1. The LMSC Meetup monthly meeting event description will contain a link to the online Zoom meeting, within an hour before the meeting is scheduled to start. Simply click on the link to launch your access to the meeting with your Zoom account and enter the password provided separately via a Meetup message sent to those signed up for the meeting.
2. The link will look like: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76824057496. Each monthly meeting will have a unique link.
3. If you log into the meeting before the host starts the meeting, a dialog will be displayed with "Waiting for the host to start this meeting". You can test your audio while waiting. Once the host starts the meeting, a new dialog will display showing your video view and letting you "Join with Video" or "Join without Video". After you join, the host will receive a message that you joined and you will see the message "Please wait, the meeting host will let you in soon". After the host admits you to the meeting, then your meeting window will be displayed. When you are finished with the meeting, you can press the Leave Meeting button in the lower right corner of the meeting window.
How to get started with the free “Basic Zoom” account
1. Need a computer with functional speaker(s) and a microphone. Best to have a functional web cam so everyone can see you. Note: The Basic Zoom account does not support participants calling into the meeting with a phone.
2. Get the latest version of Zoom installed on your computer. a) Available at https://zoom.us/support/download b1) On a PC computer, the file ZoomInstaller.exe should start to download automatically. Open it after downloaded to go through a standard application install process. The Zoom app will start running after the installation is complete. If you do not already have a Zoom account, go ahead and exit the Zoom app at this point and proceed to step 3 below to sign up for an account. Once installed, the Zoom app will be available to start in the Windows Start menu in a folder named "Zoom" containing the application named "Start Zoom". See these screenshots for a basic review of the Zoom user interface.
b2) On a MAC computer, the file Zoom.pkg should start to download automatically. Open it after downloaded to go through a standard application install process. Once installed, the Zoom app will be available to start in the Finder --> Applications folder - named "zoom.us.app". See these screenshots for a basic review of the Zoom user interface.
3. On the Zoom website, click on the “Sign Up, It’s Free” button to set up a Zoom account. (https://zoom.us) a) Enter your birthday b) Enter your email address and click the “Sign Up” button c) An email will be sent for you to confirm your request for an account.Open the email and click on the “Activate Account” button. d) Click on the "No" radio button regarding signing up on behalf of a school and click "Continue". e) A "Welcome to Zoom" page should be displayed confirming your account was successfully created. f) Enter your name and desired password on the welcome page and click "Continue". g) You can skip the step to invite colleagues to join by clicking on the "Skip this step" button. h) A "Start your test meeting" page should be displayed.Click on the “Start Meeting Now” button to try the Zoom user interface out. Click the "Open Zoom Meetings" button on the web page dialog asking to start the Zoom application. i) You will be taken to your own personal meeting room.Click on the “Join audio” control icon, if not already displayed and then click on the “Test Speaker and Microphone” link to allow you to verify your computer speaker(s) and microphone are working properly. j) After you have your audio system working properly, try out your camera.With your mouse over the Zoom window, click on the “Start Video” control icon at the bottom of the Zoom window and Smile.
Learning how to use Zoom 1. After signing up for an account, you should get a second Welcome email from Zoom.
2. The email contains links to videos you can watch to learn how to Schedule a Meeting, how to Join a Meeting, and how to use the Zoom window Meeting Controls. These should give you most the knowledge needed to participate in the LMSC monthly meetings.
4. To get comfortable using the Zoom meeting user interface, you can start your own personal meeting. With your personal meeting running, you can exercise all of the meeting controls to get comfortable using Zoom. a) To start a personal meeting, click on the Zoom "Meetings" tab at the top. Highlight your "My Personal Meeting" button on the left. Then press the "Start" button on the right to start running your own personal meeting. b) Move your mouse over the meeting window to display your meeting controls. c) The first control on the left is your Mute / Unmute control icon. The up arrow to the right of it gets you to the audio settings. d) The next control is the Start Video / Stop Video control icon. The up arrow to the right of it gets you to the video settings. You can play with the "Choose Virtual Background..." feature. e) The next control is "Security". It is available whenever you are the host of a meeting. f) The next control is "Participants". You can click on it to display the participants list to the right of your meeting window. g) The next control is "Chat". You can click on it to display the chat window to the right of your meeting window. You will typically want to have this window displayed during LMSC monthly meetings. Votes taken during a meeting may use the Chat feature. h) The next control is the "Share Screen" control icon. You can share anything displayed on your computer to other participants. If you are the host, the up arrow to the right of it gets you to the meeting share settings. i) The next control is the "Record" control icon. This is available to the host of the meeting to record portions of the meeting. Typically this will be off. If recording is turned On, all participants will see the word "Recording" in the upper left corner of the meeting window. j) In the lower right corner is the End Meeting / Leave Meeting button. A dialog will display to confirm you want to leave the meeting. k) In the upper right corner of the meeting window is the Enter/Exit Full Screen icon. Double clicking on the meeting window will also switch between the Full Screen mode. l) When multiple people are present in the meeting, the Gallery View / Speaker View icon will be displayed in the upper right corner also. Gallery View will typically be best to use during LMSC monthly meetings. m) Definitely take the time to run these controls to get familiar with them.
Some additional notes on using zoom
1. Some basic online meeting etiquette: a) When not speaking, it is best to mute your microphone to avoid adding background noise to the meeting audio. b) Good for the leader to acknowledge each participant when the meeting is to begin. c) Silence cell phones if your microphone is not muted to avoid interruptions. d) Meeting host to stick around until everyone has left the meeting. e) Use the Zoom chat feature to ask questions during a presentation.
2. Use the "Share Screen" control icon to select something to share. a) You can share your entire desktop or just share an individual window (website/file/video) you have opened on your desktop. b) When sharing, your Zoom meeting controls move up to the top of your computer screen. c) When not sharing, your Zoom meeting controls are the bottom of your Zoom window. d) When selecting a video to share, select the “Share computer sound” checkbox to allow the participants to hear the sound from the video playing on your computer.Also set the volume level down to around 30% so it is easier to clearly hear participants if they speak while the video is playing. e) The Annotate feature takes the place of a laser pointer. Anyone in the meeting can use Annotate to highlight or point to something on any shared content. f) Have websites/files/videos to be shared already opened before the meeting starts so when you click on the "Share Screen" control icon, your item to be shared is displayed in the share selection window.
3. How voting is handled during a meeting. Audible voting can be performed as is typically done in face-to-face meetings. Each person voting needs to make sure their audio is not muted. If it is difficult from the audible vote to determine the outcome, the Chat feature can be used to collect individual votes from each participant as follow: a) We can utilize the Chat control to count votes. b) When a subject is up for vote, a chat entry will be made for example "Vote yes or no on the approval of ...." c) Then each eligible voter can enter their vote in the chat window. d) When voting is complete, a chat entry of "Voting ended" can be entered. e) The votes can then be counted and recorded. Note: Press the "Chat" control icon to enable/disable the Chat window to the right of the meeting window.
4. The host of the meeting needs to “Admit” each participant as they are connected to the meeting.
5. In the upper right corner of the Zoom meeting window, you can switch between Speaker View and Gallery View.
6. Double clicking on the Zoom meeting window will switch to/from full screen mode.
7. You can leave the meeting using the "End Meeting" button in the lower right corner of the meeting window at any time. A dialog will appear to either "Leave Meeting" or "Cancel" and return to the meeting. The host has a selection to “End Meeting for All” when exiting the meeting.
8. Due to the potential for zoombooming, we will be sending out the password for the Zoom meeting in a Meetup message shortly before the meeting starts.
9. Pressing the "Chat" control icon will enable or disable the Chat window to the right of the meeting window.
10. Pressing the "Participants" control icon will enable or disable the Participants window to the right of the meeting window. Chat and Participants can be displayed at the same time.
To set your virtual video background, a fun feature of Zoom
1) Using a virtual background in Zoom results in your camera video being overlaid on top of the selected image, blocking out whatever your camera may be seeing behind you.
2) You can access this setting via Settings --> Virtual Background.On the Zoom meeting window, you can get to the setting by selecting the up arrow next to the "Start/Stop video" control icon at the bottom of the meeting window and select Choose Virtual Background.
3) Click on the + icon in the upper right corner of the dialog and select “Add Image”.Browse your computer and select any image you want to use for your background.You can add more than one image so you can easily change your background at any time, even during the meeting. There are tons of free images available on the internet to use for your Zoom background. Here are a couple examples: