Stay Home, Stay Connected! 

Easy step by step guide to connecting with family and friends with ZOOM!

Are you missing friends, family, happy hour cocktails with the neighbours or movie nights with friends? Well no more!  Online conferencing is not just for businesses- it is the perfect solution for having a virtual family get together, virtual story time with grand kids or virtual friends night out There are lots of programs available, FaceTime for Apple users, meet or google hangouts but the one we like the most is Zoom. It is easy to use, its FREE and you can have up to 100 participants! Check out this handy guide to get you started. No one needs to be alone during these challenging times!

Zoom 101

First of all, head over to Zoom in your browser. The platform is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The layout will be slightly different depending on whether you are on desktop or mobile. 

You can pay for Zoom but with the free version, virtual meetings can be held with up to 100 participants, 1-on-1 meetings without a time limit are possible, and meetings with multiple participants can be held for up to 40 minutes. (When your time is up, you can simply restart a meeting if need be.).

The free option also allows users to conduct meetings in HD video and with audio, participants can join via their PC or a telephone line, and both desktops and apps can be shared.

To start using Zoom, download the application either to your computer or ipad,and then choose to sign up. You will be prompted to type in your email or sign in through either Google or Facebook. 

At the next prompt, Zoom will ask for permission to send resources including product videos and how-to guides your way. Either click "confirm" or "Set Preferences”.

You will then receive a confirmation email in your inbox. Open the message, click "Activate Account" or paste the included confirmation link into your browser, and then at the next prompt, you will need to complete account creation with your name and a password.

The web portal

On the Zoom website, head to "Your Account" in the top-right to manage your profile.

You can change details under the "Profile" tab such as your name, picture, default meeting ID, password and time zone. 

Next, head to "Settings." Here, you can adjust settings implemented by default, including whether or not video is automatically enabled when you -- or participants -- join a meeting; whether or not participants can join a scheduled meeting before the host arrives, and whether or not a password is required to join a session. 

In the interests of security and to prevent scammers from hijacking a meeting, you should make sure passwords are enabled. 

Next up is audio type. You can pick telephone and computer audio or one or the other to be automatically permitted.

The Zoom desktop app has a similar layout, with "Settings" accessible from the top-right corner. The options you can access here are related to your PC, such as whether or not you want to use dual monitors or automatically enter a full-screen mode when a meeting starts. 

You can also test your microphone and speaker setup, choose a colour theme, select a default location for recordings, and tweak accessibility controls, among other functions. 

With your basic preferences in place, let's go to the "Meetings" tab in your profile. 

 
Scheduling and hosting a meeting 

The first screen you will see reveals any scheduled meetings in your diary. Click "schedule a new meeting" and a new screen will appear, in which you can name your meeting, add a description if you want, and choose the date or time.  

If this is to be a continual meet up with colleagues, there is a handy "recurring meeting" checkbox under the timezone tab. If you select it, you can then choose how often the meeting needs to be repeated -- whether daily, weekly, and monthly. 

Once you have input these details, scroll down and click "save." 

 Now it is time to invite the participants of your meeting.

There are two ways to do this: through calendar invites, or via your own email account. 

If you wish to invite others through a calendar, links to Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Yahoo Calendar are displayed once your meeting has been saved. 

Alternatively, next to the "join URL" link on this screen, there is an option to "copy this invitation."

Clicking on this page element brings up a screen with all of the important information required for the meeting, including the URL, of which the meeting ID is already embedded. Copy this to your clipboard, open your email client, paste the details into a new message, and invite away. 

So, in short, all participants need is the meeting URL, date and time, and a password if applicable. 

The first prompt, in either case, will ask you to join with computer audio if you are on PC, and will also give you the option to test your speaker and microphone. At the top right of the meeting window, you can choose to go full screen. 

Managing Participants

Clicking this option will bring up a box with everyone connected to the meeting. If you hover over a name, you can mute/unmute them, and at the bottom, there are options for doing the same for every participant. In the interests of privacy, however, hosts and other participants cannot control individual camera feeds. 

A handy feature to note here under "More" is "lock," which stops anyone else from joining an active session. 

IMPORTANT

Speaker or Gallery view: At the top, you can pick one of two view options -- but this only impacts how you view a meeting, and not others. By default, Active Speaker is the default video layout -- in which the person talking is ramped up to a larger screen -- but there is also a gallery layout which brings in every participant on one screen through a form of grid. 

There are many more options for ZOOM if you are hosting a business meeting, but these steps should be enough to get you together with family and friends. If you need help getting started, we are here to help!

Sources:

ZDnet: Zoom 101 A starter guide for beginners, plus advanced tips and tricks for pros