Those of us with ugly faces (yeah, I said it out loud), and insecure about that fact, can choose to use an avatar instead of a live camera feed. I consider my face to be just average, but if I were to participate I’d still pick an avatar due to privacy concerns about getting doxxed and whatnot.
It’d be awkward if my manager or any of my coworkers turn out to be Dopers, and instantly recognize me by my voice though 
Thanks for answering my question @Moriarty.
I agree that smaller zooms on specific topics might be best. Partaking in a group of even 50 Dopers, would be overwhelming because, face it, we all have at least one opinion on each subject. 
Then again, we may be overestimating the number of Dopers that would participate.
I’ve been on zooms of about 50-55 people. But they had a host, who could mute people as necessary, had an agenda to follow, and had a chart to show the order of speakers.
One by one, those speakers would be given the floor. But their turn was always for a set amount of time, and the host would be able reclaim the discussion if necessary.
(And a breakout room is just a way for 4-5 of those 55 people to talk. Unless they have something to discuss, though, it’s just awkward small talk)
Ever been to a in-person Dopefest? 
I recommend posting the upcoming Zoom fest a few days in advance and asking who plans to attend, That will give you an idea of the number. If you want to be exact, you could message the link only to those who replied.
I’ve run Zoom meetings for our writers’ group of 30 people. I also run a write-in with breakout rooms for usually 15 people, 4 people to a room.
I think a Doper Zoom meeting would work great. Depending on the size we could introduce ourselves and then go into breakout rooms.
Assigning people is kind of a pain, but randomly assigned rooms are easy. So many people participate in multiple fora that fora rooms might not work. And if enough people can host Zoom meetings we can even publish one meeting per forum, and those who want to go to multiple ones can leave and sign into the new one.
I’m running our monthly meeting, with a speaker from across the country, in under 2 hours. Plus Zoom has excellent tutorial videos on You Tube.
2 hours!!?? I doubt I could commit to that.
How about a large initial meeting that is recorded. If it is large then we each only do a basic intro, maybe limited to 60 seconds each Doper. Or if small or large we can start this way — a moderator would be needed to identify who is to speak, monitor the time (maybe a second person for this, and a list of what minimally is suggested to be covered such as
Hi, I’m Bullitt and
I live in zip code XYZ / area code 123 / county & state or country and area and
My real name is — optional step (all of this is optional, right?, and
This is what I do for work
These are my hobbies / interests, and
Something about yourself, like I am easily and often whooshed, and
Whatever you want to say in your minute.
My .02 about this. I’ve never been to a Dope Fest. I’ve never met another Doper IRL (knowingly anyway). I once was in Toronto and was going to meet with another Doper in a bar for a quick hello but we couldn’t connect. That was @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela .
We could also, ahead of the meeting, send that info in a thread here. A thought.
Well l’m in. I wanted to be involved with the pandemic zooms but I had obsolete technology and no way to update at the time. However it’s done, I’m there.
j
I hosted a Zoom meeting for one of our spin-off boards a little while back, with IIRC five participants. Worked pretty good. Hell, we were international, and it worked well.
I’ll give it a try. . .
Tripler
I was honored to have an Admin drop in.
I’d be in.
Breakout rooms are a must. As has already been mentioned, once you get beyond a certain number (7? 10?) then it becomes two or three people talking, and the rest being passive.
I like the idea of randomized breakout rooms, only about 10 minutes in duration, with a start-off topic to get the ball rolling. Maybe a different topic every 10 minutes.
And avoid politics and religion, like many social groups like the Lion’s Club.
But we’re Dopers! With two forums dedicated to religious and political debates! What would we talk about? Kittens?!?
The topic for the breakout sessions should be the forums.
“10 minutes, MPSIMS. Go!”
“Welcome back everybody. No you’ll discuss Cafe Society for 10 minutes in you’re new groups. Have fun!”
Ten minutes for the Pit. Go!
<ten minutes passes>
Hello? Anyone left in this breakout room? How did you manage to shatter the glass of a Zoom meeting window??
That’s a great idea. In fact I think discussions should be limited to talking only about kittens.
That’s a good start. However, I recommend adding the following to the list of basic questions:
Legal Name:
Street Address:
Social Security #:
Debit card #:
Exp.Date:
CVV#:
Bank account balance:
What days of the week are you least likely to be home?:
Do you have a special spot for storing your jewelry?:
If money was no object, how many kittens would you have?:
Hmm, my son recently recreated my home in gathertown. Although it’s not software that everyone knows, it’s better for “parties” than zoom. You can “walk around” in two dimensional space, and you can see video and hear people whose avatars are close to you. So you can approach a cluster of people, seeing who they are, like in a real party, and they can see you are approaching.
You don’t need to download anything to use it, it works in most browsers. (Best in Chrome, though.)
I might invite people to a dopefest there…
Or create a new one, with rooms named “MPSIMS”, and similar…
Sounds like we have people more experienced than I am in hosting with the use of breakout rooms, which I agree is probably the way to go (or at least be prepared to use them, depending on actual attendance numbers).
Anyway, I’d like to attend.
“The Pit” room could look like a virtual dungeon, with damp walls, chains, soft cushions and a comfy chair.