Getting started with Zoom - Hosting edition

Getting Started with Zoom - Hosting Edition

Hello everyone! My name is Beth, and today I'll be walking you through what you need to know to host a Zoom meeting. As part of today's session, I'll cover:

• Setting up meetings,
• Managing participants in a meeting,
• Using security tools,
• Sharing your screen,
• And recording a meeting.

One thing to note is that while Zoom has both a desktop and a mobile app available, today's demonstration will use the desktop version of Zoom. While you can do many things I'll be demonstrating on your mobile device, the process will likely be different due to differences in the mobile and desktop app interfaces.

In today's session, I'm going to be focusing on things that are unique to hosting meetings. If you need to learn more about the basics of using Zoom, you can watch the recording of Getting Started with Zoom: Participant Edition, or view the training content on IT Training's Zoom page.

Before hosting a meeting: installing the Zoom client and logging in

Before you host your first Zoom meeting, you'll want to make sure the Zoom client is installed on your computer or mobile device. You'll also want to make sure you're logged into the Zoom client — this will speed up the process of joining Zoom meetings that require authentication.

Downloading and installing Zoom

Downloading and installing Zoom is quick and easy on both computers and mobile devices.

• To download the Zoom client for your computer, go to https://zoom.us/download.
• If you want to get Zoom on your mobile device, visit the Apple App Store on your iOS device, or the Google Play store on your Android device.

Logging in to Zoom using SSO (Single Sign-On)

Once you've installed the Zoom client on your computer or mobile device, you'll want to log in with your IU username and passphrase. This is done using Single Sign-On, or SSO. I'll demonstrate how to do this on a desktop — the process is similar on a mobile device.

• First, open the Zoom desktop client.
• When the desktop client is open, click on the Sign In
• On the Sign In screen, click on the Sign In with SSO
• The Sign in with SSO screen will display. In this window, in the Company Domain field, type in IU and click the Continue
• Zoom will open a browser window. If you haven't logged into any IU sites using IU Login recently, you'll be redirected to the IU Login page. Log in with your IU username and passphrase here.
• Once you've logged in through IU Login (or if you were previously logged in), your web browser will display the Zoom Login with SSO page and will attempt to open the Zoom client. If your browser asks to open Zoom, click the Open

Once you click open, you'll be redirected to the Zoom client, and you'll be logged in with your IU account.

Scheduling and editing a meeting

Now, let's talk about scheduling and editing meetings.

Scheduling meetings

You can schedule new meetings on the Zoom at IU website. When scheduling a meeting, you have the ability to set a number of options for how the meeting can be accessed and what features are available to participants.

• First, go to https://zoom.iu.edu and log in with your IU username and passphrase if necessary.
• Once you're logged in, the Meetings page will load. To schedule a new meeting, on the upper left side of the page, click the Schedule a New Meeting
• The Schedule a Meeting options will display. Here, you can fill out information for your meeting, such as the meeting's topic, a description for the meeting, and change other settings as necessary.
• Once you have the meeting set up as you want it, at the bottom of the page, click the Save

After the meeting has been saved, you're brought to the Meeting Information page for the meeting you scheduled. From here you can copy a meeting invitation that can then be pasted into an email and sent to meeting participants.

• To copy the invitation, in the Invite Link section of the meeting information, click Copy Invitation.
• The Copy Meeting Invitation dialog box will appear with information about how to connect to the meeting. To copy the text in this dialog box, click the Copy Meeting Invitation
• Once the text is copied, you can click the close button in the upper right corner of the dialog box.

You can also start the meeting from this page by clicking the Start this Meeting button at the bottom of this page.

Editing meetings

If you need to edit a meeting's settings after it's been created, you can do that on this page as well. To do that, at the bottom of the meeting information page for a specific meeting, click the Edit this Meeting button. This will take you to the Edit Meeting page, which includes the same settings shown on the Schedule a Meeting page we saw earlier. You can change any desired settings for your meeting here, and click the Save button at the bottom when you're done.

For the sake of time, I won't go over all the available settings — however, while I'm here, I do want to point out some important security-related settings, specifically the meeting passcode and enabling the waiting room. As a security measure, starting on September 27^th, Zoom will require all meeting rooms to either have a passcode (previously referred to as passwords) or a waiting room set up for all meetings. If neither of these are set up for a meeting when you schedule it, Zoom will enable the waiting room for you by default. Let's see how to set up a meeting passcode and enable the waiting room.

Setting a meeting passcode

Using a passcode for meetings is one method of securing your Zoom session. When setting a passcode for your meetings, you'll want to make sure the passcode is shared with your attendees prior to the session.

As a heads-up, this recording was made before Zoom implemented the passcode and waiting room requirements, so the screen recording shows references to passwords instead of passcodes — these may likely be changed to say passcode in a future Zoom update.

• To set a passcode for your meeting, in the Meeting Password section of the Schedule a Meeting page, check the checkbox next to "Require meeting password". A passcode will automatically be generated for you.
• To change the meeting passcode, if desired, in the field to the right of the text "Require meeting passcode", type a new passcode.

Enable the waiting room for a meeting

There are two places where we need to check settings for the waiting room — in a meeting itself, and in the Zoom settings. We'll first turn the waiting room on for this meeting, since we're in the Edit Meeting view.

• To enable the waiting room, in the Meeting Options section of the Edit Meeting page, click the checkbox next to Enable waiting room if it isn't already checked.
• To save your changes, at the bottom of the page, click the Save button.

Before we move to the Zoom settings, let's take a quick look at how the waiting room works.

When the waiting room is enabled, participants won't immediately enter the main room until you admit them. Once a participant enters the waiting room, they'll see a message stating "Please wait, the meeting host will let you in soon." Participants have the ability to test their computer's audio while waiting to be admitted to the room. As the host, you have the ability to see when participants arrive and are placed in the waiting room — participants in the waiting room are displayed at the top of the Participants list. You also have the option to message participants in the waiting room, or allow all participants to enter the room by clicking Admit all.

To allow an individual participant to enter the meeting:

• First, hover over the participant's name.
• To allow the participant into the meeting, click the Admit button.

Zoom provides a time-saving option for waiting rooms that will automatically admit participants who are signed in with their IU account. With this setting turned on, only people who are not signed in with an IU account will be placed into the waiting room, and everyone else will be admitted automatically. This option is found on the Settings page.

• To go to the Settings page, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click Settings.
• Next, make sure you're in the Meeting settings by looking at the navigation at the top of the page and checking to see if Meeting is displaying in blue.
• Under the Security heading, look for the Waiting room listing.
• To allow IU participants to bypass the waiting room, under the Waiting room listing, click the radio button next to Users not in your account.
• You can also choose who can admit participants — either hosts and co-hosts, or hosts, co-hosts, and anyone who bypassed the waiting room.
• To save your changes, click the Save button.

Managing participants

This next section of today's session will show you some tools that will help manage participants in a meeting. Specifically, we'll focus on how to manage participant audio and video, using interactions in a meeting, and explore security options to help manage any unwanted disruptions.

Managing participant audio

Next, let's talk about managing participant audio during a meeting. It's generally a good idea for anyone who is not speaking to mute themselves, to help keep possible distractions from background noises to a minimum. If necessary, you can mute a participant's microphone, which can be helpful if someone forgets to mute their microphone and their background noise becomes distracting. Let's see how to do this.

• First, open the participant panel, if necessary.
• Then, in the participant list, hover over the name of the person whose microphone you want to mute.
• Click the Mute button to mute that person's audio.

You also have the ability to mute everyone in a meeting, if desired.

• To mute all participants, at the bottom of the Participants panel, click the Mute All
• The Mute All dialog box appears, with a message stating that current and new participants will be muted. There's also a checkbox to allow participants to unmute themselves. If you don't want participants to be able to unmute themselves, uncheck the box next to "Allow participants to unmute themselves".
• To finish muting all participants, at the bottom of the Mute All window, click the Yes

Managing participant video

Hosts also have the ability to manage the video feeds of participants in a meeting. While video can be useful during meetings, it can also be distracting at times. If necessary, you can turn off a participant's video. Keep in mind that this doesn't stop someone from restarting their video.

There are two places you can turn off a participant's video: in the Participant list and on an individual participant's video feed.

• To turn a video feed off in the Participant list:
  • Hover over the name of the participant whose video you want to turn off.
  • Then, click the More button, and in the menu that appears, click Stop Video.
• To turn a video feed off from an individual's video feed:
  • Hover over a participant's video feed. The More button will appear.
  • Next, click the More button, and in the menu that appears, click Stop Video.

On the other hand, there may be times where you want all participants to focus on a single video feed. To do this:

• Point to the video feed you want to highlight.
• Click the More button, then click Spotlight Video.

Using reactions and interactions in a meeting

Reactions and interactions can be used as ways of encouraging participation in a meeting without needing to use microphones.

Reactions are located in the Zoom menu bar — participants can choose between the thumbs up and clapping reactions, and when a reaction is chosen it will display in the upper left corner of their video feed for a brief time before disappearing.

Interactions are located in the bottom of the Participants panel, and are a little different than reactions. There are a number of different interactions to choose from, including yes, no, go faster, go slower, and so on. When a participant clicks on one of the interaction buttons, the corresponding icon will show next to their name in the participant list, with one exception — Raise Hand.

Raise Hand is a special interaction in that it alerts the host to let them know a participant has raised their hand. Not only will the Raise Hand icon appear next to a participant's name in the participant list, but it will also display on their video feed and a pop-up message will appear on your screen.

• If you aren't sharing your screen and the Participants panel is closed, a pop-up message will appear above the Participants option in the Zoom menu at the bottom of the screen.
• If you are sharing your screen and the Participants panel isn't open, a pop-up message will appear in the top-right corner of the screen.

Using meeting security tools

A recent update to Zoom introduced the ability to access a number of security tools from the Zoom menu. These options are also available from other places in Zoom, but the Security menu collects them all into one easy-to-find location. Let's explore some of the options available in the Security menu.

• Lock meeting: This option prevents people who aren't currently in the meeting from entering the meeting room. When they try to enter, they receive a message that says "This meeting has been locked by the host." Keep in mind that if someone gets disconnected from a locked meeting, they won't be able to re-enter unless you unlock the meeting. If you're using a waiting room for your meeting, you likely won't need to lock the meeting.
• Enable waiting room: We talked about the waiting room earlier in today's session. If you want to enable the waiting room for a meeting after the meeting's started, you can select this option and new participants will be held in the waiting room until you admit them.
• Allow participants to share screen: When this option is enabled, participants will be able to share their screen with others in the meeting. If it's not necessary for anyone aside from the host to share their screen, you may want to turn this option off to prevent others from sharing their screen during a meeting. We'll talk a little more about sharing your screen later on.
• Allow participants to chat: This option makes it so participants can chat with other meeting attendees. There are some additional settings for controlling the chat that you can set from the Chat window, using the More menu. Participants can be given permissions to chat with everyone publicly and privately, everyone publicly, hosts (and co-hosts) only, or no-one. (If no-one is selected, the host can still post in the chat if needed for tasks such as sharing links.
• Allow participants to rename themselves: Depending on how a person signs into a Zoom room, the name they enter with may not accurately reflect who the person is. For example, someone might sign in as a guest on their phone, and they might just enter their username — which doesn't always make it easy to determine who a participant is. If participants are allowed to change their names, they could fix this — however, participants could also misuse this and change their name to something inappropriate. If this option is turned off, the meeting host can still change the name of a participant by hovering over their name in the Participant list, clicking the More button, and choosing Rename.
• Remove participant: If someone is being disruptive, you can remove them from your meeting. Once removed, they won't be able to rejoin the meeting using the same account or email address. You can also access this option by hovering over the participant's name or video feed and clicking the More button. This option will only appear in the Security menu once participants arrive in the room.
• Report: You can use this option to report participants to Zoom, and is also available in the More menu when hovering over a user's name or video feed. This also only appears in the Security menu once you have participants in the room. Once you click Report, a form will appear where you can provide information about why you're reporting the participant.
  • If you're a member of the IU community, you'll want to report any user you're reporting to Zoom to the University Information Security Office (UISO) as well. If you are not sure how to report an incident, you can contact the UITS Support Center and they'll help you get started.

Sharing your screen

Sharing your screen makes it possible for others to see what is on your computer screen, such as a PowerPoint presentation or a document you want to show to others in the meeting. The options for sharing your screen appear in the Share Screen tool in the Zoom menu.

• To start sharing your screen, in the Zoom menu, click Share Screen.
• The Select a window or an application that you want to share dialog box will open. At this point, you'll want to think about what you want to share with others — and think about what's currently showing on your computer screen.
  • If you want to limit what participants can see, you can choose to share only a specific application.
  • However, if you'll be switching between multiple applications, you may want to share your entire screen.
• Select what you want to share with participants by clicking on the appropriate thumbnail image for what you want to share.

Once you start sharing your screen, the Zoom menu is moved to the top of the screen — you can move this to a different location if you want by pressing and dragging it away from the top of the screen. You also have access to some additional options related to screen sharing:

• Pause Share: Allows you to freeze the current view of your desktop so you can do things like open a presentation, log into a website, or other actions you may not want to share with meeting participants.
• Annotate: This opens the annotation toolbar, which allows you to draw on your screen. Participants can also have the ability to annotate the screen — if you want to turn this off for participants, you can do that by opening the More menu in the Zoom menu bar.

Recording a meeting

Finally, let's talk about recording meetings. In Zoom, you can record meetings if desired — this can be helpful if there are others who want to see information presented in a meeting but aren't able to be present when the meeting is scheduled. You can start recording a session by clicking on the Record button in the Zoom menu. There are two recording options available: record on your computer and record to the cloud.

Record on this computer

Choosing this option will save a recording of the meeting to your computer. When the meeting is over, a dialog box will appear indicating that Zoom is converting your recording to an .mp4 file. Once conversion is completed, Zoom will open the folder where the video was saved — from here, you can watch the video or move it to a different location on your computer

One thing to note: if you stop a recording before a meeting ends, the conversion process will start once you exit the meeting.

Record to the cloud

At IU, when you select the option to record a video to the cloud, your video will be uploaded to Kaltura at IU, where you can then edit the meeting's title, trim the beginning and end, and give the video a description. Before recording to Kaltura, you'll need to make sure you have a Kaltura at IU account — which simply involves logging in to Kaltura at https://kaltura.iu.edu.

For more information on recording Zoom meetings, view the training Zoom: Recording Meetings.

Additional Zoom training

To learn more about all the features available in Zoom, including more advanced features like creating breakout rooms, visit IT Training's Zoom training page. IT Training's Zoom training page includes in-depth video walkthroughs of some of the content we covered today, links to IU Knowledge Base articles focusing on Zoom, and content from the Zoom Help Center.