Here are 10 ways to become a Zoom master
1. Change your background
Change your Zoom background to space, or a custom photo.
Virtually transport yourself to the beach, outer space or anywhere else you can imagine by customizing your background while on Zoom calls –
Go to Settings > Virtual Background and select or upload the image you want from there.
2. Mute your audio and turn off your camera by default
Diving for the mute audio and camera buttons as soon as you enter a meeting can get old. Keep your coworkers from seeing your bedhead or hearing your cat screeching by turning those off by default. To do it, go to Settings > Audio > Mute microphone when joining a meeting, and then Settings > Video > Turn off my video when joining a meeting.
3. Mute and unmute with the space bar
When you are called on to speak, stop scrambling to click the microphone button. You can press and hold the spacebar to quickly mute and unmute your mic, right from your keyboard.
4. Turn on the beauty filter
If you know all about getting dressed and ready like it's a regular work day, but still don't think you're looking your best, Zoom's Touch Up My Appearance feature may be for you. The filter aims to smooth over your appearance, making you look dewy and well-rested. If you've ever used beauty mode on your phone's selfie camera, you know what you're getting.
To turn it on, click the up arrow next to Start Video. Click Video Settings, and under My Video, check the box for Touch Up My Appearance.
5. Set up a waiting room for added privacy
Use Waiting Room feature, so you can see who's attempting to join the meeting before allowing them access, aka no-more-Zoombombing.
To do so, go to Account Management > Account Settings. Click on Meeting, then click Waiting Room to enable the setting.
6. Create breakout rooms for smaller group discussion
Split your big Zoom meeting into up to 50 separate smaller sessions with breakout rooms. The meeting host can choose to split meeting participants into separate sessions automatically or manually, or can let participants select and enter any breakout session they like. The host can switch between sessions at any point.
To start a breakout room as the host, go to Account Management > Account Settings. Under the Meeting tab, go to Breakout Room, and make sure the setting is toggled on. You'll also see the option to allow meeting hosts to preassign participants to breakout rooms.
7. Share your screen
Share your screen for a Zoom meeting (or to watch a movie or play a game..) with other participants by clicking the Share screen icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the meeting screen. You'll have the option to share your entire desktop, or just one of the windows you have open. Click the red Stop Share button at the top of the screen to go back to being a normal participant in the meeting.
8. Learn handy keyboard shortcuts
For those who don't like clicking around their screen, Zoom has a ton of helpful keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the app on your desktop without using your mouse.
For Example:
PageUp: View previous 25 video stream in gallery view
Alt+A: Mute/unmute audio
Alt+S: Launch share screen window and stop screen share
For full list of available shortcuts visit - Zoom's full list of hot keys and keyboard shortcuts.
9. Turn on gallery view
Gallery view lets you see everyone in the meeting at once, instead of just the person speaking. To turn that on, click the tab that says "Gallery view" in the top right corner. If the meeting has 49 or fewer attendees, you'll see all of their screens displayed on one page. If there are more, you'll have the option to move between multiple pages. Change it back by clicking "Speaker view" in that same top right corner.
10. Hide nonvideo participants
On a larger call, your screen can get cluttered with participants, which can be distracting, especially if some don't have their cameras on. Hide the participants who aren't using video by going to Settings > Video > Meetings, and check Hide nonvideo participants. Now you'll only be distracted by your co-worker’s pets and children who appear on video.