My mother’s 90th birthday celebration on Zoom which I first described last week, was a huge success. Around 30 people joined. The suggestion my friend Marty attached to my earlier post helped me decide how to structure the session.
There was a cacophony of hellos and happy birthdays at the very beginning, which was fine. Then everyone settled down and I asked people who had something to say to go into the Chat function and type “Yes.” I then called on each of those people in turn and gave them a chance to acknowledge my mother, or share a recollection of her, or ask her a question. Only one person asked a question. Most people wanted to say Happy Birthday and express what my mother meant to them.
At some point I realized that not everyone knew how to access the Chat feature. I had told them to move their mouse to make the Chat button appear, but that advice didn’t help those who had connected using their smartphones. So when everyone who had asked to be called on had spoken, I asked each of the people who hadn’t if they’d like to say something. No one was at a loss for words.
It was all really sweet and my mother loved it. It lasted a little less than 40 minutes.