How to mic zoom meetings with presenter and room

[vichighmathguy]

Hello everyone,
Regrettably, I have conflicts that prevent me attending VMUG's Wednesday meetings. I have a problem in another group which may have been solved by VMUG, so I am asking for your input.
The other group (as with VMUG) holds meetings in a room that accommodates 20-30 people. There is a presenter/chair (as in VMUG). The problem is that, for Zoom attendees, one can barely hear the participants in the room through the headset being worn by the presenter/chair. My question is this: what is required to have audience members amplified so that Zoom participants can hear them? Some thoughts to consider: does Zoom allow for the use of more than one mic; will a 360° mic work for the room; will a mixer be required? Any recommendations to keep the cost down?
Thanks very much for your feedback on this. There are those at the meeting hub in Toronto waiting with bated breath to hear any comments you might have.
Cheers,
Don Mayer

 

[TimRichards]

Hi Don, haven't done any research but it may be possible, it makes sense to switch between two mics - in the same way that unplugging your headset reverts to the built-in mic when using a Mac. I have some experience as presenter, and although it's not perfect one simple way to address this is to have any questions (or brief comments) repeated by the chair (or presenter). Of course this does not serve well for conversation, for back and forth conversation. If you are focussed on basically picking up occasional comments and questions from those in the room, perhaps you could run a second computer or iPad as a zoom participant and place it where it might serve to pick up a number of folks. Possibly that unit could be connected to a omni directional mic and placed (e.g.on a mic stand) strategically. If the chair can control the meeting so only one person (generally) speaks at a time, this also helps greatly.

 

[chas_m]

I would think that you would want to use a mixer so as to allow (at least) two or more mic inputs: one from the headset or mic worn by the presenter, and another that can capture crowd reactions and also be used for questions.

I myself have a little kit from Thronmax that has two lapel mics and transmitters that go into a base that is then plugged into a mixer or directly into a computer for capture. This particular set is best suited for two presenters on stage together rather than a presenter/crowd setup, but it might be worth a look for future use -- cost is about $200US.

Thronmax Space Wireless Microphone – Thronmax Microphones | Vertigain® Technology

www.thronmax.com