Zoom Advice - Hosting Meetings

Make a plan

• Send out calendar invites to everyone you expect to be on the call. Think about adding a meeting agenda so everyone understands the topics you'll cover and the order you'll discuss them.
• Consider Security. Is Zoom the right platform to be using for your meeting? If security of the participants is important then consider using Big Blue Button. This short presentation will help you decide on the right tool: Zoom and BBB comparison.
• Consider online safety - simple, practical guidance here.

Plan a rehearsal

• Try to schedule time with your presenters and stakeholders before the event to do a dry run. If you’re sharing slides or other documents during the call, load them all onto the host’s computer.

Set up early

• Give yourself plenty of time to set up your equipment and make sure everything works. Open documents you want to share before the meeting starts. Test any links you may want to open during the meeting beforehand. Don't forget to close any applications you won't be using.

Recruit a co-host

• If you’re the primary presenter as well as the host for a large audience conference call, you’ll want to enlist the help of a facilitator or co-host. This will give you an extra set of hands to help with any technical issues your attendees may experience. A co-host can also watch the moderator controls to make notes of any participants asking a question via chat and take care of administrative tasks, like muting participants or recording. To make another meeting participant a co-host, click 'Manage Participants' in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window, choose 'More' next to their name, and select 'Make Co-Host.'

Send a welcome message to attendees

• If you’d like participants to use chat or other interactive features during the meeting, send them an email with welcoming instructions. You may also want to remind attendees to turn on their cameras and that they’ll be muted upon entry to the meeting.

• If you want to re-send this email at any time, there are instructions here.

Mute participants upon entry

• Take action before the meeting starts to prevent disruptive noisy feedback when someone joins your meeting by muting all participants upon entry. You can allow participants to unmute themselves once they’re in the meeting. To enable this feature, click 'Manage Participants' in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window. Click 'Mute All' or click the drop-down menu next to 'More' and select 'Mute Participants' on Entry.

Prepare a greeting slide

• Let participants know that they're in the right session by making a welcoming Google slide or PowerPoint slide visible to them when they join the meeting.

Consider recording

• Recording your sessions enables you to reach others who couldn't attend. It also gives attendees a way to review the content that was covered.

More tips for a seamless zoom session

How to enable closed captions

• Anyone who is D/deaf or partially deaf will need these running from the start of the session, so turn this on before the session begins.
• At the bottom of your screen, select closed CC/Live Transcript.
• You or participants can always Hide Subtitles if you don't want to see them. Alternatively, once everyone has arrived, ask participants whether anyone wants them running. If they are not required, they can be turned off.
• You need to be the host to turn CC/Live Transcript on or off.

How to admit participants from Waiting Room / How to unlock it

• Once you have opened the session, pop up messages at the top of your screen will tell you that participants are in the Waiting Room. To let them into the meeting, click on “Admit”.
• Once you have started the session, you can allow late arrivals to jump straight in, rather than going to the Waiting Room. To do this,
  • click on Participants
  • select the 3 dots at the bottom right
  • select 'Enable Waiting Room'.
  • This will disable the waiting room and allow people to join without you having to Admit them individually. NOTE - this option will only work if you have created a Zoom registration link and selected both Passcode and Waiting Room when you created the Zoom meeting.

How to screen share

You may use this function to show slides etc but you will not be able to see your script

• Click screen share at the bottom of your own screen (green square with 'up' arrow).
• Click on the window with the blue surround and click share.
• Minimise that window (click on the short horizontal line at the top on the right).
• Click on the tab of the item to be shared (this should have been opened before you started the session).

Watch Zoom support video on screen sharing

How to create break-out rooms

• Click on the Breakout Rooms icon on the bottom bar of Zoom
• Choose how many people can go into each room (3 or 4 is a good number)
• Click ‘automatically’ to let Zoom select participants at random to go into different rooms.
• Select a time e.g. 5 minutes.

Watch Zoom support video on use of breakout rooms