The following guidance is provided to help make your audio and video conferencing experience successful and rewarding. 

Prepare for Your Meeting

Plan a rehearsal

• Have the content you intend to share prepared ahead of time
• Consider designating a Producer who will manage Zoom to allow the host to focus on the content of the meeting.
• Depending on the size and complexity of your meeting/webinar, it may be helpful to schedule a rehearsal with presenters and stakeholders a few days prior to your event. You should test any sharing and security features you may wish to utilize.
• Create a backup communication plan in case there are connection troubles and test it during rehearsal

Prepare your environment and equipment

• To minimize background noise; find a quiet environment and use a headset with a microphone
• In order to best light your face, lighting should come from in front of you or from the side
• Select a space with a neutral background or use a virtual background
• Connect via wired Ethernet jack when possible to prevent Wi-Fi issues
• Test your Audio and Video
• Close applications that have pop-ups

Look your best

• Put your webcam at eye level or higher and experiment for the best angles
• Make eye contact - try to look at your webcam rather than the screen
• Wear neutral, solid-colored clothing. Avoid black, white, or striped clothing.

During Your Meeting

Engage with attendees

• Use the gestures and mannerisms (e.g. Raise Hand) that you would typically use in-person (Hosts cannot use the Raise Hand feature)
• Use Gallery View for smaller group meetings to get a better view of all attendees
• When sharing your screen, share specific applications versus your desktop to control displayed content
  • Use the New Share feature to seamlessly transition between shared applications
• Mute your microphone until you are presenting/speaking
• Use the video for better participation; add a photo to your Zoom profile if video sharing isn't appropriate
• Consider recording your session for attendees who could not join so that they can get transcription later, meeting notes, etc.
• Visit the Zoom Quick Guide for additional attendee engagement tips

Secure Your Meeting

The most important step to ensuring that Zoom sessions remain secure and private is to use the most up to date version of the software and check for updates often.  

• Regularly update Zoom - Reinstall the newest version of Zoom if updating is ineffective
• Use a meeting password shared with participants separately from where the meeting link is posted
• Keep uninvited guests out of your event by managing screen sharing, your participants, and more
• Review additional actions you can take to keep your Zoom sessions secure

Zoom Tips

• Review additional Zoom Online Best Practices
• Review Zoom features, engaging meetings attendees, and more in the Zoom quick guide 
• Tips on producing a Zoom session (direct link to video)
• Meeting and webinar comparison