First time Zoom Meeting

banoffe2

Invited to a Zoom meeting for first time on outlook I have downloaded it, for free. Is it easy enough to operate and can you see the other people on the meeting via split screen or what , how does the sound work do I need speakers? thanks in advance

JoyPad

When you start it up, you can run a test for your audio, so that the software detects your microphone and speakers, or headset, or whatever else you have attached. If you're supposed to just attend, and not speak, headphones or speakers will suffice. If you need to talk, you will need a microphone. Most modern laptops will have both. If you're using a desktop, you will need a headset (headphones with microphone).

Each participant can choose to turn on video or keep it off. By default, the participants are on the right side of the screen, and you only see one person, but the software will automatically switch to whoever is currently speaking, as long as there is only one such person in the conference. You can choose to pin a particular video and then it doesn't switch anymore, until you unpin that video.
You can also present to the conference: instead of them seeing your video, they can see your screen, if you have slides or anything else to show.

Finally, the host of the conference has extra powers, he/she can actually override many of the settings, but I assume that won't be you.

yermandan

A good tip I learned yesterday is if you are on a laptop, mute your mic for the whole meeting and if you want/need to speak then press the space bar and it temporarily unmutes.

When all participants automatically mute their mics, it cuts out all background noise and makes the experience much more fluid and easier to manage

biko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnFSBjFvK2o

DopeTech

banoffe2 wrote: »

Invited to a Zoom meeting for first time on outlook I have downloaded it, for free. Is it easy enough to operate and can you see the other people on the meeting via split screen or what , how does the sound work do I need speakers? thanks in advance

Speakers or a set of earphones preferably with a microphone built in. Some monitors have built in speakers but you'd still need a mic.

Any laptop from the last 10 years should have built in mic and speakers though.

Johnboy1951

For personal use.... face time with family and friends ...... I use

https://meet.jit.si/

It is fully encrypted and secure. No software to install.

I have not looked at the more advanced functions which might suit businesses.

I am seriously concerned about Zoom lately.
There are a number of investigations into it from a privacy and security point of view ..... people hacking in during live connections for instance.

In fact the last report I read indicated that Zoom have stopped all feature improvements to concentrate on the security and privacy failings.

In the meantime meet.jit.si does the job very well indeed for my use case.

ED E

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

In the meantime meet.jit.si does the job very well indeed for my use case.

Jit will work for 5 or 6 people, it won't work for 30 (nobody has enough upload bandwidth to stream 30 copies of their video feed)

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

Jit will work for 5 or 6 people, it won't work for 30 (nobody has enough upload bandwidth to stream 30 copies of their video feed)

Hehehehehe ........ you must have a large number of family/friends that want to communicate at the one time on video chat!

How do you fit them all on one screen together? (rhetorical ... I will never meet that situation)

Pronto63

Have used zoom a few times so not a total newbie.

Set up a meeting for next week at 2.30pm.
About to send the invites when I noticed it said 3.30pm. Thought I made an error so went back to the edit function but the meeting is listed as starting at 2.30.

Deleted the meeting and set it up again. Same issue.

Any suggestions?

Edser

Check the timezone?

Or daylight saving?

Pronto63

Edser wrote: »

Check the timezone?

Or daylight saving?

Time zone is Dublin and clocks don’t change until the end of the month.

IRE60

Pronto63 wrote: »

Have used zoom a few times so not a total newbie.

Set up a meeting for next week at 2.30pm.
About to send the invites when I noticed it said 3.30pm. Thought I made an error so went back to the edit function but the meeting is listed as starting at 2.30.

Deleted the meeting and set it up again. Same issue.

Any suggestions?

I noticed that yesterday the +1 hour - I was scheduling a meeting for 5:00 so I set the time for 16:00 so the meet would start 17:00 'Dublin Time'. It's such a mess!!

Pronto63

IRE60 wrote: »

I noticed that yesterday the +1 hour - I was scheduling a meeting for 5:00 so I set the time for 16:00 so the meet would start 17:00 'Dublin Time'. It's such a mess!!

At least it’s not just me!
Have you held your meeting?
If you set it for 4 can you start it at 5? An hour late!

IRE60

Pronto63 wrote: »

At least it’s not just me!
Have you held your meeting?
If you set it for 4 can you start it at 5? An hour late!

Very good point! I just bench tested that. Set up a meeting for "real time" 18:10. Zoom time in the schedule of 17:10 - just after getting a pop up from zoom telling me the meeting starts in 2 minutes.


So, it does work. If you get canned or suspended for a week without €'s on the back of screwing up a meeting- I'm not available for the Work Place Commission!



No, I jest, just test one 'fake meet and you'll see.