The Northern Kentucky Forum normally hosts “in-person live” events designed to connect the community with thought leaders in the region. The current restrictions on public gatherings mean the Forum has had to rethink how programming is presented.
With that in mind, the Forum is going virtual until the community gets past the COVID-19 threat.
The first event is a Zoom Café.
Invite friends and family. Think of this as a community event – just one we have to join from home (while staying healthy).
It will work like this:
At 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, we’ll be live on Zoom with Dr. Lynn Saddler, MD, MPH, who directs the Northern Kentucky Health Department. She will provide an update on COVID-19 in our region and how the Health Department is responding. The Health Department, as you would expect, has been on the front lines of Northern Kentucky’s response to the pandemic.
Dr. Saddler will speak first, then take questions from participants via Zoom’s “chat function” (just type the question into the chat function and our moderator will ask Dr. Saddler as many questions from the public as time permits).
Many of us have become familiar with Zoom and other video-conferencing formats in recent weeks as we work and socialize from home. If you have not used Zoom, don’t worry: It is pretty simple. Just click the link and join the Zoom conference. You can use a PC, a smartphone or a tablet. There is no cost to join the Zoom Forum as a participant, and you will automatically be directed to download any software that might be necessary for your computer or phone.
For the Forum’s Zoom format, attendees will be muted but participants can use the chat function to type and send in questions and comments. Also, participants can dial into the Zoom event as an audio-only participant at 312-626-6799 and use the participant code 779179514.
“The Northern Kentucky Forum hosted its last ‘in-person’ event in early March. We quickly understood that we would not be able to keep doing events that involved even small gatherings of people. But we also sensed that people want to stay connected and stay informed on public affairs,” said Mark Neikirk, director of Northern Kentucky University’s Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement.
“With that in mind, we are developing our virtual events. The café with Dr. Saddler is our first. Stay tuned for more. And, we hope, we’ll be back together in public meeting places soon to hear from and interact with each other.”
NKU’s Center for Civic Engagement is a partner in the Northern Kentucky Forum along with the public library districts of Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. The Forum is committed to nonpartisan civil, civic dialogue about public affairs in our region.