Zoom Guide for Virtual Programs

• Click the “Participants” button (located in the meeting controls) to open the Participants window.

• The window should appear at the right side of your screen.
• The window will include the list of people in the meeting, and a separate list at the top of the window for anyone in the waiting room.
• When you see the name of an event speaker or volunteer, let them in by:
  • Hovering over their name
  • Clicking the blue “Admit” button
• Continue doing this for each speaker or volunteer. Leave all other attendees in the waiting room.
• Please note: Co-Hosts also have the ability to admit people from the waiting room. Make sure Co-Hosts know this and do not admit guests without your permission.
• When it is time to start the event (usually 1-2 minutes after the official start time given on the invitation), you will need to admit all guests and close the waiting room.

We recommend assigning Co-Host status to all other presenters and volunteers staffing the event. This will give them the abilities that regular attendees may not have, such as unmuting themselves or sharing their screen.

There are two ways that you can make someone a Co-Host.

1. Hover over the person’s  video.
   • Click the “…” button
   • Click “Make Co-Host”
2. Open the participants window by clicking the “Participants” button (located in the meeting controls) 
   • Hover over the name of the participant who is going to be a Co-Host, and choose “More”
   • Click “Make Co-Host”

Once participants have been made Co-Hosts, they’ll have access to most of the Zoom controls that you see as Host. Co-Hosts do not have access to the following controls:

• Start waiting room (Co-Hosts can place participants in waiting room or admit/remove participants from the waiting room)
• Make another participant a Co-Host
• End meeting for all participants

View and adjust the chat settings:

• Click the “Chat” button to open the Chat window.

• The window should appear at the right side of your screen.
• At the bottom of the Chat window are the “To:” field, and several icons. Click the “…” button

• You will see a menu of options for who the participants can chat with, including:
  • No one: Disables the chat.
  • Host and Co-Hosts: Only the Host and Co-Host can send messages to everyone. Participants can still send private messages to the Host.
  • Everyone: Participants can only send public messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Participants can still send private messages to the Host.
  • Everyone and anyone directly: Participants can send public or private messages. Public messages are visible to all participants. Private messages are sent to a specific participant, and are not visible to the Host.
• Select the option that fits best with your event.
  • If you want to limit audience participation, consider limiting the chat to “Host and Co-Hosts” 
  • If you want guests to be able to interact with one another, consider choosing “Everyone and anyone directly”
• You can change the chat option during the meeting, which allows you to:
  • Enable the chat for certain parts of the program, and turn it off (or limit it) for others
  • Turn off the chat completely if it becomes a problem 

View and adjust the sharing settings:

If you plan to share screen during the meeting, it is a good idea to practice before admitting attendees.

• Click the “Share Screen” button to open the Share Screen window.

• A window will open showing you all screens available for sharing.
  • Click on the icon for the  screen you wish to share. 
  • Please note: If you are sharing music, audio of any type, or a video, you will need to check one or more  of the boxes located at the bottom of the window.

• If you are sharing audio, click the box next to “Share sound.”
  • • If you are sharing video, click the box next to “Optimize for video clop.”
    • If you are sharing both, click both.
  • Then click the blue “Share” button.
  • The screen you selected will now be shared with all viewers.
• When you are finished sharing, click the red “Stop Share” button.

If anyone besides you will be sharing their screen, be sure you have made them a Co-Host or they will not be able to share.

Turn on Live Transcript:

To make the meeting as accessible as possible, we recommend you enable the live transcript. This will turn on scrolling captions. Each user can adjust their own setting so the captions are visible or hidden.

• Click the “Live Transcript” button

• A menu of options will appear. At the bottom is a white button labeled “Enable Auto-Transcription.” Click the button.
  • Also be sure the option under the button (“Allow participants to request Live Transcription”) is checked
• You will see a message that says “Live Transcript ON” and then captions will start to appear at the bottom of the screen as people speak.
• To hide the captions on your own screen, click the carat next to the “Live Transcript” button

• A menu of options will appear. Click “Hide Subtitle” and you will no longer see the captions.
• Other audience members will still see them, depending on their settings.

• At the bottom of the Participants window are three buttons: “Invite,” “Mute all,” and “…”

• Click the “…” button and a menu of options will appear.

• Click the check mark next to “Enable Waiting Room.”
  • This will close the waiting room and all guests will enter the meeting. 
  • Please be aware that it can take a few seconds before everyone gets in, so plan to leave a few seconds before you begin the welcome remarks.

We recommend spotlighting the speakers during your event. Spotlighting someone’s video makes them the primary active speakers for all participants, putting the focus on them.

Important info about spotlighting:

• To spotlight, you need at least 3 participants in the meeting with their videos on. 

• You can only spotlight participants whose videos are on.
• Only the Host or Co-Hosts can spotlight.

To spotlight someone:

• Hover over the video of the participant you want to spotlight and click “Spotlight for Everyone.”

To remove a spotlight:

• There are two ways to remove a spotlight:
  • Click “Remove Spotlight” in the upper-left corner of the  person’s video. 
  • Hover over the video of the participant you want to spotlight and click “Remove Spotlight.”

• There are several tools for monitoring noise from guests: 
  • Mute All: The Host or Co-Host can mute all participants that are already in the meeting, as well as new participants joining the meeting. 
    • At the bottom of the Participants window are three buttons: “Invite,” “Mute all,” and “…”

• “Click Mute All” to mute all current and new participants. 
  • • A pop-up window will appear. Check “Allow participants to unmute themselves” if you would like participants to be able to unmute at any time during the meeting
    • Click “Yes”

• Mute Participants upon Entry: Automatically mute participants as they join the meeting. This will not affect participants already in the meeting.
  • Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves: Participants can unmute themselves if they want to speak during the meeting.
  • Manual muting: Mute individual participants as needed
    • Click the “Participants” button.
    • Find the name of the person you wish to mute and hover over it.
    • Click the “Mute” option
• Please note: Once someone is muted, you cannot unmute them. You can only ask them to unmute. To do this:
  • Click the “Participants” button.
  • Find the name of the person you wish to unmute and hover over it.
  • Click the “Ask to Unmute” option
    • This displays a prompt for the participant that asks them to unmute. The participant can click Unmute in the prompt if they wish to unmute.

• Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. 
  • The meeting Host or Co-Host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please. 
  • The Host or Co-Host can switch between breakout rooms at any time, and monitor the level of activity in each room. 
  • Breakout room participants will have the same audio, video, and screen share capabilities as allowed in the main session. 
• Do not build breakout rooms until after all participants have joined the meeting. Anyone who joins after you have built the rooms will not be included, and you will need to start over or manually add the latecomers.
• To build your breakout rooms:
  • Click “Breakout Rooms.”

• Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms:

• Note: Determine the number of rooms based on the number of people in the meeting and the purpose of the breakout rooms. For example, 4-6 participants per room is a good number for intimate discussions.
  • Choose how you want to create the rooms:
    • Assign automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms.
      • This option still allows you to manually switch people around after they are assigned. This is useful if you want a particular room host/moderator, or if you want to make sure there is a balance of attendees in each room (in terms of gender, class year, etc.)
    • Assign manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room.
    • Let participants choose room: Participants can select and enter rooms on their own. 
  • Click “Create.”
    • Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them by following the instructions below.
• To assign participants to rooms (for “Assign manually” option or to make adjustments after “Assign automatically” option)
  • Select “Assign” next to the room you wish to assign participants to and select the participants you want to assign to that room. Repeat this for each room.
  • Once a participant has been assigned (manually or automatically), the number of participants will show in place of the “Assign” button.
• After manually or automatically assigning participants to rooms, you can rearrange the participants. Participants who are not assigned to breakout sessions will remain in the main meeting when the rooms are started. Hover over the participant or room for these options:
  • Move to (participant): Select a room to move the participant to.
  • Exchange (participant): Select a participant in another room to swap the selected participant with.
  • Rename Room: Give the room a name. You might name the room after the room moderator (if there is one) or the theme of the discussion that will take place in the room.
  • Delete Room: Delete the selected room.
• Adjust the settings for the Breakout rooms by clicking on the blue “Options” link at the bottom of the Breakout rooms window. The options include:
  • Allow participants to choose room: Only check this box if you want participants to control which room they enter.
  • Allow participants to return to the main session at any time: This option gives participants the ability to return to the main session without any time constraints. We recommend checking this box to give participants the freedom to leave the room if they need/want to.
  • Move all participants to Breakout Rooms: This option automatically moves all participants to a Breakout Room when you click the “Open All Rooms” button. We recommend checking this box.
  • Set a timer:  You can put your Breakout Rooms on a timer that automatically closes the rooms and returns everyone to the main session after a set number of minutes. 
  • Countdown after closing Breakout Rooms: This option gives participants in Breakout Rooms a visible countdown to when they will return to the main session, giving participants the time they need to wrap up the discussion. This countdown occurs after the number of minutes specified in your timer.

• Make final adjustments to the rooms using the buttons at the bottom of the Breakout rooms window. 
  • Recreate: 
    • Recreate all Rooms: Deletes existing breakout rooms and allows the host/co-host to create new ones. 
  • Add a Room: Add another breakout room.
• All of the above can (and should) be done during the meeting before you want attendees to move into the Breakout rooms.
• When you’re ready for people to join the breakouts, click the blue “Open All Rooms Button.”
  • All assigned participants will be moved to their respective rooms after confirming the prompt to join the breakout room. If allowing participants to choose their own room, they can open the list of rooms and choose which to join. The Host, or Co-Host that launched the breakouts and the original host, will be left in the main meeting until manually joining one of the rooms. 
• For more on Breakout rooms, check out this “Managing breakout rooms” article.