What are virtual hearings?

A virtual hearing is like having a classroom meeting but on a screen instead of in person.

Imagine you and your friends are going to have a meeting about who gets to be the leader of your game group. Usually, you all sit together at the table. But if one friend can't come to the table, maybe they're playing a video game somewhere else, they can still join the meeting using a phone or computer. That's a virtual hearing: everyone is in the same room virtually.

A virtual hearing works like when you and your class use Zoom to talk with someone who’s not in the classroom. You all see each other on the screen, you can hear each other, and you can still make decisions together, just like if everyone was sitting at the same table.

Sometimes people can't be in the same place, but they still need to talk about something important. A virtual hearing helps them do that without needing to be in the same room, it’s like having a magic door that connects different rooms (but not too magical).