Please join us for a Virtual City Walk, via video conferencing. The Zoom video conference will start at 9:45 AM on Sunday, April 26, and we will begin the virtual walk at about 10:10 AM. If you are not already on my Virtual City Walk email list, please send an email to citywalks@tbn.ca letting me know who you are, and asking to be added the list. If you are on the list, I will email you the link to join the conference (probably by Saturday evening). The Zoom account allows up to 100 people to participate.
I plan on doing a simulated walk around Toronto. The exact route is still being finalized, but we will probably start near The Art Gallery of Ontario, walk past some interesting buildings, art works and other things, and perhaps visit one or two museums that have online access to their collections.
(Note that we will probably visit the High Park cherry blossoms next week, when they are more likely to be in full bloom, and John Tory will be providing live streaming of the blossoms, possibly involving drones.)
I will share my screen, and using Google Maps, Street View, and other websites, will provide a simulation of the real walks that TBN does during the fall and winter. We will start at a location, and move around to various other places. I will provide some commentary, and will have some screens of information to share along the way.
Please join early to enjoy a few minutes of chatting with your friends before we set out. I expect the walk will last about an hour. We can also have a chat at the end, if anyone is interested.
When you connect, you will be placed in the “waiting room”, and I will then admit you to the actual video conference. If you are late joining us, or get dropped and rejoin, I may not notice you in the “waiting room”, so feel free to message or call my cell at 416-917-8866, and I will let you into the video conference.
Zoom allows you to control your microphone and camera. You can mute your microphone so that no one can hear you, and you can start or stop your video feed, so that people can either see you or not. I will initially let everyone control their own microphone, so we can have discussions, but if there are too many people, or if it gets too chaotic, I will mute all microphones. There is a “raise hand” feature that will allow people to request permission to speak. Zoom also includes a chat feature which allows you to send text messages to everyone in the conference, or privately to one other individual. Zoom is very easy to use, but you might want to download the free app before the meeting, and play with it a bit to get used to using it.
If you have any questions, email me at citywalks@tbn.ca.
John Burdett - City Walks Coordinator
