your friends list. Once you are friends with people you can call them privately, and they get added as a contact in your direct messages.
Chat: The message bar can be used to message individuals or channels. You can also voice chat with your friends.
Voice/video call: As Discord is primarily for gamers, you can voice chat and video call with people. Make sure your microphone and headphones are active, then start a call:
- To call a single person via direct message, you will need to be their friend. Click on the phone icon (or camera icon to video call), next to their name.
- To call multiple people in a group direct message, access the group DM and lick on the phone or video icon.
- To voice chat with users on a server, click on the voice channel you want to join, and you will connect to the server
Skype is a popular internet calling app and is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to stay in touch with others across the world.
How to guide
- Getting started is easy - firstly you will need to download Skype either through your browser or onto a mobile device (iOS/Android)
- Choose how you want to log in. You can either sign in with your existing Facebook or Microsoft account, or you can create an account just for Skype.
- Next, you'll need to check if your audio and video equipment is working, set up your personal profile, change your profile picture and name if required.
- You have the option to set your status to let your Skype friends know if you are available to chat. You can choose a status (online, away, do not disturb, invisible or offline) to show up next to your name.
- Once you're in Skype, you'll be able to "Find you friends and say hello". You can search for your Skype contacts in your address book selecting "search address book" or type them in manually by adding in their Skype name or email.
- Messaging: to send and receive instant messages, click on a contact in your list and type in the text field where your cursor is. Or use the "New Chat" button to create a new chat or group chat.
- Video Call: click on the "meet now" button, you can either invite individuals, groups or send a link to other.
Google Hangouts can be used to chat and call. Hangouts syncs automatically across devices, if you start a Hangout on your computer, you can continue your chat on another device, like your phone.
You can access Hangouts either on your browser, or download it onto your mobile device (iOS/Android).
You can either start a video call, phone call or message with individuals/groups by pressing the corresponding buttons.
WhatsApp is a great way of staying in touch with family, friends and groups. As long as you have a smartphone and internet anyone can get invovled easily and quickly. Just download the WhatsApp App (iOS/Android).
You can either start a video call, phone call or message with individuals/groups by pressing the corresponding buttons.
To create groups:
- Go to the 'Chats' tab
- Scelect 'New Group'
- Search for or select contacts to add to the group, once selected press 'Next'
- Give the chat a subject, add a photo and press 'Create'
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger helps you to stay connected. It can be used without having a Facebook account, just sign up for messenger directly. You can either access it through your chosen browser or downlaod the Messenger app (iOS/Android).
You can then either message/call individuals or create groups:
- Go to the app
- Either search for individuals/groups in the search bar, or start a new message with an individual/group
- Once in the chat you can then message, phone or video call all participants of this group
Messenger Rooms
Messenger Rooms make it easy to spend quality time with friends, members and other who share your interests.
It's easy to create a room right from Messenger or Facebook, and invite anyone to join your video call, even if they don't have a Facebook account. Rooms will hold up to 50 people with no time limit. Use it to host your celebrations, gather a book club or just hang out.
You can start and share rooms on Facebook through News Feed, Groups and Events, so it's easy for people to drop by. Soon they will add ways to create rooms from Instagram Direct, WhatsApp and Portal, too.
When you create a room, you choose who can see and join it. You can remove people and lock the room to prevent people entering.
Micrsoft Teams is a great way for you all to still communicate, plan and organise yourselves. See the full guide here for all the possibilities!
Chats
- These are persistent so if you’ve been away it’s easy to scroll through and catch back up.
- Use chats in the different channels to keep everything relevant.
- They include visual indicators such as @mentions, or a red bang to indicate high importance.
- Everyone in the committee can see them in team chats to speed decision-making (private chats are also available).
Committee Meetings
- There is a video call function for you all to stay connected and hold committee meetings.
Planner
- Key for planning, activities prioritisation and delegation.
- Each task can be set a time frame and delegated to a certain committee member.
- There is also a summary page to show the overall progress towards getting a project completed.
File Sharing
- Teams makes it easy for files to be shared and edited together by committee members.
- It is also possible to share these files with anyone who has an @aber.co.uk email (i.e. your members).
- The files are kept safe and secure.