Zoom is quickly becoming the go-to service for millions who are hosting and participating in virtual meetings. Much of its popularity can be attributed to its ease of use.
Zoom may be easy to use, but it still features a ton of advanced features. From automatic meetings to break room creation, Zoom allows you to do things you probably never even thought about.
While there are too many great Zoom features to cover here, we’d like to share some of the app’s best features that we’ve found so far.
Schedule Your Zoom Meetings Automatically
Holding a meeting in Zoom is easy enough, but it turns out that it’s pretty easy to schedule meetings using Zoom as well.
To schedule a meeting using Zoom, simply use the schedule icon on the main Zoom page. This will take you to another screen that offers an array of options. Here, you can do things like set the time of the meeting, name the attendees, and even set calendar invites.
This feature is so easy to use that there’s really no point in trying to schedule any other way.
Collect Attendee Information
If you’re holding a meeting with people that you’re unfamiliar with, it might be a good idea to automatically gather their information.
To do so, you’ll first need to enable registration in the My Meetings area of the Zoom app. You’ll then be able to create a form that meeting attendees will need to fill out. You can even make your own questions.
This isn’t ideal for all scenarios, but it works very well for the right situations. Just use your discretion regarding what questions you choose to ask.
Change Your Background
Part of the reason Zoom became so popular can be traced back to its custom background features. The ability to upload your own custom background image just makes meetings that much more enjoyable.
Changing your background is as easy as entering Zoom app’s setting menus and selecting the Virtual Background option. From there, you just need to hit the “+” button and upload your desired background image.
Pretty much any image will work, but you definitely get better results with higher quality photos. You might need to play around with this a bit in order to find what works for you.
Mute Your Audio and Video by Default
Worried that you’ll start your Zoom meeting when you’re saying the wrong thing or not looking your best? Well, this feature is here to help.
To mute audio and video by default, simply open up Zoom settings. From there, go to Audio and choose to mute your microphone when joining a meeting. You’ll then need to go to Video and choose a similar option for your camera.
This is just a great (and simple) way to ensure a little safety and privacy when you join virtual meetings.
Enable the Beauty Filter
Are you worried that you’re not looking your best when it comes time to join a meeting? The Zoo beauty filter may be able to help.
To enable the beauty filter, go to Video Settings then My Video. From there, you should be able to choose an option to “Touch Up My Appearance.” What this actually does is use various lighting techniques and similar tricks to clean your appearance a bit.
You shouldn’t expect a complete overhaul, but this trick can result in a quick “camera ready” appearance.
Breakout Rooms
Are you holding a larger meeting and want to separate everyone into groups? That’s where breakout rooms can really help.
To access them, you’ll need to sign into the Zoom web portal. From there, go to settings and make sure that Breakout Room is enabled under the Meeting tab. You can choose some personal preference settings here as well.
Once it’s all set-up, you should be able to start assigning attendees into separate rooms. This is a great option for working on larger projects, but you will need to make sure you keep everything managed
Allow The Zoom Host to Automatically Mute Participants
This may sound rude, but there are just times when you need to be able to mute meeting participants. Sometimes, you may need to do so just to help someone get out of a bad situation.
Thankfully, this feature is easy to enable. Just go into Account Settings and navigate to the Schedule Meeting section. From there, you’ll need to choose “Mute participants upon entry.” Just as it says, this will automatically mute everyone who joins the meeting.
While anyone can unmute themselves, this feature helps avoid hot microphone embarrassments when they join the channel.
Record a Zoom Call
This probably goes without saying, but just to be clear, you only want to record meetings if you’re sure everyone is okw with it. If that is the case, though, then doing so is rather simple.
Just go to the My Meetings section of the Zoom web app and select the option to record meetings. You’ll be able to store the recording in Zoom’s cloud, but for privacy and security, we recommend storing it on your device or elsewhere.
This can really be a handy tool for record keeping, but again, you’ve got to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Enable the Display Names Option
Are you in a meeting with new people and worry that you won’t be able to keep all of their names straight? Well, there’s an option for that.
If you go into Settings and choose Video, you should see a checkbox next to “Always display participant name on their videos.” This will ensure that you’re able to see the name of everyone who is on a call with you. Think of it as virtual name tags.
While this is kind of unnecessary if you know who you are in a meeting with, it’s very useful in other situations.
Set Zoom Mobile Meeting Reminders
Are you really worried that you are someone else is going to forget about that meeting? Mobile reminders may just be the way to go.
By going to the Meeting Settings section of the Zoom app, you’re able to easily choose meeting reminders on your mobile device. This will send you a mobile notification when it’s time to join a meeting.
There’s really no reason to have this option disabled unless you just really hate getting any kind of mobile notifications.
Consider Disabling Waiting Rooms
A waiting room is a way to send participants into a kind of virtual waiting area that requires you to grant everyone approval before they join a meeting. This can be useful, but there are other times when it’s actually just annoying.
If you want to disable waiting rooms, you an do so by going to Settings and choosing the Advanced section of In Meetings. From there, you can disable the Waiting Rooms options. This will ensure that everyone is able to instantly access the meeting.
Again, you’ll want to play with this setting a bit based on your preferences and who you are in a meeting with. It certainly useful to enable or disable based on your needs, though.
Add Zoom Features to Slack
If your office still uses Slack as your primary method of communication, then there’s no reason to not add some Zoom features to the messenger service.
The simplest way to add Zoom integration to Slack is to type /zoom into a Slack chat window to start a Zoom meeting. However, if you play around with Slack’s reminder and Slackbot settings, you can access some truly impressive features.
The value of those reminders is going to depend on how many reminders you actually need, but sending a quick reminder in Slack is almost always going to be useful.
