Meet Portal FAQ

New Tools and Guidelines for Managing Local Broadcasts

For the official church communication with the tools and guidelines for managing local broadcasts, please refer to this notice.

Church Meet Portal: Frequently Asked Questions

Who can access and manage Zoom broadcasts in the Church Meet Portal?

Zoom "Events" section can be accessed by event managers who have access to the stake/ward Zoom account. Those with the following callings entered into Leader and Clerk Resources will automatically be event managers:  

• Mission, Stake, and District Presidencies
• Ward and Branch Presidencies (including executive secretary and clerk)
• Members of Stake and Ward Councils, Mission, Stake, District, Ward, and Branch Technology Specialists

Additional callings can be added manually.

Who can access the “Local Unit” section and manage Zoom licenses?

Only Stake, Mission, and District Technology Specialists can access the “Local Unit” section of the portal.

If the Zoom event has a password, will that still be required?

Yes, members will be able to log in and see the event link but will still need to use the password once they are on the Zoom platform.  

Which languages is Church Meet available in?

English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

What if Zoom meetings/webinars from recurring series are not displayed in the Church Meet portal for publishing?

If meeting data from a recurring series is not returned to the “Events” section of the Church Meet portal, event managers will need to create a new recurring series.  

How can local leadership limit the distribution of Zoom event links?

All Zoom events come into the portal as unpublished by default. If you toggle the event to publish, it will be seen by all members of the unit on the “Broadcast” page & Gospel Stream app. If you want to segment the audience to a specific user or group, event managers simply leave events unpublished in the “Events” section and use event IDs to grant access to specific individuals (such as, for one-on-one meetings, for those who are sick or unable to leave their homes, and so forth)

Note: Event codes change after each occurrence of recurring meetings. However, after publishing a recurring series, you’ll receive a prompt asking if you’d like to publish all events within the series to avoid the need to return each week for publication.

What is the status of using YouTube and other services for local broadcasts?

The use of YouTube and local YouTube accounts for local unit broadcasts is increasingly problematic due to risks impacting the church’s flagship channel and the church’s YouTube partnership program.  

Although we are currently not restricting the use of YouTube Live, we are encouraging local event managers to shift from using YouTube to using Zoom whenever possible. By using a church sponsored Zoom license, event managers can more effectively communicate with members about local unit broadcasts through the new Live-Watch page found at Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org & the Gospel Stream App ensuring that all local, area, and headquarters-sponsored events can be accessed from a single channel.

What precautions should be taken if using YouTube for local broadcasts?

If you choose to continue using YouTube, please take the following precautions to limit the risk of the church’s flagship channel being taken down.

• Do not use the name of the Church in your channel name or channel dashboard info.  
• Avoid use of any copyrighted materials  
• The YouTube recording of the live streams should be deleted by the end of the day  
• Be mindful of content being published to Ward or Stake channels

A general handbook revision is being recommended that will provide specific instructions around YouTube and its use in local unit broadcasting. Watch for follow up communication with additional guidance.

What is being done to enhance streaming capabilities of Zoom?

The Meetinghouse technology team is exploring options to enhance Zoom's streaming capabilities for a seamless transition from YouTube. We are also investigating ways to embed Zoom meetings/webinars directly in the Gospel Stream app for seamless viewing on TVs and set-top boxes (Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, etc.).

For questions regarding the use of Zoom accounts, please refer to the Zoom FAQ article.