Zoom has become a staple of many of our working lives. But while you’re probably familiar with the video conferencing software’s basic features like screen sharing, sending messages in the chat and emoji reactions to cheer on colleagues, you might not be taking full advantage of all the features Zoom has to offer.
Zoom has several built-in tools to help you manage your time before, during and after meetings, including collaboration and accessibility features and new AI integrations. Most of these tools are available on the free plan, and all of them can help you level up your meetings. Ideally, you can use them to eliminate the need for follow-up meetings.
Make your virtual meetings a little less painful and more efficient with these five Zoom tips.
Read more: How to Use Your iPhone or Android Phone as a Webcam
Save time and prepare your Zoom setup in advance
Don’t be the person who constantly interrupts the company-wide meeting because you thought you were muted but weren’t. Avoid this and other video call blunders by getting your Zoom set-up ready in advance. Taking a few minutes to adjust your Zoom settings can save you major headaches later. Here are four things to check to help you look professional and keep things running smoothly.
- Automatically mute and turn off your camera when you join a new meeting by going to Settings > Video and Audio. Check the boxes next to Stop my video when joining and Mute my mic when joining.
- Check your surroundings visible in your video. You can blur your background or pick a virtual greenscreen by going into Settings > Background & effects.
- Adjust your camera or webcam to get the right angle. If it looks funky, try propping up your laptop on some books or investing in a small stand, so that your camera is at eye level or even pointing down.
- Doing something you haven’t done before, like sharing your screen or playing a video? Do a trial run with a coworker or family member first, so you aren’t fumbling and wasting time while on the call.
Make sure your mic is automatically muted when joining a meeting by checking this box.
Integrate your calendar for easy scheduling
Linking your Zoom and your calendar helps you stay organized and avoid double bookings. You can easily manage your meetings and see your schedule across apps. Zoom mirrors your calendar in the app and makes it easy to visualize your upcoming meetings and then seamlessly join them when it’s time. It’s a great productivity feature when you’re running late to a meeting and need to join fast or trying to squeeze in a quick call on a busy day.
To link your calendar to your Zoom account, open Zoom, click Calendar from the top menu (or Scheduler if you use Zoom Workplace) select your email client and sign in. With Workplace, some employers may require an extra step or authorization depending on their security policies.
Read more: 5 Ways to Make Video Meetings A Little Less Awkward
Make meetings more accessible and inclusive with tools like closed captions
Remote work can offer many opportunities to make meetings and work more inclusive and accessible. On Zoom, a few quick adjustments or toggling of settings can ensure that your presentations are communicated clearly and that company-wide meetings are doing everything they can to reach all employees.
Zoom offers a couple of basic accessibility features, including automatic closed captioning, font and video appearance widgets and screen reader alerts. You can change the size, color and display of text on your screen and in the chat. You can also add translations, which appear under the initial captions. These can be found in Settings > Accessibility.
Another common best practice is editing your display name to include your pronouns, or if you’re attending an outside event, your title and company name. You can easily change your display name during a meeting by clicking Rename from the drop-down menu next to your video square. If you want to change it permanently, go to Settings > Profile > Edit my profile.
Read more: How to Combat Zoom Anxiety
Use AI Companion to stay updated
If you have the paid version of Zoom — or your employer has an enterprise plan that includes the new feature — you should take advantage of AI Companion. It is a built-in meeting assistant that can run seamlessly in your meetings and help you catch up if you miss a meeting. During the meeting, you can open a private chat with AI Companion and ask it questions about what has already been discussed, and after the meeting every participant gets a summary of the meeting’s main points. You can use them to pull assignments and action items by name, which is a nice touch. It’s similar to Otter’s AI Chat.
You can take advantage of the AI Companion feature if you have the paid version of Zoom.
AI Companion runs in a private chat, so your other meeting participants won’t see your questions. Plus, Zoom says it does not use your video, audio, chats or other materials to train its generative AI. Users on the free plan get one free summary.
Collaborate better with Zoom whiteboards and notes
Zoom is great for collaborating, but it can be tedious to switch between Zoom’s screen share and your project files. Whiteboards let you view and edit content on the same screen with multiple collaborators, cutting out confusion for presenters and viewers. You can also connect Asana, Jira, Azure, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive to access your designs and files without needing to create a Zoom whiteboard.
Zoom whiteboards make it easy for all to view and edit without toggling between windows.
For more help on your video chats, check out tips for how to use Zoom like a pro, and how to change your background on Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
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