Zoom Features You Should Know About
There are a lot of great features within Zoom that you can utilize to make your meetings more effective. While the default settings will allow you to use Zoom just fine, you can make your Zoom meetings more effective by turning on some features. Navigate to your Zoom settings in your web browser to turn on the features below that you want to use (see image below).
Speaker View vs. Gallery View of Participants
You can change how the participants display on your screen during the call.
Chat Features In and Out of Zoom Meeting
Chats in a Zoom call
Chat outside a Zoom call
Zoom supports chats between participants within a Zoom call as well as through the desktop application, independently from Zoom calls. One thing to keep in mind is that the chats during a Zoom call cannot be recorded or saved as per UCSF's policies.
Breakout Rooms
If you are the host of the Zoom call, you can break the participants into breakout rooms, where a subset of participants move off to a separate call of their own while still being part of the original call. The host can message all of the participants in all of the breakout rooms at the same time, and the host can even join in on any of the breakout rooms to interact with those participants. When you are done with the breakout rooms, you can signal the end, which will give all participants one minute to end their own conversations and rejoin the original call.
Participant view of the breakout room
Sharing Your Screen
The Share Screen feature gives you multiple options. If you want to let other people share their screen in a Zoom call for which you are the host, you will need to change your settings to allow participants to share their screen.
Whiteboard
The Whiteboard allows you to annotate on a white screen that is shared on everyone's screen. If you change your settings, you can even let the participants on your call annotate on the same whiteboard.
Annotating a PDF
There are several ways to annotate a PDF on your shared screen. You can have a PDF open on your computer and then annotate on it while sharing your screen. If you prefer to use a mobile device, you can also connect one via bluetooth or a cable. This example shows an iPad Pro using the app Notability to annotate on the PDF using an Apple Pencil.
When sharing your screen, you should make sure that notifications will not interrupt your meeting. You can use your computer's settings to turn off notifications or you can change your settings in Zoom to prevent them from popping up on your screen. Another option would be to use a third-party application, like Muzzle App. |
Nonverbal Feedback
Do you get tired of everyone trying to verbally comment on something, just to have people cut each other off? Consider taking advantage of the nonverbal feedback options outlined above. Some of these features are only visible in the participants panel, while others show up on the tile of the participant on the main window.
Other Things You Should Know About
Polling Participants
There is another feature that will allow you to ask the participants a question. If this would be helpful, turn on this feature in your settings. You can also read up on some different ways to use Zoom Polling here.
Recording Your Zoom Meeting
If you want to record a video of your Zoom meeting, you can change your settings to allow this. UCSF does not allow for users to use cloud storage to save those files, so you will have to save them onto your computer. You can also change your settings to allow participants to record the meeting if they want (you will have to allow that in the call, though).
Co-Hosts
Want someone in your lab to help you manage the Zoom call? You can designate a co-host in the participants panel while in a call.
Muting Participants Upon Entry
With large Zoom calls or webinars, a common issue is when participants are not muted and sound on their end comes through to everyone, interrupting the meeting or webinar. In your settings, you can set your hosted calls to mute participants upon entry to avoid this issue.
Turn Off Your Notifications!
Nothing is worse than an embarrassing notification showing up while you are sharing your screen. There are several ways to avoid this, one of which is a Zoom setting that you can utilize. There are also third party apps that do this and your computer may even have a 'Do Not Disturb' function that you can turn on before your Zoom call.