Taking Orchid Society Meetings Virtual

After Southern California Orchid Species Society shut down a bit over a year ago ( nobody wanted to do the things necessary to run a society, too few serious species people) we went to a "blog" format... I collect the contributed photos of what's blooming and post it our the website SOCALORCHIDSPECIES.COM . Some months we get decent participation, most of the time it's me and one other person (which was the case with show and tell at the live meetings...) I send out an email to the previous membership and anybody else who has indicated that they're interested, when I post a new page. (The email list is about 60 people, I do get occasional feedback that people are enjoying it, just not a lot of participation, which is just a continuation of what it was in real life) So consider a show-and-tell blog... the orchids continue to bloom.

 

What a bummer. I hope transmission rates go down by April so our world goes in the direction towards normal.

If you can, purchase something from your favorite vendor that goes to your local orchid shows so that they can sustain this and show up next year.

 

Hi Darlene,

I see in another post that you said Redlands is cancelled. We were supposed to have the New Hampshire Orchid Show at the end of next week, but obviously that is not happening either. It is supposed to be rescheduled for October. Hopefully that would be safe that far out?

Maintaining connections during this time would be a great thing...maybe something like this forum at the local level if it goes on for an extended period.

 

How would a statement by the AOS detailing the state of and support of vendors look?

 

How have all your Orchid Society interactions been this far?

I am having a hard enough time getting requisite number of board members on the same zoom meeting to pass anything or get them on the same page. Never mind a general meeting.

 

Haven’t really had any meetings that I know of, but the New Hampshire Orchid Society did create a “Friends of” page which has generally seen daily posts of photos and comments that would have happened at the monthly meetings And it’s kind of nice, because friends from other states and countries have also joined in. Sometimes people that moved away 20 years ago.

 

The page was on Facebook

 

Chronic, big-picture orchid society participation issues notwithstanding, there may be another way to look at this. I’m a local politician in a rural area that participates in many, many city, county and regional meetings. When things are “normal” I struggle to make some meetings because: a) they’re held during times when I’m working (I have a day job); or b) they’re an hour or more away. My nearest orchid society is in Sacramento, and I joined this fantastic group and participated while I could, but as I became increasingly busy I found I couldn’t make the 2.5 hours round trip drive plus a two hour meeting that started in the evening any more. The Sacramento society is superb, but I couldn’t do it any more, so I let my membership lapse.

Fast-forward to today. I participated in a Zoom teleconferenced City Council meeting last night, two more Zoom meetings today, and I have another five or so scheduled for the week. I’ll be able to participate in all of these meetings because I don’t have to drive all over three or four or five counties to attend them. Prior to this COVID-forced teleconferencing environment I would have missed at least one and probably more of these meetings.

Are Zoom meetings like being there in person? Not even close. Can I bring plants to the meeting? Of course not. But I can absorb the great content the meetings generate – I can hear the speakers and ask questions and participate as if I were there in person – and I can view the plants others bring. Importantly too, I would be far more inclined to participate financially to the society because I would have a mechanism that allows me to participate, where now I have none, which helps both me and the society in obvious ways.

I was never a proponent of teleconferencing, but I’ve come around. I think orchid societies could benefit from this technology, which has been around for quite a while in the business community but has largely been misunderstood beyond. The COVID situation has changed that, and adaptation may be in order.

My 2 cents.