VCU “filter” added to Zoom library
For a while now, you’ve been able to choose from a collection of VCU-themed backgrounds that place you (albeit virtually) in familiar locations around our campuses. Now you have another way to brand your camera image when conducting university business online, using Zoom “filters.” To find the VCU filter, click on the caret to the […]
Using Whiteboard Templates
Zoom Whiteboards provide a powerful collaboration tool you can leverage either during or outside of meetings, but initiating a new board from scratch can be intimidating. After all, a whiteboard is so…white. Staring at that blank, empty space, it can be hard to know where to begin. The recently released “Whiteboard Templates” feature offers a […]
Creating Breakout Rooms from Polls
With Zoom version 5.13.5 and up, you can automatically assign your meeting participants to Breakout Rooms based on their responses to a poll question. Whether you build your polls ahead of time or with the meeting in progress, just check the box for “Create Breakout Rooms.” Then in the course of your meeting, after your […]
Upgraded Zoom Features for the New Year
Several popular Zoom features sport a new look and enhanced capabilities as we enter the new year, with client version 5.13.3 introducing updates to avatars, live transcription and in-meeting polls. Speaker Attribution for Live Automated Captions When viewing automated captions in a live meeting, the speaker’s profile picture will now appear next to the caption […]
Broadcasting Your Voice to Breakout Rooms
Even with your participants split up into multiple Zoom Breakout Rooms, it’s still possible for you to communicate messages to them from the main meeting area. Recent versions of the Zoom software allow hosts to send text-based messages to all participants and the latest version, 5.11.9, allows you to broadcast spoken messages via microphone. To […]
Changes to Meeting “Registration” feature
In an effort to improve the security of Zoom Meetings and Webinars, attendees who register for events will no longer see the join link and related information (meeting passcode, etc) displayed on the registration confirmation page in their web browser. Attendees will receive an email confirmation at the address they entered when registering, and this […]
New Features offered with Zoom 5.10.0
The latest version of the Zoom desktop client (5.10.0) adds several new features of interest: Avatars With this new feature, users can replace their camera view with an animated avatar. Zoom uses your device’s camera to detect your face and applies a selected avatar effect, matching your mouth and head movements, eye blinks, etc. Hosts have […]
Customizing Your Waiting Room
You now have the ability to customize your Zoom Waiting Room beyond the default formatting. By default, guests who arrive to a meeting with Waiting Room enabled are presented with a generic “Please Wait” message. Now you can customize this message for a more personalized experience. To make use of this feature, log into your […]
Joining Meetings Via Phone
Although Zoom is designed as a video conferencing solution, it is possible to join meetings via telephone as an audio-only participant. The standard wording of a Zoom Meeting invitation includes multiple dial-in numbers for phone-based participants to choose from based on their geographic location. When joining via phone, you’ll be greeted by an auto-attendant that […]
Advanced Polling Options
Zoom versions 5.8.3 and higher provide advanced options for user polls. Previously, hosts were able to pose multiple choice questions with one or more possible correct answers. Now, you can also create polls that include “matching” questions, rank-ordered responses, or short or long text responses. Please note that in order for this to work, you […]