Take Control of Zoom, Third Edition

Zoom your videoconferencing skills to a new level!

Version 3.0, updated July 22, 2022

The Zoom videoconferencing system had a meteoric rise and continues in heavy use worldwide. Zoom constantly adds and tweaks features, while some options that have existed for years remain hard to discover. This book provides a comprehensive look at Zoom for both those new to the app and experienced users. It thoroughly covers hosting Zoom meetings as well as being a participant.

The pandemic introduced hundreds of millions of people to videoconferencing, and many of us still videoconference frequently as part of our work, school, and socializing—we’ve gone from zero to Zoom and stayed there!

Even if you’ve been using Zoom for years, you may still find regular frustrations as you attempt to share a screen, control audio and video options, interact in a meeting, or act as a meeting host. Zoom’s makers constantly tweak the app and system, adding major features with no warning and modifying existing ones. You don’t have to stay on top of that to get the most out of Zoom, because this book is here to help you.

Experienced users will discover hundreds of tips to improve meetings, whether as a participant or a host. Find out how to look and sound your best in a meeting, share app windows or screens, arrange video panels, and work with multiple displays. Become a nuanced presenter in Zoom using Keynote, PowerPoint, or Zoom’s built-in Slides as Virtual Background feature. Record sessions normally or capture multiple audio tracks and video streams in Zoom for later editing.

Those new to Zoom will learn which Zoom app fits your purpose best, how to configure your account and app, how to chat in a meeting, and how to create and manage your own meetings.

If you host meetings, you’ll find this book invaluable in teaching you how to plan a meeting, start it up, and manage it safely, as you appoint co-hosts, run polls, create breakout rooms, and moderate participants. And for those involved in or interested in livestreaming Zoom to services like YouTube Live or Twitch, this book has all the information you need. The book also includes a chapter on Zoom whiteboards, a feature added in April 2022.

This book covers the current state of Zoom privacy and security, including the difference between Zoom’s standard meeting security and its enhanced end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and how to manage your own privacy and—for hosts—that of meeting participants.

Topics include:

• How to install and configure Zoom

• Choosing whether or when to use the Zoom web app

• Configuring your physical setup and hardware for best audio and video quality

• Mastering meeting participation, including the various methods of “speaking up”

• Zoom’s many mobile and desktop views for seeing other people and shared screens

• Navigating limitations to access presenter’s controls and notes with PowerPoint and Keynote

• Finding the best combination of screens and devices to manage each of your presentations

• Becoming a host and starting meetings with one other person or 1,000

• Livestreaming meetings to services run by Facebook, Twitch, Vimeo, and YouTube

• Conducting polls and managing breakout rooms

• Using Zoom’s free, built-in transcription and captioning

• How to preserve your privacy when sharing apps, presentations, or other parts of your screen

• Collaborating inside or outside meetings using the new whiteboard features in Zoom desktop apps

• Recording a meeting, and managing multiple audio tracks and video streams for later editing

• Deciding whether to upgrade to a paid Zoom tier for meetings you host

• Taking advantage of Apple-specific audio and video features

• Zoom’s security options, including end-to-end encryption

• How co-host and alternate host roles work in managing a meeting