ZOOM – Tips and Tricks

We recommend ZOOM for video conferencing (either WFH or for general office meetings) as it allows for the following:

voice and / or video calls;
chat function;
screen sharing and a markup / whiteboard tool, that works across all platforms (iOS, macOS, Android and Windows);
automatic creation of a company staff directory, so staff can start collaborating straight away;
available for free for meetings up to 40 minutes with up to 100 participants – plenty for most ad-hoc team meeting;

If you need to hold longer meetings choose a single or multiple ZOOM PRO accounts, which allow meeting durations for up to 24h.

CAUTION > There are well documented concerns over ZOOM’s approach to privacy and misleading use of the term ‘end-to-end’ encryption. For non-sensitive team communications, we think the ease of use and ZOOM’s unparalleled features, at the moment still outweigh these concerns. If you instead require a channel for sensitive information use Apple’s FaceTime or Signal, both provide full ‘end-to-end’ encrypted communications. For additional information on web conferencing security refer to this common sense advice from the Australian Signals Directorate.

To get started ZOOM provides a series of 1 minutes videos – we recommend you watch the following…

How do I join a meeting

Meeting Controls

Sharing your screen

…and there are plenty more tutorials available.

ZOOM Tips and Tricks

If you don’t have the zoom app, download and install it from zoom.us
Register using your company email for automatic staff directory creation;
If your colleagues are already signed in, you will automatically see them under Contacts > Company Directory > Company Contacts.

INFO > Note the different status indicators…
Green: online (their zoom app is opened and signed in).
White: offline (zoom is closed).
Green rectangle: online on mobile device

USING ZOOM WITH COLLEAGUES OR SAVED CONTACTS

To access the company directory, go to Contacts > Company Directory > Company Contacts
To make a voice call: right click on name and select “meet without video”
To make a video call: right click on name and select “meet with video”
To chat: select name and click on “Chat”

USING CHANNELS FOR AD-HOC MEETINGS

Create Channels and add all members of specific projects under Contacts > Channels
To start a meeting with a channel, simply right click and choose an option as per above;

HOW TO INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO YOUR ZOOM MEETING

Go to “Meetings” tab
Click “copy invitation”. paste it in email and send it out to attendee

HOW TO HOST A ZOOM MEETING

Go to “Meetings” tab and click “Start”
Attendees who joined will be listed on screen
To end meeting, click “End meeting”

HOW TO JOIN A ZOOM MEETING

Click on the URL provided in the invitation – alternatively, copy and paste it in a browser;
When prompted click “use zoom app”
If you don’t have the zoom app, you will be prompted to download and install it. There is no need to sign in.
When prompted to select audio options, click on “join with computer audio”
When ready, unmute the mic and switch on camera (bottom left)

FOR PRO ACCOUNTS WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING PROCESS

Create a ZOOM PRO user account, ideally with a generic email address, e.g. meet[at]macinteract.com;
Nominate one person to coordinate meetings for your Office, to ensure that you do not create double bookings. This ZOOM Coordinator also is the only person who has access to all PRO accounts.
Staff send booking requests per email to their ZOOM Coordinator, who creates scheduled meetings and provides the meeting details either via email or shared calendar. The ZOOM Meeting requestor then distributes these details to all Attendees;

CAUTION > The ZOOM coordinator must allow Attendees to join the Meeting before the Host – otherwise this will not work!

Daniel

11 April 2022