May 2021 Minutes
UM President’s Council of Retired Employees
umaine.edu/retirees
May 7, 2021
8:00 to 8:50 am
Minutes
Meeting via Zoom
Attendees: David Bagley, Louis Bassano, Nancy Boyington, Dusty Dowse, Marian Dressler, Sarah McPartland-Good, Michael Pullen (on phone), Sue Randall, Thomas Sandford, Phyllis Thibodeau, Gloria Volmers and Kim Whitehead
Invited Guest: Serge Drage, IT Engineer
Absent: Richard Judd
Dusty Dowse called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Dusty started the meeting by saying today’s entire meeting would be dedicated to finalizing the agenda and plans for the Retiree AtHomecoming program. Dusty emphasized that if you look at the Schedule of Events you will see that the timing of each event does not give any wiggle room.
Serge was re-introduced and will be a very important key to the whole event, technology-wise. Dusty began by asking if the event will be recorded so it could be available at a later time. Serge said that is will be recorded and available afterwards. Dusty asked if there wasn’t enough time to answer questions, would there be a record of the questions.
Serge directed our attention to the Zoom screen and the control buttons on the bottom of the screen. The Q & A has a spreadsheet that will show who attended and the questions they ask. All those registered for Zoom will give us their email address. So, yes, we can go back and answer questions that were not answered at a later time.
Sarah reported that so far there are 50 registered to attend, although she knows some members of the PCRE will be attending, but the Foundation has not received their registrations. Sarah asked if we would like to have drawings for Door Prizes with Jeff Mills at the end (part of Dusty’s closing). Everyone loved the idea of door prizes!
Serge said he will set the event to have closed captioning on the screen as well. He then gave us a demonstration.
Serge answered questions about audio and video buttons at the bottom of the screen where attendees and presenters can unmute and mute their sound as well as start and stop their video (which means you see them OR just their name). Serge will have different controls for settings for presenters and attendees (for audio and video settings). He also pointed out the icon where we can choose a “gallery view” or active speaker view on our own screens.
Dusty will provide all of us with a write up of the things he will cover in his introduction. As a Welcome to: the introductory slide running at the beginning will be the Homecoming post card that was mailed to all retirees.
Louis suggested we have a back-up plan in case someone is thrown off the internet. It was decided to put all the introductions into one document, so it is available to all PCRE members — just in case. Serge will also be a backup.
Louis will be in contact with the panelists to verify their emails, Zoom accounts, etc. Maybe a phone number if there is a problem.
Sarah explained that the Foundation will be mailing the chocolates with the agenda and Zoom link through email addresses.
Serge talked about different backgrounds available in Zoom — and provided a demo on how to change your background seen by others.
Serge explained that the panelists will each get a dedicated link for them — to show their name. Kimberly asked Serge to send the link for the President to Josette. Serge told everyone that the email would be the same as today’s email link: “um.events@maine.edu”
Dusty asked for Serge’s phone number for all — just in case we get thrown off. Serge agreed that was a good idea. Serge will be on campus for this event.
Motion to adjourn: Unanimous
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m.
Our next “event” is the Retiree AtHomecoming on June 1.
Since we do not meet during the summer, our next meeting is scheduled for September 3 on Zoom at 8:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Boyington