Ukes for UNICEF 2021 - Virtual Ukulele Festival - Saturday 27th February - Tech

For information about Unicef, go to the official Unicef website

All the festival is run via one single continuous Zoom meeting.

Not used Zoom yet?

First, you should go to https://zoom.us and sign up for an account

Then go to https://zoom.us/download and download the Zoom client

Zoom Meeting Screen Layout

Zoom is blessed with a lot of clever features, including how to view the other participants.

Two views you will come across are "Gallery" and "Speaker" views:

Zoom Gallery view Zoom Speaker view

You can swap between these views by hovering over the top right of your screen and selecting from the menu.

Note that after a performance where the main performer has been featured, your view will go to speaker view. You may wish to change this back to gallery so that you can see all the other participants.

There may be two or more pages of participants. Page through these by clicking on the arrows which will appear at the side of the screen when you hover your mouse

Workshops will be held in "Breakout Rooms". To access a workshop:

If you're on a laptop or a PC, hover over the bottom of the Zoom meeting screen and click on the "Breakout Rooms" icon. A list of the available rooms will pop up. Select whichever you want
If you're on a smartphone or a tablet, tap the screen and the breakout rooms icon should appear, probably somewhere towards the top-left corner. A list of the available rooms will pop up. Select whichever you want

To leave a workshop and return to the festival "Main Hall", hover over the bottom of the Zoom meeting screen (or tap your tablet/smartphone screen) and click on the "Leave Room" (or "Leave" and then the "Leave Room" buttons on a tablet/smartphone).

You are free to come and go as you please!

If you're planning to participate in an open mic, then you should also follow the later steps relating to Zoom Audio Settings For Music: you must do this if you'll be sharing your audio during the festival

Technical information about using Zoom for music

If you're planning on participating in an open mic session, then you should make sure that your session is optimised for sharing music

If you're only planning to watch, listen and perhaps play along then you will still need to instal Zoom

Hints and tips for users of PCs and Laptops: (See sections lower down the page if you're on a tablet or smartphone) Make sure you've got the latest version of Zoom If you're an established Zoom user then you probably have an old version. To make sure you've got the latest version follow these steps: Open the Zoom app Click on your avatar (a little personal picture) or initials in the top right of the Zoom app and select "Check for Updates" Follow the prompts
Zoom Audio Settings For Music: you must do this if you'll be sharing your audio during a festival Zoom meeting The default settings for Zoom are optimized for conversation. To play music successfully on Zoom you must use "Original Sound." This means that Zoom will use the pure sound from your mic without the processing that makes talking sound better but music sound terrible. If you are using a PC look at the top left of the Zoom app. There is probably an option for Original Sound. If it says "Turn on Original Sound" click on it If it says "Turn off Original Sound" that means Original Sound is "on". That's what you want.
If you can't see the original sound switch in the top left, then you will have to change audio settings. To do this: In the bottom left corner, there's a little microphone symbol. Click on the small up arrow which is beside the microphone symbol.
...then click on "Audio Settings"
Make sure the "Automatically adjust microphone volume" box is not set Set "Suppress background noise" to "Low" Set the "Show in-meeting option to 'Enable Original Sound'" Set "Echo cancellation" You can now close this dialogue box. Then you can set the original sound as in the steps above
Here's a tutorial by WB Reid:
Hints and tips for users of tablets and smartphones: Make sure you've got the latest version of Zoom If you're an established Zoom user then you probably have an old version. To make sure you've got the latest version do this: On a tablet, go to "settings", then select "about" and then "version". Follow the prompts On a smartphone, go to the App Store and search for the Zoom app. If there's an option to update, then click on it. Otherwise you're up to date Optimise your sound settings On a tablet, within the Zoom app, but not in a meeting, select "More" (you may have to tap your screen. There are probably three little dots). Find the "Enable original sound" option and select it. You can now select "cancel" to return to the app and go to a meeting. If the prompt says "Disable original sound" then don't do anything more. It's already set. Just cancel and return to the app The following shows how to do it on an iPhone. The screens may be a little different if you're using Android or other systems, but the principles should be the same. You need to set "Use Original Sound". To do this: In the Zoom app click on "Settings" (a little gear icon in the bottom right hand corner)
Select "Meetings"
Set "Use Original Sound" on
Here's a tutorial by WB Reid: