Any Tips for Video Parties?

Any suggestions for how best to do a video party (not just a small-group video conversation)? Since it's hard to have good video conversations with more than 6 people at once (or maybe even more than 4), the party would at least need a breakout room feature, where people can choose to join one group and then move on to others.

I was thinking of doing it by Zoom, setting the option letting people join the breakout room they choose. But are there other platforms that are better? I noticed Evite has configured one; do any of you have experience with it? Are there other tips beyond just what platform and configuration to choose? Let us all know!

Comments

[QuantumBoxCat]

If it's a party with your fellow conservatives, Zoom will censor everything you and others have to say, because big tech is working with Hugo Chavez. You should probably stick to Parler.

[DaivdBehar]

What kind of party is this?

[Eugene Volokh]

Maybe a plaintiff, maybe a defendant.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Any thoughts on what's the chance that Zoom will find adequate nationwide bandwidth during prime party times this Christmas season?

[Commenter_XY]

Professor Volokh...Look into MSFT Teams. We use it extensively where I work. It is a worldwide outfit, so I interact with colleagues in South America, Europe and Asia regularly.

[LawTalkingGuy]

I did a larger-ish group zoom thing early in the pandemic. (Maybe about 16 people?) We didn't do breakout rooms, it was still fun. I'm not sure breakout rooms are going to be a good approximation for the conversational groups that naturally occur at parties. Entering and leaving them is so abrupt. I am not sure think any platforms are going to be able to replicate this well.

[CJColucci]

Tip: Don't invite Jeff Toobin.
Somebody had to do it.

[santamonica811]

Why? Who knows what kinds of Zoom parties Eugene throws? Maybe all sorts of weird Caligula shit goes on there. My advice: if the invitation says, "Come as you are.", I'd be careful to see which spelling he used for the first word.

[MatthewSlyfield]

Shorter Tip: Don't.

[Eugene Volokh]

Thanks -- why not? Are there particular reasons these events are unlikely to be enjoyable? I've had some very nice Zoom drinks with a four to six friends; is there a reason this wouldn't scale, even with breakout rooms?

[MatthewSlyfield]

I've used Skype and MS Teams for work. I've tried Zoom once or twice. Zoom sucks.

[Sharper]

Mozilla Hubs is a service designed for this. It's a virtual space, with the volume of others modified according to their distance from you.

So you can wander off with a small group to chat semi-privately, or hang out with a larger group to listen to a speaker, all in the same space.

[Sharper]

gather.town is another, similar service you could compare for your needs.

[Eugene Volokh]

Sharper: Thanks for the suggestion! But am I right that you'd be visible in Mozilla Hubs as a cartoon avatar, rather than as your real-life video image?

[tkamenick]

Play games! Stuff that dictates who acts/talks when to cut down on cross-talk.

[jawlz]

Not sure how much you've been following it, but given your earlier research into VR, this might be of interest: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/12/vr-meetings-are-weird-but-they-beat-our-current-reality/

Of course it's of limited value to groups in which everyone doesn't have a VR setup (i.e. just about all of them).