NSPN virtual happy hour, 5PM Thursday, March 26th

[Dan Foster]

Please join me from the comfort of your own comfy chair or survival bunker for a half-hour of virtual socializing and storytelling at 5PM on Thursday, March 26th.

Click this link at 5PM on Thursday to join: [link removed as event has now passed]

Come prepared with your happy hour beverage of choice, be ready to share your favorite paddling memory from 2019, and, since this is an NSPN event and you'll be on video, proper attire, please!

You'll need a laptop computer, phone, or tablet with a front-facing video camera and a microphone, and you'll be prompted to run some free video conferencing software from Zoom when you join the meeting. If you haven't used Zoom or other video chat/conferencing software before, you might want to click the link below a few minutes ahead of time, to give yourself time to test your video and audio settings. For the best video quality, try to pick a spot in your house with plenty of light (harder to find at 5PM) and make sure the brightest light is in front of you, and not behind you! (sit facing a window or lamp, with a wall with no windows behind you). For anyone using Windows 10, you can click start and type Camera to use the Camera app to preview your camera setup and appearance.

This is a first attempt at a virtual NSPN gathering, and hopefully it will evolve and grow from here. If you can't join us this Thursday, reply with a set of time slots that would work for you in the future, and we'll try to accommodate various schedules going forward. 

 

[link removed as event has now passed]
 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Dan Foster

[Jim Snyder]

will you be providing  a waiver to sign? Drysuits required?

[Dan Foster]

You can print out your own waiver here: https://www.nspn.org/waiver/ We'll spend the first 20 minutes or so going over waivers and a virtual "beach briefing", spend a minute or two on socializing, and then spend the remaining time debating how CAM principles apply to webCAM events.

I've been very thankful to have my stack of old NSPN waivers close at hand in this brave, new, post-TP world. I've been saving my drysuit for trips to the grocery store.

PPE: For this virtual event, I'd forego the drysuit in favor of anti-virus or firewall software.

 

[I've been asked to make it clearer that everything above is an attempt at humor, and not an actual agenda. There will be no waivers, just drinks and friendly socializing.]

Edited March 25, 2020 by Dan Foster

[prudenceb]

I think we need to spend more time discussing...er debating...er arguing about the necessity of waivers.  

Looking forward to attempting to enter this brave new virtual world.  I never had heard the word Zoom - except as in "go fast" - until late last week.  Now it's every other zoomin' word!

[JaneC]

This will be fun. Waivers and all. My social calendar is filling up enough that I have to create a reminder entry in my phone

[BethS]

Great idea, I’ll be there (uh here..)

Beth

[Joyce Carpenter]

Sounds great. See ya tomorrow 

[Joseph Berkovitz]

Thanks for doing this and see you “there”!

[eneumeier]

Dan, thanks for setting this up. I'll be looking for advice on perfecting how to "bake" my cornbread over a campfire. Liz

P.S. I have 3 zoom meetings today. 

[Joseph Berkovitz]

This was super fun, Dan! I can't wait for the next one....

[prudenceb]

Dan, thank you!  The cocktail hour was super fun!  Let's do it again.  I'll try and figure out how to get more than 9 people on my screen!

Stay safe everyone and go wash those hands now!

 

[Dan Foster]

So, a quick trip report from NSPN's first dipping of a virtual toe into the snark-infested waters of the Interwebs:

We had 14, maybe 15 attendees for our inaugural happy hour. It was great to see and hear so many of us together, and I hope we can keep this up until we can all get back out on the water together again.

A couple of you appeared for a moment and then dropped out. Post here or send me a PM if you had trouble connecting and maybe we can figure things out before the next one.

This event was using a free Zoom account, which lets anyone host meetings for up to 40 minutes. Sure enough, right at the 40 minute mark, the party shut down mid-sentence. Going forward, I'll be hosting with a Zoom Pro account, which should allow us to go longer than 40 minutes, although we'll try to stick to a schedule so we can all get back to the important business of interacting with our families, friends, and Netflix accounts. What else can we do differently next time? We had a virtual trip report from Baja, and a stew of ideas for improving campfire cornbread. Maybe you'd like to share a few photos, or pick the group's collective brain next time?

I'll announce a date and time for Round 2 in a couple days. In the meantime, whether you were able to join us or not, please chime in with your suggestions, including which time slots work best for you, for our next virtual gathering.

 

[David M]

Thanks Dan!   A wonderful diversion from all the challenging stuff going on.

[BethS]

Thanks Dan, I hope i can be "here" for all of the next one.

Beth

[Dave M.]

Thanks Dan. A great way to connect with everyone.

[Sue H.]

Thanks Dan for offering this fun, virtual gathering.  I was not able to "attend", yet hope to join the next social hour.   Thanks again Dan, we really appreciate your creativity !

[glad]

Sorry I missed this.  Would love to join the next one.  Might have a zoom yoga class at 530 on Thursday.  But 5:00 or after dinner seems good (unless I'm paddling on my pond!). 

Karen