How to Set Up a Zoom Meeting – Tips For Success

Take The Stress Out Of Zoom Conferencing

With more people working remotely or away from the office, knowing how to set up a zoom meeting is one of the skills many have had to learn.

For anything business-related, time is money. Traditional in-person meetings in the workplace can often be unproductive. Just planning the meeting and scheduling a time that works for every team member can be a hassle. This can lead to inevitable delays and interruptions.

With many small to medium businesses making the shift to working from home, video conferencing has become the popular choice in today’s workplace. 

This is why it’s essential to learn how to set up and navigate a Zoom meeting successfully.

What is Zoom Meeting Etiquette

Good manners are appreciated in the digital workspace just as they are in real life. Following these tips will ensure your zoom meeting etiquette is appropriate:

• Being punctual, maintaining eye contact, keeping still, and paying attention when a team member is speaking can promote a healthy online event. 
• If you have pets or children, keep yourself separated from them to avoid any unwanted distractions. 
• Avoid eating or drinking during a virtual meeting. If you need to, mute yourself and turn off your camera. 
• Mute notifications from messaging applications, ringtones, or applications running on your desktop or cell phone. This will help focus on the agenda. 

Using these same tips can be helpful in conducting a Zoom interview as well. 

Remember, practicing excellent virtual meeting etiquette will ensure your professional meetings are efficient and valuable. 

How To Set Up A Zoom Meeting

When scheduling your Zoom meeting, send the email invite as far ahead as possible. This ensures every team member is given adequate time to prepare.

Zoom’s built-in schedule function ties into iCalendar and Google Calendar seamlessly. 

This also provides options such as:

• Starting the meeting with audio/video on or off (for both host and participants)
• What sort of audio sources to allow
• Whether to use your Personal Meeting ID or a randomly generated room number.

How to send a Zoom invite:

1. Sign in to Zoom
2. Click “Schedule a meeting”
3. Click “Meetings”
4. Select the meeting you want to invite team members to
5. Click “Copy Invitation”

The Zoom meeting invitation will be copied, and you can paste that information into an email or any other messaging application you choose.

When you create your Zoom meeting, you can also upload a custom image with your name, title, and company logo. 

Only invite team members who need to be there. If other team members want a summary of the meeting, they can request a recording via Zoom Chat. 

Depending on the size of the meeting, you can decide beforehand whether or not you want to use additional Zoom features such as Zoom Breakout Rooms. They can allow team members to collaborate in a smaller group session away from the main Zoom meeting. 

Things to do Before Your Zoom Meeting

Next, you’ll want to test that your computer, camera, microphone, and screen sharing settings are functioning properly. Zoom has a helpful feature that lets you test your settings before your real virtual meeting begins. 

Remember to make sure that your camera is displaying only what you want it to. Ensure that your team members see only what you want them to see. 

If you’re planning on using a virtual background, choose something work-appropriate. If you plan on using your actual background, keep your space looking professional to avoid distractions. 

Whichever background you choose, set yourself up where there is adequate lighting so team members can see you.  

Features to Use During Your Zoom Meeting

Another useful aspect of Zoom is the waiting room feature.

It allows team members to join the meeting a few minutes ahead of the scheduled time and for the host to choose when the meeting begins. This can be helpful if any last-minute issues happen. You can troubleshoot while team members wait to enter the meeting. 

Remember, you can manage how you start and join meetings in your Zoom Meeting Settings.

• When the meeting begins, make sure to introduce everyone at the beginning. This creates a welcoming virtual event. 
• Ensure your microphone is turned on when you speak. Otherwise, keep it muted. The same Zoom meeting etiquette goes for other team members when it’s their turn to speak. 
• When speaking, avoid looking at yourself and look at the camera. This will help your audience feel like you’re speaking directly to them. 
• If you plan on screen sharing, always avoid sharing your entire desktop. Share only specific documents relevant to the virtual meeting. Screen sharing also has a built-in collaborative whiteboard that is supported by Zoom Chat. 
• When a team member is speaking, avoid interrupting or speaking over them. In order to prevent this, Zoom has a “raise hand” feature on the participant panel.
• As the host, it’s up to you whether or not team members can have full control over any aspect of their audio or video. 

To avoid any unwanted guests, don’t publicly share your meeting ID. Avoid using your personal meeting ID, and opt-in for a randomly generated ID. This is where the waiting room feature can help. Limit your meetings to team members logged into Zoom, or permit only those who have your company’s email addresses. 

Another factor to keep in mind is Zoom’s 40-minute time limit. Purchasing a paid license can give your team up to 30 hours. 

Managing all of these tasks during a Zoom meeting can be a balancing act. Did you know Zoom has a co-hosting option?

Using The Co-Host Feature & Co-Hosting Tools on Zoom

Using the co-host option allows the host to share technical tasks with another team member. 

Co-hosts can:

• Mute or unmute team members
• Start or stop videos
• Share screens
• Request and give control
• Record the meeting
• Invite, remove, and rename team members
• Moderate chat between team members
• And more

It’s helpful to assign this ahead of time to give the co-host enough time to prepare. There’s no limitation on how many co-hosts you can have in a meeting. 

Succeed At Your Next Zoom Presentation

Besides using Zoom for your virtual meeting, Microsoft Teams is another option to consider.  

Whichever video conferencing software you choose, remembering these tips will ensure you have a successful online presentation. At BSC Solutions Group, our team of experts provides Microsoft 365 licensing (including Microsoft Teams), migration services, and full IT support.  Contact us today if you wish to implement the more robust Microsoft Teams platform for your virtual meetings.