Managing Zoom

There are a few controls and some etiquette that may be useful to know about. An example of the control bar is shown above. You can see more about the appearance on different devices here

Audio

When you join the meeting you will be asked whether you want to do so with computer audio or using the telephone. You should almost always elect the “Join with computer audio” option. Once you have done so you should be able to hear others speaking and your microphone will be live.

You will need to ensure that the volume control on your device is set at a normal level for listening. Microphones usually do not need adjusting.

Video

You should be able to see others who have already joined the meeting. The layout on screen of the other participants  can be varied. You should usually select Speaker View.

Your camera will also be on and you can be seen by everyone else.

Controlling your camera and microphone.

You can decide whether you wish to be seen and heard. There are two controls on the Zoom application usually at the bottom left.

You can click the camera icon to switch it on or off. If it is switched off others will simply see your name rather than your video stream.

You can “mute” or “unmute” yourself by clicking on the microphone. In large meetings it is best for almost everyone to be muted. If a microphone is unmuted then Zoom will try to broadcast any sound from there to everyone.  This can get very confusing.

The host can mute everyone and will do so at the beginning of the talk.

Participating in the meeting

Warmup

We will start meetings about 15 minutes before the time for the talk to begin. This will give you  time to join with Zoom. Feel free to chat to each other during the warmup. although you will find that trickier as the numbers on line grow.

The Talk

As we start the talk we will ask everyone to mute themselves (or the technical host will make sure that is done). There will be a brief introduction on the technical aspects and a welcome from the Chair for the evening.

During the talk itself only the speaker and the hosts will be able to speak. As the speaker will be using a presentation please use “speaker view” to get the best view of the presentation.

Questions and Answers

As with live talks there will be time for questions at the end. There are two ways to ask questions and how we work will depend on the numbers involved.

Chat

There is a facility to send text messages to a named individual or everyone on the call. Click on the Icon to open a panel on the right of the screen

Type your message into the section at the bottom and press enter. You will see your message appear in the panel together with messages from other people.

Raise your Hand

There is an electronic equivalent of “putting your hand up”.   Use the Reactions icon and click on Raise Hand. The host will see this and know that you wish to speak,