Ted, I think we are on exactly the same page. Dead batteries are something that we can predict and have seen many times before. There is little excuse for not being prepared to adjust and repair in very close to real time rather than treating each incident as new and then starting to scramble. . And, yes, if the batteries are 9 volt or AAs, the issues I'm concerned about with built-in rechargeables don't apply and supplies can be obtained locally almost anywhere in the world, so the logistical problems I mentioned really are no impediments. Partially because of the time difference and unrelated exhaustion, I got to fewer sessions than I usually do, but my own impression was of things working nearly flawlessly from an audio and video transmission and receipt standpoint. john --On Saturday, November 18, 2017 01:06 +0800 Ted Lemon <mellon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > These are all good points, John. What I'm really arguing for > is that whatever equipment is present at the venue, there > should be sufficient information in the room, available to the > chairs and their deputies, to manage it. We wind up engaging > in ad-hoc debugging when the mics go down anyway, so might as > well empower us to actually fix them. I think a lot of them > just use 9-volt batteries or stacks of AA batteries anyway, so > that's very easy to facilitate and relatively cheap as well. > Just a matter of doing that inventory before the meeting > starts, in the secretariat's copious and > not-at-all-constrained free time during that period. Or > getting a volunteer to do it. :)