Unless You’re a Zoom Pro, You Won’t Know At Least 2 of These 3 Tips
Even though many of us are fatigued with video conferencing, it’s still a popular way to connect, communicate, and collaborate with colleagues, family, and friends. Businesses frequently use video conferencing tools, such as Zoom to move projects forward and pitch to clients and prospects. But even though many of us are familiar with Zoom, there are still many tips and tricks only the pros know.
Running an effective meeting requires not only establishing an agenda but also understanding the needs of your participants. Helping them with their technical challenges goes a long way.
Below are three Zoom tips, three of which you probably won’t know unless you’re a pro.
Unmuting yourself is easier than it seems
Everybody at some point or another has been told, “You’re on mute!” during a Zoom call. When you hear those dreaded words, you instantly lose your train of thought as you begin trying to figure out how to unmute yourself. You know the button is near, but when you’re under the gun, your nerves take over. Seconds feel like minutes, and all eyes are on you.
Now, one answer would be to keep yourself unmuted during your Zoom calls, but that could lead to other problems, as we’ve all seen the instances of how being caught on a “hot mic” have sent people packing. A better solution would be to use Zoom’s push-to-talk feature, which many people don’t know about.
Zoom’s push-to-talk feature allows you to remain muted throughout a meeting until you hold the spacebar on your keyboard. Pressing down on the spacebar unmutes you. Once you release the spacebar, you’re back on mute.
It’s that simple!
Give your index finger a break by disabling the waiting room feature
Admitting one or two people to your Zoom call doesn’t require any heavy lifting on your end; however, when you’re expecting 10, 20, or 50 people to show up to your meeting, your index finger may get quite a workout.
Unfortunately, the waiting room setting is now turned on by default; however, the good news is you can turn it off by going under “Settings,” selecting “In Meeting: Advanced,” and toggling the waiting room feature off.
Of course, by doing this, you open the meeting to anyone with the conference details, so remain vigilant to identify anybody who shouldn’t be involved in the discussion.
Sharing multiple screens on Zoom can be done
Nobody likes wasting time, so you should always strive to be as efficient as possible when running your meetings. Waiting for your turn is no longer natural in a world where instant gratification is so gratifying. The same goes for making a presentation during a videoconferencing call. Why wait in line when you’d be better off presenting alongside a colleague?
Multiple participants can share their screens at once. If you’re the host of the meeting, you’re in charge of presenters, so all you have to do is click the upward arrow to the right of Share Screen, then select “Multiple Participants Can Share Simultaneously.” And that’s that!
If you knew all three of the Zoom tips above before reading this article, then you’re probably a Zoom pro. But if you learned something new, you’re on your way to hosting more efficient meetings moving forward.
