JLDC Preparing the Community for the Future of Meetings

With COVID-19 came working remotely, with little to no in-person contact. Zoom and other video meeting apps have become a way to communicate not only in the business setting, but in the personal setting as well. "Zooming" should probably be the word of the year for 2020, as few don't know what that means.

Jefferson Local Development Corporation (JLDC) saw the change in how we need to communicate and meet and created their recently finished Zoom Conference Room.

JLDC received approximately $20,000 in grant money from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Social Services Nonprofit Grants to completely revamp the Borden's Building conference room and install a state-of-the art virtual meeting space.

"For over a hundred years, Borden's has been the heart of the Whitehall community and these updates continue on with that tradition," said Alison Richardson of JLDC.

The Zoom Room is equipped with an 85" television to view zoom meeting attendees and their presentations; webcams, headsets, and ceiling microphones have also been installed. An OWL, a video camera/microphone/speaker device that works with Zoom to focus on the speaker only and rotates 360 degrees depending on where the speaker is, was also implemented.

"Lee Good with TSS has been instrumental in the installation of all this new technology and has donated many hours of his time on this project," Richardson said. "Whether it's a Chamber board meeting, a 4-H group, a public meeting to give feedback to DEQ about floodplain mapping, or a birthday party, we are open and ready to meet the needs of our community for another hundred years!"

To reserve the JLDC conference room, please contact JLDC at 406-287-3282 or email madisonjefferson1@montana.edu.