Zoom meetings are nothing new. They’ve been around for quite some time now. With the current ‘stay at home’ situation, however, these online meetings have essentially become a necessity in getting work done and conducting business.
And yet, there are many who still find Zoom meetings a bit awkward, or can’t seem to get through one meeting without tweaking a dozen different settings.
Good news! There’s still enough time to get acquainted with video conferencing on Zoom and learn how to handle online meetings like a pro. Here are a few tips and tricks to get you started:
1. Changing your personal meeting ID upon signup
When you first create your Zoom account, you’ll get a 10-digit personal meeting ID that is unique to that account. Before the meeting commences, you can go to your profile and customize this number by changing into something more personal and easy to recall.
This can make it easier for other meeting participants to recognize you, especially during instant zoom meetings. You can also use your newly customized personal meeting ID when sending out meeting invites.
2. Test your speakers, camera, and mic before joining the meeting
One of the most annoying things to ever occur during a Zoom meeting is when your mic, camera, or device speakers start behaving erratically. Even worse if you’re in a really important meeting, like a sales meeting–not a good impression at all.
To avoid such situations, make sure the three main hardware involved — mic, camera, and speakers — are in perfect working order before the meeting starts.
3. Customizing your background
Not everyone has a suitable background in their homes that they’d be proud to show off during an online video meeting. That’s why many people opt to turn off their videos during meetings. But what if you find yourself in one of those meetings where appearing on video is an important requirement?
Thankfully, Zoom allows you to customize your background during meetings. Set the backdrop to a design of your choosing — along a breezy beach background, floating in outer space, beside a waterfall, or just about anywhere else you could think of.
This feature is available on both the desktop and mobile apps, and it’s easy to use too. Simply go to Settings, select Virtual Background, and choose which image you want to set. You can also upload custom images to use.
4. Utilize lighting like a pro
If you want to look good on any camera, then you need to know your way around proper lighting. There are many light sources around, whether natural or artificial. Either way, the key is to find a way to reflect some of that light on you during your zoom call.
Some people go as far as installing a reflector to do the job, but let’s be honest, how many of us have a ready-to-use reflector just lying around the house, or are willing to fork out the cash to get one?
Not to worry, you could always DIY a reflector using aluminum foil and a binder. Simply fold the foil over the binder and place it at a position where it can easily catch the light and reflect it to you. Be careful that the light doesn’t reflect directly in your eye though.
5. Use Zoom’s engagement tools to give your presentations some pizazz
Have you ever been on a meeting and the presenter was just droning on for so long that you felt bored out of your mind? Imagine what would be going through the presenter’s mind seeing all those bored faces…
If only they knew to make full use of Zoom’s engagement tools — share screens, send out quick polls, request feedback, and even connect to 3rd party apps like Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, and Office 365, among others.
6. Get familiar with handy keyboard shortcuts
If you’re not fond of clicking around while on a Zoom call, Zoom has an extensive lineup of keyboard shortcuts that you can use instead. For instance, pressing the spacebar can quickly mute or unmute your mic. If you’re the meeting host, you can mute everyone’s mics at the same time by pressing Alt + M.
To see the full list of Zoom keyboard shortcuts, open the Settings menu and click on Keyboard Shortcuts. You can then choose which ones to enable or disable according to your preferences.
Final Thoughts
Even if the pandemic ends today and we’re allowed to move about freely once more, chances are many of us will still use Zoom or other video conferencing tools for meetings and presentations.
But why stop there?
There are a ton of other helpful tools that can make the current remote working conditions easier and more efficient. For instance, you could always switch to a digital business card to share after your online presentation or a sales meeting. It’s easy to create and even easier to share, plus you don’t have to harm any trees in the process since it’s completely digital.
Want to know more about electronic business cards? Talk to us today. Get started by filling out our contact form and we’ll contact you to schedule your FREE consultation.
