Remote council meetings: Ashfield District Council

Zoom AGM Meeting

We started by testing Webex as a means to run the meeting. The initial testing was positive and we decided to test it on Members of the Audit Committee by arranging a mock meeting. As the App could not be rolled out remotely because of a technical issue and Members could not bring their iPads in person, we telephoned each of the seven Members and talked them through downloading and using the App.

The training of Members, some of whom were not so IT literate, proved challenging over the phone. The test meeting was carried out on 7 April. Four of the seven Elected Members managed to access the meeting with the others struggling. Further testing identified some issues with the electronic polls and streaming the virtual meeting to the public.

Testing was then carried out with Zoom. Security issues reported in the press with regards to Zoom had initially made us reluctant to use the system. However some lengthy investigating and testing of the App were carried out, taking into consideration the issues that some councils had experienced with regards to securing the meeting. We purchased the Pro version of the software to enable meetings longer than 40 minutes and the extended user management issues.

Once all of the security issues had been identified, we began training the Members and holding some test sessions. The main security issues related to the default settings of Zoom, which appeared to allow open access for all, the ability to enter a meeting and speak, self unmuting and no restrictions on sharing screens. A pre meeting checklist was established to ensure nothing was left unsecure, this is detailed in the summary.

Training Members

An instruction guide was developed and sent out to all Members detailing a step by step guide to both download the App and to register through the host account. It was important to register for the following 3 reasons:

• Standardise the naming format
• Have the ability to invite Members remotely through a real time iPad call into the meeting, particularly important for less IT literate individuals who may have trouble accessing the meeting through an ID code and password entry
• Ensure the security of the meeting by being able to admit legitimate participants and have the ability to identify threat actors trying to access the meeting for malicious intent.

Once instructions had been circulated, we called each individual Member that had not yet registered to talk them through registration and use. Once they were registered we then also carried out a test meeting with each individual to ensure they could see what a meeting looked like, how to activate their camera, submitting a poll answer and raising their hands.

For those Members still struggling with the basic download and registration, we used video calls to talk them though so we could see what they were looking at on their screen and provide instruction and advice. This is important as it should never be assumed that all Members even know what the App store is or where it is located. Furthermore, some were not familiar with basic terminology such as desktop, App, enter or touch screen and this had to be taken into account during training.

Another tip was that some Members were still in physical contact with younger relatives, which we utilised to assist them with download, registration and use.

All Members were then invited into a test meeting (group scenario) throughout the week in the lead up to council.

Operational steps

Meeting scheduling

• Schedule Meting from the App, complimenting this with a regular email from Dem Services explaining they will have received an invite from Zoom.
• Set topic
• Check date, time and duration
• Audio to “Telephone and Computer Audio”
• Set Dial from US to United Kingdom
• Check Advanced Settings:
  • Ensure “Waiting Room” is selected
  • Ensure “Join before host” is not enabled
  • Enabled “Mute participants on entry”
  • Enable “Automatically record meeting” and select locally
  • Prepare polls once meeting scheduled (if used)

We also carried out numerous test meetings with officers streaming to YouTube to see what it would look like to the public and test which meeting view was best suited to a formal meeting. We opted for Speaker View not Gallery View for the streamed presentation mode.

To ensure the public and Members were aware that they were in the right place for the meeting, a holding screen was set up stating “ Meeting will begin shortly” another screen was prepared in case we had to adjourn stating “Meeting will resume shortly”.

We started setting up for the meeting two hours before start time to allow for any unplanned issues. Thirty minutes before the meeting start we remotely admitted all Members in the meeting waiting room and remote called the remaining Members to invite them into the waiting room. This preparation time before the meeting went extremely quickly.

We also decided prior to the meeting to carry out votes by physically raising their hand to the screen. Members were sent a “Meeting Protocol” prior to the meeting to set out how the meeting would be run and some tips for being on screen. It was also agreed that Members would be muted throughout the meeting by the host unless they were brought in to speak by the Chairman. Muting and unmuting was the responsibility of the host, Members did not have the ability to unmute themselves.

Once the meeting started

• Live Stream to Youtube before meeting starts (but not too early)
• Change to Speaker View for the Youtube Stream
• Take off "Allow Participants to unmute themselves" … Next to invite mute etc
• Take off "allow participants to rename themselves"
• Play Chime on Entry/Exit
• Remove allow participants to share screen (under security at the bottom)
• Disable chat (under security at the bottom of the screen)     
• Record to Computer (select at setup but check it is recording)
• Stop your video and mute yourself (leave it on while attendees join)

Notes and thoughts from AGM

Meeting went extremely well, first few minutes was the only time we had some minor issues. This included Members not putting their cameras on and some iPads were not displaying their registered username (despite all showing on the previous day testing).  For those not putting their camera on, we remotely requested them in real time to activate their camera.

One of these was the Chairman, who was sent to temporarily sit in front of the Chief Executive’s iPad while we quickly resolved the issue. Apart from some minor delays resulting from Members being manually muted by default and manually unmuted via the host when they were due to speak, the rest of the meeting went smoothly and no other technical issues were experienced.

A couple of Members were dropping out at various points due to local (home) wifi issues,  but were quickly brought back in through the host inviting them back into the meeting remotely.

Due to the scale of meeting, we cannot underestimate the people resources required to manage the meeting, this includes both those in the building (Council Chamber) and those working from home, who had been given as the contact for Members to ring, who skyped various messages identifying any issues such as Members access, usage etc to those managing the meeting. We also had a runner, who was able to pass messages to us throughout the meeting from some Members who were situated in various rooms of the council.

Some other post-meeting considerations

• Members to ensure iPads plugged in or fully charged at the least (particularly for long meetings such as our AGM which lasted four hours).
• Work out how to switch view in Youtube stream to show voting in thumbnails – and any way to auto cycle round the screens?
• TV in front of Chairman to help him see those Members raising their hands during voting
  • even better if we can work out how to scroll thumbnails
• Resources? Managing the meeting from an operational point of view was the Service Manager Scrutiny and Democratic Services and the Service Manager ICT. In addition to the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, the Service Director Place and Communities acted as a runner between the rooms. We also had two Members of the Scrutiny and Democratic Services Team working with us from home dealing with Members and the IT Team on standby for any technical issues.
• Members to wait until mute light goes off before speaking (some started speaking before they were unmuted).
• Positioning of iPads for members (Chairman's was too close)
• Need a list of attendees in same order as Zoom
• Check the number of attendees regularly (as we did). Investigate any reductions against list above.
• Try to dissuade virtual backgrounds
• Headsets to stop distortion (People in attendance in the Council Chamber were well distanced but some feedback could still be picked up) and also a headset and log in via phone for people like the Monitoring Officer so they can listen while being mobile.