Firstly, I think you've been running the sessions very well, Joe – the "rules" you have are for the benefit of the sing and trying to give everyone a go (or two), rather than for your own benefit.

Sorry to hear about the family emergency, by the way; it must have been stressful to be worrying about the Mudcat zoom on top of whatever the emergency was (hope it was ok in the end).

As for co-hosts, I've been informed that you need to be there at the start of the meeting in order to start it, but immediately after that, you can designate a co-host and hand off to them.

I run a small zoom sing for a local charity, which has a business subscription that allows them to designate different people to run different sessions – but apparently that requires a rather expensive business subcription.

I've had the idea of organising some kind of network of folk groups who want to run sessions and might be interested in all contributing a small monthly sum for the privilege of being able to take turns using zoom (many sessions meet just once a month, which doesn't seem worth paying a subscription for), though I'm busy enough with other things I'm doing to be daunted by the thought of trying to organise it myself. I also don't really know enough about zoom, at the moment; I've no idea what the various subscription levels cost, or how many different hosts are permitted, etc. But it's definitely something to think about for some of us... (Also, perhaps we should chip in towards your zoom subscription? It doesn't seem entirely fair that you bear all the cost yourself.)

There are also other virtual platforms which are free, full-featured and have better privacy than zoom (a techie friend recommends
Jitsi Meet), but zoom has become SO much the default I suspect most folks will resist having to download and get used to yet another programme/app – even if it's free and more secure.

As for keeping track of people, one session I attend (which regularly attracts ~25-35 singers) goes alphabetically by first name to help them keep track of who sings when (alternating each week whether they start from A or Z). Don't know if that would make it easier or harder for you, but it's a thought...

Regarding Severn's comment about "black chat messages flashing across the screen": my experience is that this happens when a person does not have the Chat sidebar already open; I find it pretty easy to ignore/much less distracting when a message appears in chat on the sidebar (although it may be different for others). I recommend having the Chat sidebar open if possible (although if you're zooming on your phone, that's not an option).

Finally, BIG THANKS to yourself, Noreen and Casey for running the sessions. I know from experience it's taxing enough to run a small session for a couple of hours, let alone a HUGE one for 4-5 hours (even with several people undertaking it), and you cannot relax and enjoy the session in the same way the other participants do.