Planning for Voynich Manuscript Day 2024

[merrimacga]

Tonight, I launched the VM Day New Member Welcome Invitation and extended it to all new members of Voynich Ninja who joined (or will join) between August 2023 through July 2024. The deadline for RSVPs is 28 July. I also said if anyone who RSVPs attendance has any suggestions that would make this virtual event a better experience for them to let us know when they RSVP.

I have a few thoughts of my own and a few questions as well in preparing for the New Member Welcome:

• What is the maximum participation allowed in Zoom (there are 2,020 registered members but I imagine the new ones are a significantly smaller number)?
  
• Will attendees have to use computer audio or will there also be a dial in (long distance, I presume)?
  
• Will they be able to use a web version of the platform or will they have to do a download and install?
  
• Can I get a volunteer to act as moderator for introducing new members (or a suggestion for someone I should reach out to)?
  
• Can new members introduce themselves by video or only audio?
  
• Will the Zoom support multiple simultaneous attendee webcam video?
  
• Can we include a Q&A (I imagine new members will have a lot of questions)?
  
• In addition to the moderator, could we have one or more members of the Forum Team attend and introduce themselves and help with the Q&A?
  
• Are there other members we should invite to speak in addition to the Forum Team?
  
• Can we and would we want to record the event for new members to view later (I'm a bit iffy on this suggestion)?
  
• Is it possible to have breakout rooms within the main Zoom (i.e. as a way for attendees to mingle in small numbers during the event after introductions and Q&A; I realize there may be some limitations, like breakout rooms can't be recorded, which is probably a good thing)?
  
• Can we add anything fun like VM trivia questions as part of the event?
  
• If we add breakout rooms, and depending on how long we can make the event, perhaps we can add a VM digital scavenger hunt?
  

Meet-and-greets are most often in person events and usually include alcoholic beverages and hors d'oeuvres and a lot of mingling so I'm trying to think of ways to replace those things with ones that are equally entertaining, engaging and interactive. I'm sure others can probably come up with more ideas than I have mentioned here.