I am looking into purchasing Zoom Pro for our chapter (CA North Bay) but am confused about pricing. On TechSoup, I see $65 Admin fee, which seemed good until I noticed the following (below). My question is, are other chapters paying $74.95 per host in addition to the admin fee for a total of $139.95? On the Zoom website, they charge $149.99. The following comes from the TechSoup website:

The Zoom Meetings Pro Plan combines video and audio conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging into one platform. Zoom meetings run on mobile and desktop devices and in hardware-equipped conference rooms. A meeting can have one host and up to 100 participants. All participants can be on video. Optional add-ons provide for larger meetings, room connector software, and webinar tools. They can be added at any time during the subscription year.

This offer provides access to a 50 percent discount on a one-year subscription for new subscribers for up to nine hosts. After you request this offer and pay TechSoup's administrative fee, you'll also pay Zoom $74.95 per host for the discounted subscription. You must pay TechSoup's administrative fee each year to retain the 50 percent discount. Add-ons are also discounted at 50 percent over and above the cost of the meeting plan.

That’s our story too. It will to raise the funds to purchase the Zoom Pro program for board meetings as well as chapter meetings.  We pay $120/month to rent the facility where we hold meetings.  We’re living in weird times as we all know, but I see keeping this option in the future so we can involve people on our board who don’t live in the chapter’s immediate area. Obviously, it’s more socially enjoyable to be able to meet in person with HLAA friends, but this video conferencing thing has advantages too. It’s been interesting to watch the improvements in Zoom since first trying it last March.

 

I’m following the conversation on ‘who can activate auto captions on Zoom’.  As the designated host for our program, I activated it in my settings, so it will be available regardless of whom I’m zooming with.  I personally covered the cost for the first year so I could use it with family and friends as it was pretty much an ‘experiment’ when I signed up last spring. 

 

Does anyone know if it can be set to accept captions by a co-host?  I’m thinking not, so the best practice for the moment may be asking people who own Zoom Pro as hosts, regardless of who they are; business, friends, whomever; to go to their settings and include it. Once you set it, it stays on.   It also may be worth it in the future to find funds to upgrade to the program that allows more than one host.

 

I participated in a Zoom meeting of mentors for Mayo Clinic Connect yesterday. I had asked, in advance, for the host to set the captions  up. She did, and it was extremely helpful.   (Pardon me if I’m repeating myself here from another post…I’ve explained the wonder of this to a few people since that experience and not sure if it went to this group).

 

Julie Olson

 

From: HLAATech@groups.io [mailto:HLAATech@groups.io] On Behalf Of Char Sivertson
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2020 2:48 PM
To: HLAATech@groups.io
Subject: Re: [HLAATech] Zoom Pro Pricing #zoom

 

HLAA San Diego paid something like $148 directly for a year of Zoom Pro.

 

We were paying $130 month for meeting space and CART when we met in person so the Zoom option is pretty cheap, especially now that we have free captions.

 

Char

 

Cheers,

Char

 

On Sat, Dec 12, 2020 at 10:01 AM Rich Osborne <richosborne@...> wrote:

I am looking into purchasing Zoom Pro for our chapter (CA North Bay) but am confused about pricing. On TechSoup, I see $65 Admin fee, which seemed good until I noticed the following (below). My question is, are other chapters paying $74.95 per host in addition to the admin fee for a total of $139.95? On the Zoom website, they charge $149.99. The following comes from the TechSoup website:

The Zoom Meetings Pro Plan combines video and audio conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging into one platform. Zoom meetings run on mobile and desktop devices and in hardware-equipped conference rooms. A meeting can have one host and up to 100 participants. All participants can be on video. Optional add-ons provide for larger meetings, room connector software, and webinar tools. They can be added at any time during the subscription year.

This offer provides access to a 50 percent discount on a one-year subscription for new subscribers for up to nine hosts. After you request this offer and pay TechSoup's administrative fee, you'll also pay Zoom $74.95 per host for the discounted subscription. You must pay TechSoup's administrative fee each year to retain the 50 percent discount. Add-ons are also discounted at 50 percent over and above the cost of the meeting plan.

Margaret, the North Bay Chapter has been a pioneer in using Google Meet. IMHO, Google Meet is a superior product and the captions are the best that can be had.  Even though I have fought against the use of Zoom, it is well received by our members and Google Meet is not. Members repeatedly ask us to use Zoom. The differences may be minor, but they cause resistance. Also, Zoom allows multiple hosts: an important feature. Now that Zoom has captions, although only on Zoom Pro, I have capitulated and agreed to using Zoom Pro in place of Google Meet. I believe Google missed an opportunity to be dominant in the industry by moving too late. Other contenders, e.g., WebEx, Microsoft Teams, and Apple Facetime likewise let a golden opportunity slip out of their hands. 

 

Thanks for your reply George. I need additional clarity. How many monthly licenses does your Chapter purchase? Can someone schedule a meeting and another member start the meeting as host? In my case, I suffer frequent power outages. If I schedule the meeting and then be unable to host because of a power outage, who can assume the host role and do we need multiple licenses to accomplish this?

Rich Osborne, VP HLAA North Bay of California

Thanks for your reply George. I need additional clarity. How many monthly licenses does your Chapter purchase? Can someone schedule a meeting and another member start the meeting as host? In my case, I suffer frequent power outages. If I schedule the meeting and then be unable to host because of a power outage, who can assume the host role and do we need multiple licenses to accomplish this?

Rich Osborne, VP HLAA North Bay of California

wonderful information. Thank you Dan.

Rich Osborne

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From: HLAATech@groups.io <HLAATech@groups.io> on behalf of D Brooks <Dbrooks.hlaa.roc@...>
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2020 10:35 AM
To: HLAATech@groups.io <HLAATech@groups.io>
Subject: Re: [HLAATech] Zoom Pro Pricing #zoom

 

Hello Rich,

I will respond to your question...

Our chapter owns two accounts. Since the “free” captions is now live with zoom we plan to go down to one account.  The second account had REV captions on it which we will no longer need or need to pay for since zoom finally release free captioning features.  Anyone can host the meet as long as they have the user name and the password.  

Just a couple things to keep in mind. You cannot have two meetings going on at the same time.  Also when one signs in as the “host” make sure no one else signs in on that account to join the meeting.  Having two people joined in that account to join a meeting can cause issues.  You can always pass host responsibilities to a person in the meeting at anytime during the meeting and you can also assign a co-host.  I do advise that you assign at least one co-host in all meetings.  Doing this will help keep stability in your meeting if the host becomes unstable due to internet issues the Co-host can take over as needed.  Also not only the host can activate the free captions in the meeting.  Once activated participants can opt to turn them on.

Hope this helps,

Dan Brooks

HLAA New York State Association 

President

On Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 1:23 PM Rich Osborne <richosborne@...> wrote:

Thanks for your reply George. I need additional clarity. How many monthly licenses does your Chapter purchase? Can someone schedule a meeting and another member start the meeting as host? In my case, I suffer frequent power outages. If I schedule the meeting and then be unable to host because of a power outage, who can assume the host role and do we need multiple licenses to accomplish this?

Rich Osborne, VP HLAA North Bay of California

--

Best Always,

Dan

Daniel Brooks

HLAA New York State Association

President

HLAA Rochester Chapter 

Board Member and Past President

Healthy Living with Hearing Loss (HL2)

Co-Chair

Cell/text: 585-704-8191

E-mail: dbrooks.HLAA.ROC@...

HLAA NYSA Website: https://nyhearingloss.org/

HLAA Rochester Chapter Website: www.hearinglossrochester.org

HL2 Website: http://www.HL2.urmc.edu