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How to Use Zoom: The 13 Best Tips for Successful Video Conferencing
Working from home? Get the most out of virtual meetings!
By Jennifer Allen Jennifer Allen Writer Swansea University, Staffordshire University Jennifer Allen has been writing about technology since 2010. Her work has appeared in Mashable, TechRadar, and many more publications. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on August 12, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Video Calls Skype Facetime Zoom video calls are an important part of many people's working habits. The Zoom video service is hugely useful for talking with remote co-workers, arranging meetings, and working collaboratively. It's also very popular among friends who want to meet up online and catch up on what's new. It's important to know how to Zoom and how to use Zoom meeting rooms effectively. We've researched some of the best tips for how to perform a successful video conferencing session, whether you're doing it for business or pleasure. How to Raise a Hand In Zoom 01 of 13 Add a Virtual Background
Frequently have a messy home office and not keen to tidy it up? The Virtual Background feature can save you the hassle. Providing your PC is powerful enough or you have a green screen behind you, it can add anything you want to the background of your video call, from a space age landscape to a pleasant beach location. It's simple to set up, providing you know where to look. 02 of 13 Learn Zoom Keyboard Shortcuts
Zoom offers multiple different keyboard shortcuts which you can easily tweak to make things more convenient. Check out the options under Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts. It's useful to set up a key for muting or unmuting your mic, as well as being able to join a meeting quickly with a keyboard shortcut, or even schedule meetings via a shortcut. The Zoom website has a full list of default shortcut keys. 03 of 13 Switch to an Audio Only Call
Luis Alvarez, Getty Images Sometimes, life might be a little too crazy to have video on while you work, or you might want to cut back on bandwidth and solely have an audio call for a bit. To always have video off as default when you first join a meeting, go to Settings > Video > Turn off video when joining a meeting. You can choose to switch video back on once you're in the meeting. It's perfect for when you need to dive into a quick call. 04 of 13 Practice Good Sound Etiquette
Westend61, Getty Images Good meeting etiquette is important. Not everyone in your meeting wants to hear every tiny detail of your home life. Particularly if your pets, children, or other loved ones are prone to walking in during meetings, mute your mic when you're not talking. In large meetings, it's a huge help so that attendees aren't overwhelmed by background noise. If possible, use headphones instead of your computer's speakers. The audio quality will be better for both you and the other people within the meeting. 05 of 13 Touch up Your Appearance
Like other camera-based apps, Zoom is able to touch up your appearance a little, making your image look a bit softer and generally a little better. Go to Settings > Video > Touch up my appearance for a quick boost. Your face will look softer and it makes a subtle but important difference. It's not a miracle worker though so make sure you still look reasonably well presented! 06 of 13 Record Your Call
If you want to review your meeting or share the call with those who missed it, you can record your Zoom web conferencing chats very easily. If you have a basic free subscription to Zoom, you can choose to store the video file locally or, alternatively, if you're a paid member, you can save it to Zoom cloud storage. All the options are in Settings > Recording, and it doesn't take too long to set up. 07 of 13 Create Recurring Meetings
Have regular weekly meetings with work? Or monthly catch up with friends? You can easily set meetings up to recur by clicking Schedule then selecting the box next to Recurring meeting. It's perfect for when you want to regularly arrange meetings but you don't want the hassle of setting them up every time. 08 of 13 Set Reminders
Worried you'll forget your many meetings? Go to Settings > General and you can click on a reminder there so that you'll always receive notifications before your meeting is about to start. Set it to 5-10 minutes so that you have plenty of time to be ready to go. 09 of 13 Share Your Screen When Needed
Whether you're gaining advice from a work colleague or you want to share something cool with a friend, it's useful to know how to share your screen. Click the Share Screen button on the Zoom app. If you're viewing someone else's shared screen, you can easily annotate it by clicking View Option and Annotate. 10 of 13 Use a Pro Account
Ariel Skelley, Getty Images A Zoom free account is very useful but a Pro account means you can do things like co-host meetings with others, create attendee lists after meetings, or even set up forms to learn more about the attendees beforehand. If you need more features, it's worth getting a Pro account, even for a little while. To upgrade click your Profile icon and then select Upgrade to Pro. 11 of 13 Learn to Post Zoom Meeting Links to Slack
Luis Alvarez, Getty Images One paid Zoom account bonus is that you can post Zoom meeting links to Slack automatically. In business scenarios, many of us use both Slack and Zoom to communicate so being able to join the two together is very useful. Having a Pro account means you have access to the Zoom API so you can use tools like Zapier's Zap automation to get notifications for Zoom straight to your Slack channel. 12 of 13 Secure Your Meeting With a Password
It's important to be secure with most meetings. For any kind of private meeting, make sure you switch on password protection. When you're creating a new meeting, go to your Personal Meeting ID Settings and click Require meeting password to ensure that no one can access your meeting unless you want them to. 13 of 13 Use Focus Mode
Zoom Focus Mode is a low-distraction option for Zoom that aims to help meeting participants stay on task. When it's active, hosts and co-hosts can still see everyone's screen. However, participants can only see screens for themselves, hosts, co-hosts, and anyone the leaders choose to "spotlight." Zoom Fatigue: What It Is and How to Alleviate It Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Zoom In or Out With Your Keyboard Pros and Cons of WebEx Online Meeting Tool How to Schedule a Google Meet How to Use Zoom on an iPhone How to Use Zoom on Android How to Share Screen on Zoom on an iPad How to Fix It When a Zoom Microphone Is Not Working How to Share a Screen on Zoom How to Use Video Filters on Zoom How to Use Skype How to Connect AirPods to Zoom Google Meet vs. Zoom: What's the Difference? How to Change Background on Zoom How to Blur Backgrounds in MS Teams How to Set Up and Join a Zoom Meeting How to Change the Host on Zoom Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies