zoom presentation tips and tricks

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Communications

15 Tips for Engaging Zoom Presentations + Examples

Your next Zoom presentation is a week away. And your mind is racing.

What presentation software should you use?

What if the other attendees can hear your neighbor’s loud music?

Will they find your presentation boring?

Relax and take a deep breath.

You don’t have to figure out the answers to these questions by yourself. This guide will cover everything you need to know about planning and delivering engaging Zoom presentations without stress and anxiety!

After reading this article, you’ll be brimming with confidence and competence on your next Zoom presentation.

Table of contents :

The science behind your Zoom presentation anxiety

• Downloadable Zoom presentation checklist

Part 1: Tips on how to plan and prepare for your Zoom presentation

Part 2: tips during your zoom presentation.

• How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom
• Present with ease on Zoom using Piktochart presentations

Before we get into all the other Zoom presentation tips, perhaps the most important is to deal with your Zoom presentation anxiety. And you’re not alone – anxiety over Zoom presentations is more common than you think . 

A  2021 paper  on why students have difficulties learning during synchronous presentations over Zoom found that 80 percent of the students polled experienced anxiety and trouble focusing during their virtual classes. But what causes this worry? In a peer-reviewed article, Professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the  Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab , highlighted the  results of their research  and cited four primary reasons behind Zoom fatigue, stress, and anxiety:

• Your brain interprets excessive amounts of close-up eye contact during video chats as an “intense situation.”
• Like looking at the mirror, you become more critical of yourself as you see yourself on camera.
• Limited movements while you’re chained in your chair and table.
• Video chats require a higher cognitive load than face-to-face presentations. 

“You’ve got to make sure that your head is framed within the center of the video. If you want to show someone that you agree with them, you have to do an exaggerated nod or put your thumbs up. That adds cognitive load as you’re using mental calories in order to communicate,” shares Bailenson.

Finally, you have to consider tech troubles and presentation software fiascos, as well as dealing with the pressure of public speaking.

15 Zoom presentation tips and tricks to help you own the room like a pro

Now that you understand why Zoom presentations give you sweaty palms, let’s go through 15 actionable steps to prepare for the slides.

We created a checklist of the Zoom presentation tips so you can cross off each task.

Prefer video learning instead? Watch the video below.

The success of your Zoom presentation is the result of thoughtful planning and preparation.

Get ready for your online class, product webinar, or job interview on Zoom with the following pre-presentation tips:

1. Decide on the scope of your Zoom presentation

Before presenting on Zoom, ask yourself — what one particular idea or insight would you want your audience to learn from you?

“Defining the scope is the most critical step. What are the boundaries, what are the deliverables, what is the topic that you are covering?”, recommends Linda Parry Murphy , CEO of Product Launchers, Inc.

Trying to cover every subject will only make you more nervous.

Remember the Stanford study earlier about too much cognitive load as one of the reasons behind Zoom presentation anxiety?

Limiting the scope of your presentation can significantly reduce your cognitive load while keeping your audience focused on the key points.

2. Plan for the structure of your online presentation

It’s important to master the sequence and structure of your presentation as part of your preparation. Creating a framework guides the meeting participants so they understand what the data means, why it’s important, and what the implications are in this situation.

A solid structure in place also makes it easier to go back to what you’re saying. As a result, you will feel more confident because you can keep track of your talking points with a quick glance at your outline if you lose your train of thought.

Matt Abrahams, a lecturer in Organizational Behavior and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out , recommends the following examples of presentation structures that you can use:

• Past-Present-Future – review a process or share a timeline
• Comparison-Contrast – show the benefits of a certain idea, insight, product, or service
• Cause-Effect – explain the rationale behind a decision
• Problem-Solution-Benefit – motivate or convince your audience
• What?-So What?-Now What? – convince people to do a specific action after your presentation

Another simple presentation structure you can work on is to start with an introduction, the meat of your presentation where you can highlight 3 points, and wrap up with the summary and call-to-action.

3. Prepare your presentation visuals

Plenty of research and evidence shows that including images is more effective in getting your message across than written text or oral communications alone.

For instance, a captivating visual is  four times more effective  in conveying information than words alone. People remember 80 percent of what they see and do, compared to 20 percent through reading and 10 percent through hearing, respectively.

If your goal is to convince your audience during your Zoom presentation, you’ll also be delighted to know that using visuals can help you become more persuasive.

A Wharton School of Business research found that around a third of the audiences they polled felt that presenters who used visuals were more persuasive.

So remember that well-chosen images, even stock photos, can do wonders to augment your slides.

When making visuals for your presentation, use these questions as your guide:

• Is there an icon, illustration, or image that could represent your point in a more meaningful way?
• What types of diagrams , such as a timeline, flowchart, pie chart, arrows, or graphs, will help get your point across to your audience?
• Who are my target audiences? When choosing visuals for my presentation, are there certain cultural taboos or inappropriate humor that I should be aware of?

One more thing – consider using bullet points if you find slides with walls of text. They’ll be easier to digest without taking the focus away from you.

Present with ease (and minus the stress!) with Piktochart.

You don’t have to worry about how your online presentations will look like. Piktochart’s easy-to-edit templates will take care of the visual aspect for you.

4. Eliminate clutter in your surroundings

Staying in one place with no room to maneuver probably doesn’t spark joy for anyone. KonMari your environment by eliminating clutter on your desk and in the space around you. This means extra keyboards, unused notebooks, pens, food boxes, and books can go.

Eliminating clutter gives your brain the impression that there’s more room for you to move around during your Zoom event.

If the space you’re presenting in makes it difficult to clear off clutter, you could find a plain wall to present against. And if that’s not an option, you can use a clean virtual Zoom background . Keeping your surroundings out of sight means it’s out of mind for you and your audience; one less thing to worry about while presenting.

5. Do a tech prep

Presenting in Zoom while you’re at home or traveling is a technological wonder in itself. But technology can be frustrating at times too.

Spending some time optimizing your Zoom settings by clicking in the toolbar while you’re in a Zoom meeting. Under video settings, you’ll find a few options that can help with the visuals, such as focus assist.

Before your presentation, double-check the following:

• Make sure that your laptop, computer, lighting, headset, webcam, microphone, and internet connection are working. Have backup equipment if possible.
• Familiarize yourself with the Zoom app and other relevant software you’re going to use during the presentation.
• Close unnecessary browsers, applications, or software before the presentation. Turn off your laptop or desktop notifications. The goal is to optimize and speed up the device to have a smooth presentation.
• Prepare a PDF version of your presentation slides and have an extra copy of your presenter notes in case of technical mishaps with your slides. It also makes sense to have a short link to your presentation that you can share with the audience.
• Position your notes in the right spot so you know where to find them while presenting.
• Check Zoom settings and do a quick audio and video check.

6. Rehearse your presentation

After taking care of your surroundings and equipment, the next step is to prepare yourself.

Practicing your Zoom presentation in advance can help boost your confidence. Here are some tips to help you rehearse well for your presentation:

• Screen record yourself. Afterward, check your recorded video for technical issues, your body language, and whether or not your voice is audible or not.
• Practice with a family member or friend who can give feedback on any distracting nonverbal communication habits like too many hand gestures.
• Rehearse in the same room where you’ll be presenting. Use the same lighting, computer setup, and everything.
• Practice speaking to the camera, not your computer screen.

If you’re not used to face-to-face presentations, you could record your presentation and watch it back. I know, I know – it can feel so uncomfortable watching yourself. But a quick analysis will reveal if you use too many hand gestures, that can be distracting, and also if you need to reposition your camera so it shows your upper body while presenting.

The time has come for presentation day! You already know the ins and outs of your presentation, and you’ve practiced your Zoom presentation skills to a T. A couple of checks you can do before you start are:

• Make sure you’re in a quiet area to minimize any potential interruptions.
• Do a test call with a friend to check the internet connection and if you’ll stay connected.

Take note of the following tips and hacks to make your Zoom presentation engaging and anxiety-free during your webinar or talk:

7. Dress the part

Wear clothes that are appropriate for your presentation and audience. It also helps to be more mindful of your accessories and hairstyle. The outfits and accessories you wear during your Zoom meeting will speak volumes about you as a person.

For example, if you’re presenting to your coworkers, wear work clothes. If you’re pitching to a group of angel investors, wearing a tie can help convey that you’re serious and trustworthy. However, this may not be a good idea if you’re presenting to a group that is more open to change and tends to be more relaxed when it comes to conventional standards.

Another benefit of dressing the part is what you wear actually impacts how you think. Wearing formal clothes can improve abstract thinking and give you a broader sense of perspective, which is influential in helping you make better decisions.

8. Ditch the chair

Standing up when presenting in Zoom rather than sitting down helps you become more confident because you’re not hunched down on your chair.

Standing straight with your shoulders back also enables you to breathe easily, making your voice sound more powerful and confident. Finally, it allows you to move more and make explanatory gestures which is a charisma boost.

The more confident you appear in your presentation, the more confident you’re likely to feel.

“When your mind starts to feel more confident and powerful — it starts to see those challenging situations not as threats but as opportunities,” shares Harvard psychologist professor Amy Cuddy.

If you can’t stand up during your presentation, try to sit straight in your chair and back up your camera a little to show your upper body and not just your face.

9. Have a memorable introduction

National best-selling author and founder at Science of People Vanessa Van Edwards specifically recommends opening your presentation with IISSAAQQ to make it more memorable. IISSAAQQ stands for: 

• I cebreaker
• I llustration
• S hort story
• S tatistic or surprising fact
• A nalogy or metaphor

Bonus points if you can weave in humor with some background information with a relevant fact. Research found that more popular talks used humor 12.92 times, whereas less popular talks used humor only 3.92 times on average.

You don’t have to force a joke – humor could just be a play on words or surprising the audience with a funny image or meme that contrasts with a statement. Nothing breaks the ice better than laughter.

10. Look your audience in the eye (or rather your webcam)

Looking your audience in the eye is easier during face-to presentations than Zoom presentations. It can be a little tricky during online meetings because we tend to look at people’s faces on the computer screen. Maintain eye contact by looking into your webcam.

“A good idea is to lower the monitor camera a little so that you don’t have to tilt your head back to gaze up at it. If you can’t help looking at someone’s face on the screen instead of their camera, it helps to move the Zoom window to the part of the screen nearest to the camera so at least you’re looking at approximately the right place when you’re looking at their face,” shares Carol Kinsey Goman , Ph.D., executive coach and international keynote speaker.

You could treat the camera as if you were doing a face-to-face presentation. This way, it’ll be a bit simpler to hold eye contact with your audience when you’re not looking at your notes.

11. Think happy thoughts

Find ways to boost your mood before your presentation. Aside from helping you feel good (which in turn can boost your confidence), you’re also likely to smile often with happy thoughts. 

When you smile at your audience, they will also likely “mirror” your action and think happy thoughts. 

“Mirroring is relevant to our tendency to be empathetic. When I see you smiling, my mirror neurons for smiling fire up, and I get your state of mind right away. I feel it as you feel it. We need that mirroring in order to create a full empathic response to other people,” describes Marco Iacoboni , author of  Mirroring People  and UCLA professor. 

When you’re having a good time and sharing enthusiasm with your audience, they’ll reciprocate through their nonverbal communication. This means fewer folded arms and blank stares and more nodding along and smiles.

12. Delegate the chatbox

Have someone else take care of Zoom chat or manage the waiting room to keep you from being distracted. This person could be the meeting host, a colleague, or someone you trust who has your back during your presentation.

13. Engage your audience

A boring presentation is when there’s no interaction, and you’re being spoken at (hello, university lectures). You’ll be able to tell from everyone’s body language in the meeting room.

Make your presentation a two-way street. Here are some ways to encourage interaction and participation amongst your audience during your Zoom meetings:

• Ask questions. For example, if you’re presenting a team productivity software in Zoom, ask your audience about their top productivity problems at work. You can also use this time as an opportunity to transition to your next presentation slide.
• If you have a small audience, remember each person’s name and address them using their first names.
• Use visuals like illustrations, infographics, or a short video clip in your slide show. Tool recommendation : Use Piktochart Video to transform a long video into short clips.
• Use interactive quizzes while presenting online to change the pace and keep your audience engaged.

14. Talk like a human and avoid too much jargon

Alright, what does talking like a human mean in Zoom presentations?

For a start, avoid talking too much jargon and corporate speak. It makes you more relatable, keep your audience’s attention longer because your points will be easier to understand, and also helps you stand out from other presenters.

Just because you’re presenting in virtual meetings doesn’t mean you’re not talking to people. The only difference is you’re sharing your presentation in front of your camera instead of in front of the lecture room.

Next, improve your visual storytelling skills . Your presentation will be more memorable if you briefly share a story and pair it with visuals. Sign up for our free visual storytelling course . Check out the teaser video below.

15. Slow down

When you’re anxious and not too confident about your Zoom presentation, you’ll tend to speak fast, which in turn will make you more nervous. It’s a vicious cycle.

When presenting in Zoom, be mindful of your pace. Slowing down will not only take the edge off your nerves but also make you appear more confident.

Don’t be scared of pauses or gaps between your statements. Sometimes, you might need a sip of water to hydrate your throat. Other times, you could use the pauses as extra emphasis to drive key points.

Slowing down and changing up your talking pace will help you deliver an impactful presentation because you’ll have more control and be better able to drive the point home.

5 presentation examples and templates

To make presenting your Zoom presentation easy, here are some presentation templates and examples for inspiration.

Quarterly finance update

Have a big meeting coming up where you need to share sales performance and revenue figures? We’ve got you covered with this template.

It’s equipped with graphs where you can easily drop your revenue figures in and share performance with customizable graphs. There are also template slides for customer feedback and if your team is planning to introduce new processes.

Marketing strategy plan template

This marketing strategy slide deck is perfect if you’re onboarding a new client and want to walk them through your research, analysis, and proposed actions.

Group project

Presenting your collaborative project in a Zoom meeting to your classmates? Take the worry off so you can focus on sharing the results by using this science group project template .

Despite the name, you can use it for any kind of school or university project because the structure works for any type of research presentation. The template has slides for:

• Group introduction
• Your hypothesis/basis for the project
• Your theory
• How you tested the theory
• Key takeaways

Buyer persona template

The customer buying journey is always evolving, and you might need to present a case study to leadership or your team on recent findings. Our template makes it simple to share your customer’s story, as the template has slides for:

• The customer profile
• Motivations/goals
• Personal insights
• Responsibilities

Team update in the all-hands meeting

It’s common for managers, or project leads to update the company with their results in company meetings. In these cases, you might just need a single slide to share your progress.

This work breakdown structure template does the job, giving you space to share what your team’s objectives were, what the key results were, who was involved, and what the shipping date was for these goals.

How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom 

Step 1 : On the Piktochart editor, click Share to get the link to your presentation. 

By default, your presentation is not publicly visible.

Step 2 : Copy and paste the link into your browser bar. Then, click the Show Presentation button. This will launch in fullscreen presentation mode, and now you’re ready to shine. 

Step 3: Click Share Screen on your Zoom account and choose the browser with the Piktochart link.

For a visual demonstration, watch the short tutorial below with detailed instructions.

Ready to deliver your presentation? 

That’s it for our Zoom presentation tips; now over to you.

You have a brilliant idea or insight to present, and you need to share them with your audience in your next Zoom presentation. It’s high time you nail it with the virtual presentation tips we outlined in this guide. 

Take Piktochart for a test drive  today and create your next presentation slide minus the stress using our free presentation maker .

Kyjean Tomboc is an experienced content marketer for healthcare, design, and SaaS brands. She also manages content (like a digital librarian of sorts). She lives for mountain trips, lap swimming, books, and cats.

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11 Essential Tips for Presenting on Zoom

January 24, 2022 - Dom Barnard

A boss unwittingly disguised as a potato during Zoom meetings, cries of “you’re on mute!” and guest appearances by kids and pets, are among the hilarious anecdotes attached to this hugely popular app.

However, it becomes serious when you need to make a good impression in a virtual meeting, job interview or presentation.

Zoom became a massively popular communications tool for business, education and social meetings during the Pandemic. In 2020, there were  485 million Zoom downloads , which is 30 times more than the year before!

Of course, some of the top Zoom presentations tips apply equally well to in-person or online delivery. Such as establishing your end goals, preparing a flowing framework and strong content, then practising your speech more than once. However, there are particular advantages and disadvantages to Zoom, to get the right results for presenting online.

These Zoom presentation tips will help grow your competence, confidence and success.

1. Put some trousers on!

One of the great things about Zoom presentations is there is a degree of informality and comfort.

You can dress just your top half smartly, have a hot beverage just off-screen, and do your best public speaking in familiar surroundings.

One of the worst things about Zoom presentations is …there is a degree of informality and comfort!

You can find yourself easily distracted, lacking in focus and slower in your responses.

The best way to present well on Zoom – when the stakes are high – is to create a wholly business-like environment and attitude. Use a space in your home or field location that’s as bland and clinical as possible, with no potential noise disturbance. Dress smartly from head to toe to create the best mindset.

Site your technology in front of you and imagine it’s a lectern and a set of multi-media tools in a meeting room or lecture theatre.

2. Use the superpower of data

While you’re using technology to communicate or collaborate, it’s common sense to optimise ways to enhance your presentations.

As part of your extensive preparation for important Zoom meetings, consider what documents, images and graphics to share, to add credibility and professionalism to your pitch. Or, simply to hold the attention of a Zoom audience from start to finish.

Familiarise yourself with the Share Screen option on Zoom, and the best ways of displaying videos during a Zoom call, including advanced share methods for online presentations.

There are good Zoom share screen tips here, including how to add a video to presentations on Zoom.

Zoom presentations with visual content are  43% more persuasive . Also, 90% of the information we process comes from visual input. So your Zoom presentation materials could be what gets you that job, funding or agreement.

3. Non-verbal communications tips for Zoom

Don’t assume that online presentations release you from many of the body language pitfalls and best practices. The opposite is true, as you need to focus on non-verbal cues even more.

If you deliver your Zoom presentation in a rigid, static and clinical way, you are missing out on some of the best ways to be successful in communications.

People respond to people. Effective communication requires warmth, authenticity and establishing a strong personal connection with your audience. Being robotic when presenting online won’t help you to succeed.

If this is an intense online meeting, then showing empathy can also increase the engagement and openness you achieve.

How do you communicate non-verbally on Zoom?

Without going over the top, be purposeful and slightly exaggerated in your body language. Sit straight and lean subtly towards the screen. Never away from it and certainly no slumping, crossed arms or chin/elbow leaning!

Smile, nod and keep strong eye contact, including showing your attention passing from person to person across a split-screen. Use hand gestures and show subtle movement in your upper body to add emphasis to key points.

4. Verbal communications skills

Zoom presentations also make it too easy to slip into a monotone voice or race through a presentation. You may even find the process of talking to technology – not live people – causes you to ramble, or get lost in your ad-libs or Q&A responses.

Make sure you articulate clearly, add emphasis when needed, and generally modify your tone regularly but logically.

Don’t be afraid to leave small pauses to drive a point home, or to take a deep breath while you construct your next point. If you look directly at the screen and hold eye contact, this ‘white space’ is perfectly acceptable.

5. Is everyone listening?

One of the most important presentation skills, in general, is reading the room. Is your potential boss or buyer looking bored? Are the panel of decision-makers getting confused? In contentious presentations, being able to spot your biggest dissenter from their non-verbal communication can help you shift your focus to winning them over.

It’s challenging to gain that sort of body language intel from online meetings. So, the best Zoom presentations compensate for that.

It can be as simple as adding more direct questions to your content and literally pausing regularly to ask your audience about queries or concerns. Make your questions open-ended, not a yes or no response.

“Let’s take a minute. What else do you need to know about that part of my presentation?”

Also, keep Zoom presentations succinct, flowing and animated. Your audience will drift away subconsciously if your delivery is pedestrian or you talk for too long without involving them.

Remember, attention spans are even shorter on technology!

Practice your video presentation and get feedback on your performance with  VirtualSpeech .

6. Opening Zoom presentations with pizazz

No, this doesn’t refer to grabbing your audience’s attention with a juggling trick or wearing your most colourful or glamourous finery.

How you start a Zoom presentation sets the tone. If you instantly engage their interest with a compelling opening, the attention and engagement last.

This should primarily be 100% clarity on the purpose of your presentation and the desired outcome. As well as establishing your credibility and methods to achieve the end goal.

Vague introductions and slowly revealing your key points drains your time and your audience’s attention.

What makes a good opening for Zoom presentations?

7. Icebreakers

You can’t shake their hand, but you can issue a quick, warm greeting and a short, relevant fact about yourself that helps them to warm to you.

8. Storytelling techniques

These work for a myriad of business communication tasks. Give a short (that word again) anecdote or illustration, to give context to your Zoom presentation. That could be about you, your product or the outcome you are requesting, for example.

9. Meaningful quotes in presentations

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw.

Good quotes can work!

10. High impact fact

Another great opening for Zoom presentations is a little known fact or ‘behind the scenes’ secret that grabs attention. Did you know,  one-third of adults still sleep with a ‘comforter’  like a soft toy or blanket? (Not relevant to many presentations but it’s a memorable statistic that caught OUR attention.)

Wake your audience up with something they want to remember – and share with others – and they will be alert and ready to listen.

11. End Zoom presentations correctly

One last piece of advice on Zoom presentations. Don’t get so relieved when you get to the end, that you forget your call to action.

All communication should include an invitation of some kind, in clear language. What would you like your audience to do, now your Zoom time is over? Tell them that and thank them for your attention, with one last warm smile.

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How to Be Effective and Keep Participants Engaged When Presenting Remotely

Posted august 23, 2021 by eleanor hecks.

Whether you’re doing a more traditional presentation via Zoom , giving a live interview, or conducting a webinar, the experience is very different from doing so in person. There won’t be a physical audience in front of you, and sometimes timing is extremely challenging to sync up — people often try to talk over others during conference calls. What’s more, it can be just as difficult to convey the appropriate emotions and body language, especially when just the top half of you — or sometimes even just your head — is visible.

It makes one wonder: What are some things you can do to prepare for the presentation or conference? Are there any tips you should keep in mind during the live event? What else should you know?

How to prepare your Zoom presentation

The planning phase is one of the most critical, as it’s where you’ll decide your topics, your major discussion beats, and where you’ll elaborate. You may not be using a teleprompter, but you will be creating a loose script. In addition, you’ll need to create the media that will go along with your presentation, which should be error-free, captivating, and on point.

Here are some tips to improve planning and design:

1. Design for everyone

While creating your media — the slides — understand that you are creating for a wide audience who will likely be tuning in from multiple devices and platforms. The media is going to look very different on a large, HD-ready computer monitor than it will on a smartphone or tablet. Design the content, images, and layouts so that they are compatible and friendly for all. Someone browsing on their phone should be able to see precisely the same information as someone on a laptop or computer.

Be sure to test out your presentation on different devices and resolutions. Also, try to remember that too much screen time can cause focus and stimulation problems in both children and adults. Try to limit the total presentation time, so that it’s accommodating for everyone.

2. Tone down the visuals

Yes, every presentation needs captivating visual content to go along with the text and audio. But you don’t want it to take away from the meat of the experience. It’s okay to use maps, charts, graphs, videos, photos, including stock images, GIFs, memes, and more.

Just don’t overdo it on a single slide. Try to keep it relatively confined so your audience doesn’t go into a stimulation overload. If they’re trying to read a ton of text, listen to you speak, and process several images — especially animated ones — things can get really hectic.

3. Get your area ready

On a live stream, everything around you is as much the star of the show as you. Figurines, pictures on the wall, and even clutter will all feature prominently unless you alter the background — which Zoom allows you to do. Be sure to tidy up your space before the event and remove anything from the frame that you don’t want your audience to see.

4. Brighten up the room

Webcams, even UHD cams, tend to work much better in bright conditions. If you haven’t already, open your blinds to let in some natural light. Test out the camera conditions beforehand to see whether it’s too bright, or not enough. If you’re using a laptop, you can move around your home to find the best spot.

Audiences should have a clear view of your face. Most importantly, they should be able to see when you’re speaking and what gestures you’re making.

5. Test your equipment

You can make a test call to a friend or family member, or just test out the equipment locally, but make sure everything is working. Check your audio and your microphone, be sure the video is clear and bright, check your internet signal and speeds, and ensure all equipment is plugged in and not running on battery power. You should be doing this as close to the conference or event as possible. It doesn’t help if you check out your equipment days in advance and then run into issues the day of.

People do not like to encounter technical errors. For instance, when a page’s load speed increases by just 1-3 seconds, the bounce rate also increases by 32% . A 5-second increase boosts that bounce rate to 90%. So, the longer it takes to set up your presentation and get things moving, the more likely it is that people will tune you out or leave altogether.

6. Rehearse

Practice in front of a mirror, or hop on a call with friends and family and allow them to provide feedback. Never go into a presentation unprepared, especially if you’ve never given one before via Zoom or anywhere.

7. Create a checklist

A checklist is always a good way to review what you need to get done before an event or activity. Professionals use them to avoid costly mistakes , and you should be taking inspiration from that.

Try to remember every small detail or requirement that you need to complete before the presentation. You can even create a multi-tier checklist that deals with before, during, and after the big event.

Hosting the Zoom presentation

So, you’re all ready for the big event? Now, it’s time to make sure everything goes smoothly during your presentation. Here are some helpful tips.

1. Speak plainly

It helps if you write the script or guidelines similar to how you will be presenting, however, you should speak plainly and enunciate as much as possible. Unless the subject matter explicitly calls for it, try to avoid industry or specialized jargon. That will also mitigate how much you need to explain or move off-topic. Furthermore, it ensures your entire audience can follow along, regardless of skill level or expertise.

2. Minimize potential interruptions

You can’t control what happens on the other end of that presentation, but you can certainly control things on your side. Try to mitigate potential distractions as much as possible. Put your phone on silent. Wear headphones so there’s no audio echo or distortion. Close your door or isolate yourself so no one comes in to interrupt. You might also consider turning on Do Not Disturb mode on your computer to pause notifications during the meeting.

3. Keep your materials handy

Two points. First, you want to keep your notes or script handy so that if you get stuck you can continue with little to no pause. Second, those materials should be in a place that has you facing the camera. If you have a document up on a monitor, for example, you don’t want to be glancing sideways all the time to read what’s next.

Situate the screen and camera so they’re at the same angle, so you’re constantly looking at the camera while you read. It’s a lot easier to do with a laptop because the camera is usually in the top bezel. With a desktop, you might have to move your display(s) around, or reposition your webcam. If you’re using a phone or tablet, you should have those propped up on a stand or tripod to keep them stable.

4. Dress to impress

Dress just as you would if you were paying a visit to the office or making a presentation in public. Put on the whole outfit too, and not just the shirt, because you never know what’s going to happen. If the camera falls, you don’t want it to expose that you’re just wearing underpants along with that collared shirt.

5. Have your media ready

It’s a simple tip, but a crucial one. Have your slides and other media ready to go and queued up for sharing. Don’t wait until the presentation to get things in order. You should be able to swap to the necessary screen, share the content, and go. Have all hyperlinks, videos, and interactive elements prepared beforehand, as well.

6. Pause for effect and questions

After each major beat, pause for a moment to allow your audience to ask questions, raise concerns, or ask for you to reiterate the message. This is much more difficult when you’re dealing with a large audience, but most Zoom meetings are relatively intimate with a local group.

7. Pay attention to chat

Alongside every Zoom event or meeting, there is a live chat window that can sometimes be forgotten if you’re busy focusing on your presentation. Don’t neglect it. Your audience may be asking more questions, providing valuable feedback, or even pointing out something wrong — like your mic cutting out.

8. Record your presentation

Make sure you’re recording the presentation to reference later, not just for everyone else but for yourself too. It allows you to rewatch the feed to review questions and commentary, and also to perceive your mannerisms and dynamic content. You can use that information to build a better presentation later.

9. Leverage the Zoom tools

There’s a host of tools you can use with Zoom , including screen sharing, annotations, live polling, and much more. Incorporate them into your presentation whenever possible, and don’t forget they exist! They can help make the experience more fun, engaging, and memorable.

10. Keep it interesting

It’s easy when you’re talking, especially about dull subjects, to lose your audience. One way to keep them invested and interested is to add the occasional “boom” moment. It’s an impactful instant, like a shocking statistic, joke, or alarming point, that ties together everything you’ve been talking about up until that moment.

The follow-up

After the presentation is completed, don’t make the mistake of thinking your work is all done. The first thing to do is make the media and the recording of the presentation available so that anyone who wants to can go back and review the experience.

Next, you need channels in place to collect feedback. People will have follow-up questions and concerns, and they may want you to clarify certain points. Also, you’ll want people to share their experiences. What did they enjoy? What did they dislike? How could you have improved as a presenter? Don’t be too scared to ask these questions, as they’ll help improve your Zoom presentation skills.

Finally, consider wrapping it all up with a nice bow by giving away free content or materials to those who attended the event, like a free e-book written by you or your colleagues, or a promo code to your storefront.

With these ideas in mind, you’ll be ready to knock your next Zoom presentation or remote meeting out of the park!

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Eleanor Hecks

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Zoom presentation tips to bring human connection into virtual meetings

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Līva Luriņa November 01, 2021

Gartner has acknowledged Zoom as a leader in meeting solutions for the sixth year in a row. That’s well deserved, as it’s pretty challenging to find a person in the digital world who’s never joined a Zoom meeting.

In a sea of countless Zoom presentations , it’s crucial to stand out in order to succeed. But what’s the best way to tell your story, engage your audience, and avoid virtual meeting fatigue ? Through personal connection.

Read on to learn the nine best Zoom presentation tips to help you build a human connection in the era of virtual meetings and discover 11 handy Zoom hacks to advance your Zoom presentation skills.

1. Do your homework

The most important Zoom presentation tip is to think about your audience before thinking about the slides. You need to understand their expectations to bring value and build a real connection.

Consider things about your audience such as:

• What do they need or want from your Zoom presentation?
• Challenges or fears they face
• Tone of voice or vocabulary that is the most appropriate to use
• Examples or stories can they relate to

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can design your presentation accordingly. It’s a good idea to modify your presentation each time you face a new group of people.

2. Tell a story

There’s no better way to create an emotional connection with the audience than telling a story. Including storytelling in presentations will also help them better understand and remember information that’s important both in business and education.

But how do you actually include a story in your presentation? To really unlock all the potential, the storyline has to be connected to your main goal and, following the best Zoom presentation tips, carried throughout the whole presentation.

First, clarify what emotion you want to evoke, whether it’s surprise, joy, desire, anger, or anything else. Think of relatable examples, statistics, jokes, or experiences that will resonate with your audience. When you see people nodding their heads, that’s usually a sign that you’re nailing the presentation, and you’ve made an emotional connection with your audience (or they’re practicing active listening skills :)).

Elena Valentine, CEO of Skillscout, uses Prezi Video to show the importance of storytelling in presentation and shares some tips to help you hone in on using story as the ultimate attention grabber. Learn all about it in here video.

3. Visual vs. textual information 

Zoom presentations with visual aids are 43% more persuasive than those without. The human brain loves visuals – they make it easier to quickly process the message compared to slides with text. Also, ideas presented graphically are easier to comprehend and remember than those presented through text alone.

To bring the human connection to your Zoom presentation, you need all eyes on you. If your audience is focused on reading lines or bulleted lists on the screen, they are more likely not paying attention to what you’re saying.

That’s why it’s important to include visual information in your slides. Here are some Zoom presentation tips about types of visuals for your slides:

• Data visualizations. Charts and graphs are your best friends if you want to communicate data and numbers. Prezi’s data visualization tools can help you with that – easily create designs to support your story and make your presentation more delicious.

• Maps . Turn geographical data and insights into interactive maps for cities, regions, or even whole continents – our brains love the data associated with reality.
• Images and videos. These visual assets are a must-have in presentations to explain how things work, emphasize the idea, or draw attention to your message. Your choice of images will impact the emotional connection with the audience, so choose them wisely.
• Graphic elements. Flowcharts, diagrams, icon blocks, notes, and other features are excellent ways to communicate processes, plans, or ongoing situations. Combine your story with these elements, and you can be sure your message will be apparent to everyone.
• GIFs and stickers. Sometimes one GIF can express more than words could say. They are super helpful if you want to create an exact image in the audience’s head. For example, imagine a presentation about monthly sales performance and this GIF on the first slide:

This celebratory GIF is a great way to kick things off and get your team excited to hear the rest of your presentation. 

4. Let your audience hear and see you

Another Zoom presentation tip regards what your audience can see and hear. It’s best to come off as professional as possible.

Good lighting conditions don’t mean spotlights all around you. Natural light is the best tool to look good in a virtual presentation . Make sure you sit near the window but avoid having it behind your back as it will create a shadow. If the natural lighting isn’t an option, play around with your lamps – even a cheap ring light can make a huge difference. Watch this video to learn how to create the best video lighting and more.

Now, when your audience can see you, make sure they can hear you as well. There’s nothing worse than watching a Zoom presentation when the speaker has disruptive noise in the background or a squeaky mic.

In the video below, we explain the best ways to make a crisp and clear sound when you’re presenting. Even more, Zoom has several ways you can improve your audio – look for more Zoom presentation tips and hacks at the end of this article.

5. Make sure your Zoom presentation flows

This Zoom presentation tip works well with storytelling. Everything you say and show should have a good segue – both your story and your presentation slides.

Rather than transitioning through slides linearly, use Prezi’s presentation templates to have a more conversational presentation. You can create various flows and zoom in on a topic to go deeper. Or, let the conversation guide you and jump straight into the most relevant topics that your audience is interested in.

In his video, Brian Fanzo, Digital Futurist and keynote speaker, covers how to avoid coming off as scripted in an online presentation. Watch his video here for more: 

6. Body language is worth a thousand words

Body language has an enormous impact on how your audience perceives your Zoom presentation. Jessica Chen, Founder and CEO of Soulcast Media in her Prezi video explains that body language determines up to 60% of how we receive the information presented, whereas the choice of words makes only 7% and tone of voice only 33%. 

There are many ways you can mindfully use your body language during presentations. One of the top Zoom presentation tips is to stick something eye-catching next to your laptop camera so you can hold eye contact with the audience. To look confident and persuasive, move slowly, fluidly, create space between your shoulders and ears, and keep your head straight. And most importantly – use your hands, especially at the start of your video call. It will create a warm and safe place both for you and your audience.

7. Don’t hide behind the slides

It’s hard to make your presentation personal if you’re just a small rectangle in the corner of the Zoom window. All your audience can see on their screen is a giant slide with information and data. 

Using your body language is a key Zoom presentation tip, that’s why you should forget about sharing your screen and display your content right next to you. This makes a more memorable experience and impactful presentation. Prezi Video is the right tool for that – easily drag and drop the content you’d like to show or use our templates to build presentations that will amaze your audience.

8. Activate your audience

Another great Zoom presentation tip to keep your audience engaged is through conversational presenting with interactions. Once in a while, stop presenting to talk with your audience and allow them to ask questions or clarify something. Encourage them to use the Zoom chat or respond to a poll .

Zoom breakout rooms are an excellent choice for online workshops or training sessions. Participants can discuss the topics from your presentation in greater detail and express their ideas, enabling collaborative learning and knowledge sharing.

However, not everyone feels comfortable speaking up. Using Prezi Video during online meetings allows your audience to share instant reactions – images, GIFs , text, or stickers. By organizing that kind of interactivity in your Zoom meeting, everyone can participate and raise the level of energy in the meeting.

For more tips on activating your audience on Zoom, watch this Prezi video by Rich Mulholland, founder of the presentation company Missing Link: 

9. Create, rehearse, present

You can agree on or not with Malcolm’s Gladwell “ 10,000-hour rule “, but one thing is clear – the more you present, the better you become at it.

Once you’ve created your presentation content, rehearse it. You can use Prezi Video to record yourself before going live to Zoom so that you can see yourself in action. Practice where you’ll add pauses, ask the audience a question, or make a joke. Think about what tone of voice you should use to keep the audience focused and what your body language is saying.

You can even record your presentation and review it later to gauge how you can improve it. Practice makes perfect.

Selling on video expert, Julie Hansen, shares Zoom presentation tips for more effective sales meetings in her video here: 

11 Zoom presentation hacks for even better meetings

Add prezi virtual camera.

Download Prezi Video desktop app and connect Prezi Virtual Camera with your Zoom . After that, you can instantly share your content and ideas with you on screen, making everything from internal updates, trainings, and sales pitches more interesting.

Change your Zoom virtual background

To jazz up your Zoom presentation, you can create and upload your own virtual background image . Surprise coworkers with your office’s picture in the background, join a meeting from a sunny beach in Spain, or create a professional-looking background as your business card. Use one of our virtual background templates to get started.

Test the sound

It’s always a good idea to test your mic before joining a Zoom meeting. Go Zoom Settings > Audio and test both your microphone and speakers. This way, you can avoid that awkward “Can you hear me?” moment at the start of your meeting.

Spacebar to mute/unmute

Forget about those awkward moments when you’re trying to find the mic to unmute yourself and say something quickly. One nifty Zoom presentation tip: hit the spacebar and hold it to unmute yourself as you speak.

Turn off video and audio by default

Avoid that “first look tension” when joining a Zoom meeting. Go to Settings > Audio and mute your mic when joining a meeting to control the first sound. Under the Settings > Video settings, check the “ Stop my video when joining the meeting ” so that you can always greet your team with a smile and a wave.

Hide non-video participants

During large team meetings or all-hands, it’s nice to see other coworkers in your Zoom window. To avoid a cluttered screen with static images and videos, you can hide meeting participants without video from the gallery view. Go to Settings > Video and click Hide non-video participants . Now you can enjoy live reactions and people around you all meeting long.

Hide your self-view during Zoom presentations

In Zoom meetings, we tend to pay too much attention to how we look. It can be a real distraction and steal the focus of the presenter. To avoid that, press the three dots button on your video and choose Hide Self View . This will create a more natural feeling, as you most likely wouldn’t look in the mirror during a face-to-face meeting.

Share your screen with confidence

Eliminate notifications like messages or ads popping out when you’re sharing your screen. If you’re using a Mac, we recommend turning on Do Not Disturb mode , and for Windows users, use Focus Assist to avoid unnecessary pop-ups.

Mute all participants

It’s common for someone to have their mic on by accident, which can cause unwelcome distractions like background conversations, traffic sounds, or a barking dog. Skip these moments and mute everyone: hit Command+Control+M on Mac or Alt+M on PC.

Ensure the best visual quality

To ensure the best presentation quality, always go on Fullscreen mode . It’s especially important when presenting data during a meeting or explaining complicated graphs with small text.

Use reactions to interact

Small things matter, especially when you want your virtual presentation to have more human connection. Though Zoom allows you to use reactions like applause, love, thumbs up, and others, you can unlock even more interactivity with Prezi Video. Encourage your audience to share comments, GIFs, or any image during your presentation, allowing them to react and give feedback without unmuting or affecting meeting time.

Put these Zoom presentation tips into action

With more presentations happening online than ever before, it’s important to understand the basics of Zoom and how it affects your presentations. Learn more Zoom presentation tips when you visit the Prezi Video Gallery or get started by creating your first Zoom presentation today.  

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10 Secret Zoom Tips for Masterful and Stress-Free Online Presenting

Zoom Tips that will Save Your Online Meeting (and your sanity)

Unless you were lucky enough to live in a remote tropical cave for the first half of 2020, there’s a high probability that your work environment was somewhat impacted by the Coronavirus lockdown extravaganza.

As a work-from-home employee and entrepreneur with over 10 years of presenting online under my belt, this transition didn’t really affect me (other than taking me off the road for exotic speaking engagements ).

But based on the rapidly growing subculture of epic Zoom fails , it’s clear that this drastic change in our meeting environment has resulted in more than a few series of unfortunate events.

It’s a challenging — and hilarious — new landscape, from employees being forced to dial in from bathrooms and basements, to extricating flung spaghetti from your hair by tiny bored humans, to partners walking up to your desk in their skivvies.

Not to mention my personal favorite: a boss irreversibly transforming herself into a potato for the duration of her online team meeting.

Luckily, Zoom has risen to the occasion with a slew of new features to help alleviate the brewing frustration across the remote corporate landscape. And, these features are not all immediately obvious.

So in addition to my 3 tips for surviving online presenting from home podcast episode, I’ve gone deep with this list of the most helpful Zoom tips, tricks, and settings that will help you keep your online meeting (and your sanity) on track. We’re gonna do this countdown style:

My Top 10 Most Useful Zoom Tips for Sane Online Presentations

The settings you’ll see listed here are located in either your Zoom desktop app preferences , found here:

…or in your Zoom.us web account settings , where you’ll need to access your account in a browser here:

#10: Present your slide deck using a second monitor

Ok, so this first tip isn’t a Zoom tip, per se. But presenting my slide decks using dual monitors was a game-changing move in my virtual meetings because it enabled me to use my favorite PowerPoint feature: Presenter View.

Presenter View (available in PowerPoint and Google Slides) allows you to privately display your current slide, your next slide, your Speaker Notes, and a storyboard of future slides. You also get a prominent clock and timer to stay on point.

This is an incredibly valuable feature while presenting in an online environment because it prevents you from getting distracted with remembering your next slide, or having really awkward transitions when you didn't see the next slide coming.

Presenter View allows you to stay present with the content on your current slide and smoothly transition to the next one…and even build some anticipation along the way!

But if you only have one monitor for your online meetings, the audience will see all of that too, which completely defeats the purpose.

If you use dual monitors, you can set Zoom to share your full-screen presentation deck to the audience while your second monitor displays Presenter View only to you :

To do this, you would plug in a second monitor, activate Presenter View in PowerPoint (or Google Slides), and then select the presentation application window that shows your deck full-screen . Here you can see the full-screen version of my slide deck to the right of Presenter View:

So, dig up that gaming monitor your teenager abandoned after upgrading his Fortnite battlestation or find a super cheap unit online. Your online presentation ante will be forever upped, trust me.

#9: Turn off audio, video, and the notification chime when you and your attendees join the meeting

When I’m presenting online during a meeting, I like to dial in a few minutes early to get everything set up. But because I live in a busy home, sometimes my background environment isn’t completely settled.

Keeping audio and video off upon entry allows you to get your home presentation environment under control while prepping your slides.

To mute your audio and video when joining an online meeting:

• Open your Zoom desktop application and go to Preferences >> Video.
• Under Meetings, check the box labeled “Turn off my video when joining a meeting” .
• While you’re there, check the box next to “Touch up my appearance” under My Video, which provides a subtle and delightful airbrush effect to your skin. I was shocked to see how many search engine searches there are for “how to look good on Zoom”. There you go, insta-smooth!
• Next, go to the Audio menu.
• Make sure the setting that says “ Mute microphone when joining a meeting ” is checked.

How to turn off everyone else’s video and audio upon entry:

• Go to Zoom.us in a browser >> Your Account >> Settings (you won’t find this in your desktop application).
• Under In Meeting (Basic), look for the Scheduling section.
• Toggle both the Host Video and Participant Video setting to OFF.
• Scroll further down the menu to Mute Participants upon Entry and toggle this to OFF as well.

Now you can rest assured that if you or your attendees dial in with a rogue child screaming and running naked behind your chair, you have time to shuttle them out of the room without causing an online scene. (True story, not mine.)

I also suggest disabling that cheery “Ding dong!” entry notification for attendees, especially for larger meetings with a formal presentation.

Hearing when someone joins is useful for small or 1:1 meetings, and absolutely exasperating for quarterly business readouts and department-wide town halls.

To do this, go to your Zoom web account settings and toggle the “Sound notification when someone joins or leaves” setting to OFF.

#8: Appoint someone else to monitor the Waiting Room and take notes

The sudden explosion in quarantine Zoom meetings gave rise to an unintended consequence: Zoom bombings. Suddenly, meetings around the globe were unintentionally — and unfortunately, intentionally — interrupted by people who do not belong in those meetings.

So, Zoom implemented the “ Waiting Room ” by default to prevent would-be bombers from wreaking online meeting havoc. When someone attempts to join your meeting, they show up at the top of the Participant window with a blue button labeled “Admit”.

The downside of this feature, however, is that if you’re not watching the Participant window while you’re presenting online, people will get stuck in virtual limbo.

This happens a lot because attendees frequently lose their internet connections and try to rejoin. Trying to monitor the Waiting Room while staying focused on your slides is a recipe for distraction disaster.

That’s why my Zoom tip is to appoint an attending colleague to stay vigilant on the Waiting Room and admit attendees so you can stay laser-focused on your presentation.

You can appoint the same person to take detailed notes during your meeting, a strategy I recommend in my Data Presentation + Storytelling Boot Camp course. This way you can feel confident that no important questions, concerns, or follow-ups are missed while you’re dropping your brilliance on your online audience.

#7: Spotlight your video when you’re sharing your screen

If you’re presenting online with a slide deck, it’s helpful to keep everyone’s screen locked onto your screen.

This will ensure that attendees stay focused on your slides or videos and aren’t getting distracted with spying on the hottie from Email Marketing.

During the meeting, roll over your own video window to show three dots and click Spotlight Video.

Note: You must be either the Host or a Co-Host in order to Spotlight screens. This is a powerful feature, so wield it wisely.

#6: Automatically save the Chat Log

When the Host ends a Zoom meeting, the Chat history is completely lost unless you take measures to save it. It’s vital for follow-up that important questions and comments don’t get lost.

Zoom can automatically save your meeting chat logs in your web account settings under In Meeting (Basic):

• Go to the Chat section >> Auto saving chats
• Toggle the very concise “Automatically save all in-meeting chats so that hosts do not need to manually save the text of the chat after the meeting starts” setting to ON.

NOTE: This Zoom tip also saves all messages sent privately, so make sure your audience knows that before they make secret virtual dinner date plans during your meeting.

#5 Know whom you’re messaging in Chat

Many people don’t seem to know yet that when you message someone privately or they message you privately, your next message will be sent directly to that person . I can’t tell you how many times people have sent me private messages intended for other attendees or the whole group.

Depending on the message’s subject matter, this can get embarrassing quickly.

Be mindful of whom you’re about to message by keeping your eye on the prompt above your Chat message window. If the word (privately) is in red, you’re about to send a private message to whomever is in the dropdown.

You’re welcome.

#4: Use Zoom keyboard shortcuts outside of Zoom

There is an smorgasbord of Zoom keyboard shortcuts to make presenting online go more smoothly. I highly recommend getting acquainted with the ones you may find most useful.

But none of them are available if you are actively presenting from PowerPoint, Google Slides, a dashboard tool or a website.

Zoom gives you the option to enable “Global Shortcuts”, which are tremendously helpful for controlling audio while you’re in other windows.

You'll find this Zoom setting in your desktop application preferences and the Keyboard Shortcuts menu. Click to enable all of the shortcuts available:

This feature is especially important if you’re going to use the three most killer Zoom keyboard shortcuts in the world, starting with…

#3: Quickly mute your audio and video

Often meeting hosts neglect to mute the whole meeting and struggle with relaxing ambient noise from the participants like construction, potato chip munching, or in my case, bored kids buzzing around our property on ATV's like giant mutant bumblebees.

So I’m mindful to go on mute anytime I’m not speaking, and the fastest way to do this is with the following keyboard shortcut:

To mute your audio:

• For Windows / PC: ALT – A
• For Mac: CMD – CTRL – A

And if you want to pause your video:

• For Windows / PC: ALT – V
• For Mac: CMD – CTRL – V

Even faster than those, however, is the ability to…

#2: Temporarily unmute yourself

If I could marry a Zoom keyboard shortcut, this one would be The One. As an attendee, I can’t count how many times I’ve been randomly called upon to chime in while on mute like everyone else.

Cue snapping to attention, scrambling for my mouse, trying to aim and click accurately on the Unmute button, and fumble through my response. No more, I say!

All you need to do to temporarily unmute yourself is press and hold the SPACE key. Then release to go back on mute. That’s it. Seriously.

Make sure this shortcut is activated in your Zoom desktop settings:

The only downside of this killer Zoom trick is that now, someone who wasn’t really paying attention won’t be able to rely on ye olde “Uh, sorry I was on mute” delaying excuse.

And last but not in the least of least of Zoom tips…

#1: Mute everyone at once (except the Host)

Bar none, this Zoom keyboard shortcut is the MOST useful and MOST underrated of Zoom tips.

When you’re presenting online to an audience of 10, 20, or 70, the last thing you want to have to do is individually mute every participant while making everyone wait.

Nor do you want to keep reminding everyone with, “Guys, I’m hearing some background noise / possessed children / circus music right, can y’all please mute?”

No, no, no. Very disruptive and distracting, which is the kiss of death during virtual presentations.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts for muting all attendees in one fell swoop:

For Windows / PC: ALT – M

For Mac: CMD – SHIFT – M

Note that this does NOT put you, or the host, on mute.

I guarantee that these final three Zoom tips will help you shave minutes of frustration and awkwardness off of your online meetings.

Keep Your Audience on Point with these Zoom Tips

To make these Zoom tricks easier to remember for everyone, you can paste all of this information into the Zoom chat window at the beginning of the online meeting like so:

Hey everyone! Thanks for joining today. Here are a few quick tips to make participating as smooth as possible:

• Open the Participants and Chat windows to see important instructions and information.
• If you have a question or comment, please use the Raise Hand feature by hovering over your name in the Participants window.
• If you message someone privately or they message you, remember that unless you change it, you will message them back directly.
• Note that we are recording this meeting and all messages sent through Chat for reference later.

Throw in an emoji or two to gain their attention and add some personality. Giving this information to your attendees in an organized manner like this will do wonders for your reputation as a virtual virtuoso.

Here is a list of a zillion more helpful Zoom keyboard shortcuts by OS if you wish to attain Zoom Black Belt status.

Download a Free Zoom Tip Cheat Sheet and Meeting Kickoff Script

Now, I realize this is a lot to remember, so I’ve created a few resources for you to keep handy at your desk for every meeting.

To download a keyboard shortcut cheat sheet with all of these ultra-useful Zoom tips — plus my invaluable Meeting Kickoff Superhero Script for how to engage your audience during an online presentation — click below to request your free copy:

And if you’re a team leader who’s ready to watch their team absolutely nail presenting online, book a call with me to create a customized training solution for successful and seamless online presentations and meetings.

Final Thoughts on Zoom Tips to Make Online Presenting Sane Again

I hope you'll find these tips for presenting remotely with Zoom helpful in these unique circumstances. In the dubious words of some ancient Persian dude, this too shall pass…sort of. While we will go back to work in full force one day, it will probably never look quite like the way it did before.

That’s because this extraordinary period in human history has set a precedent for companies to reevaluate their resistance to telecommuting. As a result, they will likely offer hybrid arrangements to their increasingly global workforce.

So, remote working is here to stay, and the most impactful thing you can do as a virtual presenter is empower yourself with Zoom tips like these to knock your next online meeting out of the park.

Or the broom closet, if that's your thing.

PS – Since remote work is the way of the future, you can look for your next role over at Jooble .

Tired of spending time trying to figure out how to quickly create powerful data presentations that don't turn your audience into raving zombies?

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The Ultimate Guide to Giving Virtual Presentations on Zoom

An irreverent and shockingly-actionable companion for anyone who wants to communicate to invisible audiences through a laptop screen.

I read a lot of “ultimate guides to X.” Most are not ultimate. Most aren’t even very readable. This is different. Oli Gardner has put together an extraordinary resource for both newcomers and experienced speakers. If you apply the tactics in this guide, I promise you’ll be among the best presenters online (or off) at your next engagement.

— Rand Fishkin. Co-founder & CEO, SparkToro.

What’s in the guide?

17 Chapters

29,584 words

84 Screenshots

Roughly speaking—and by that I mean super specific—the Ultimate Guide to Giving Virtual Presentations on Zoom contains six thematic parts, seventeen chapters, 29,584 words, eighty four precision-crafted interface screenshots to show you how to do cool things, high-production instructional videos full of fun, insights, marvellous techniques to marvel at, and did I mention that it’s twenty nine thousand, five hundred and eighty four words long?

Wait. If I add this paragraph to the number it’s actually 29,656. So, roughly speaking, it’s awesome.

This guide is actually free . I’m not asking for an email address. Helping you be a better presenter is my goal.

My only ask is that you consider sharing it with others, if you like the guide.

A few highlights from the guide

18 Zoom Features

Cool Zoom Features You Should Know About

Learn how to use the lesser-known features of Zoom for a more dynamic presentation.

7 Bad Techniques

Things to Avoid Doing in a Virtual Presentation

Learn the most common mistake in a virtual presentation and how to avoid making them.

13 Good Techniques

Definitely Do These Things When Presenting

With a few simple techniques you can drastically improve your chances of pulling off a successful virtual presentation on Zoom. And no, I don’t expect you to build an actual stage like I did, but you can at least put a plant in the background.

Your Talk’s Purpose

Create Experience Moments

A key trait of successful speakers is that they understand their personal brand. They know what they represent, how they want to be perceived, and what success looks for them. This leads directly into how we should be designing our talk experiences.

Presentation Structure, Story, & Flow

Learn how to craft a story arc by reducing your big idea to it’s simplest form and chunking it into structured elements.

40 Slide Design Tips

Slide Design Tips for Virtual Presentations

Take a deep dive into the art of presentation design in this incredibly actionable chapter that will elevate your skills overnight. And yes, there are forty tips in this chapter alone.

Real People

Virtual Audience Engagement

They may be invisible, but they’re still there, and they’re still real people who want to have a good time. Learn techniques for audience participation and five simple tricks to help maintain eye contact while presenting virtually.

Audio & Video

Create Professional Recordings of Your Talks

Learn the six elements of a great presentation recording. Plus techniques, tools, and lists of equipment you need to record professional high-resolution videos of your talks. It also covers editing in post-production, and how to add closed captions for enhanced accessibility.

6 Whoopsies

What to Do When Things Go Wrong

There are many things that can go wrong in a virtual presentation, most of them technical in nature. This chapter covers six serious issues, and offers creative solutions to turn a catastrophic and embarrassing moment, into a calm, collected, professional delivery.

5 Advanced Tips

Advanced & Creative Virtual Presentation Tips

Proxy hosts, shortlinks, customized meeting rooms, landing pages, and clickers, oh my. Enhance your expertise with these technical tips, and the best virtual speaking strategy of all—standing up.

23 Settings

Zoom Settings to Turn On or Off for a Successful Presentation

Zoom has a grand total of 301 settings—I counted them with my finger and brain—which can make it really hard to find a critical feature when it’s crunch time. This chapter breaks down the essentials and is your game-day checklist for success.

Intro Introduction to Virtual Presentations on Zoom

Chapter 1 18 Cool Zoom Features You Should Know About

Chapter 2 12 Things You Should Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 3 8 Things You Shouldn’t Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 4 Defining Your Presentation’s Purpose

Chapter 5 How to Define Your Talk’s Structure, Story, & Flow

Chapter 6 41 Slide Design Tips for Virtual Presentations

Chapter 7 6 Ways to Make Eye Contact With an Invisible Audience

Chapter 8 How to do Audience Participation in a Virtual Presentation

Chapter 9 How to Share Content during a Zoom Presentation

Chapter 10 How to Create a Stunning Video and Audio Recording

Chapter 11 Using Post-Production to Add Value to Your Zoom Recording

Chapter 12 How to Use Your Phone as a Beautiful Webcam

Chapter 13 What to Do When Things go Wrong in Your Presentation

Chapter 14 How to Ground Yourself and Get Ready to Present

Chapter 15 Advanced & Creative Zoom Presentation Techniques

Chapter 16 The Difference Between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars

Chapter 17 23 Zoom Settings to Enable or Disable for a Smooth Presentation

Home Blog Business How to Ace Your Zoom Presentation: Tips for Successful Virtual Presenting

How to Ace Your Zoom Presentation: Tips for Successful Virtual Presenting

It’s your turn to speak during a Zoom social event in your company when your cat decides to make an impromptu appearance, climbing onto your keyboard and causing a flurry of emojis to flood the screen. Thankfully, everyone loved your feline co-worker and joked about the hilarious scene.

But what if it happens in a more meaningful setting, like a virtual sales pitch you’ve been looking forward to for weeks? You wouldn’t want to risk losing a client – and your job – just because a pet rains on your parade.

In this article, we will provide you with essential tips and tricks on how to ace your Zoom presentation like a pro. From preparing your visual aids and keeping your audience engaged to handling technical glitches with finesse, we’ve got you covered.

Table of Contents

Preparing Your Zoom Presentation

Tips for delivering a successful zoom presentation.

• How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom

Handling Technical Issues During a Zoom Presentation

Follow up after a zoom presentation.

Like in-person presentations, a successful Zoom presentation requires careful preparation to ensure you can send your audience the right message. Here are some tips to help you prepare presentations for Zoom.

Use Relevant Visuals

There are many ways you can present information besides plain boring texts. Sixty-five percent of humans are visual learners , so your audience might retain the information you share better if you present them in charts, graphs, images, or other visualizations.

You may use several types of visuals throughout your Zoom presentation, but make sure they are easy to understand in a virtual setting and are relevant to your subject.

For instance, if you present a new product, you may record a video demonstration highlighting its features. Using Zoom’s built-in video player, you can then embed the video into PowerPoint or play it during your presentation.

Use a Simple Presentation Template

A simple presentation template can help you create a cohesive and professional-looking presentation on Zoom. Choose a template that complements your content and aligns with your branding, but avoid overly complex designs that may distract your audience.

You may use a roadmap PowerPoint template or include an agenda slide to set the timeline of your presentation and provide an overview of the topics you will cover. Aside from it keeps the presentation flowing smoothly, it helps your audience orient their thoughts on what will happen in the meeting.

Make It Interactive

Just because you are the presenter doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking – you can let your audience speak too! One of the key aspects of delivering a successful Zoom presentation is to make it interactive and engage your audience.

Think of some icebreakers that will keep your audience involved. It can be a simple open-ended question or a poll to stimulate discussion. You can also use breakout rooms to facilitate small group interactions or collaborative activities.

Interactive presentations help to break the monotony of one-way communication and make your Zoom presentation more dynamic and engaging. Having no activities encouraging interaction makes losing your audience’s interest during virtual meetings easier.

Practice the Presentation and Timing

Aside from the content of your presentation, you also have to worry about the technicalities of presenting on Zoom, so having a dry run before the real thing is important to ensure a smooth delivery.

Practice your presentation multiple times before the event to ensure you are comfortable with the content, pacing, and timing. This will familiarize you with the Zoom platform and its features, such as screen sharing, chat, and breakout rooms.

You have a killer Zoom PowerPoint. Now it’s time to focus on delivering it effectively. Here are some Zoom presentation tips:

Use a Neutral Background

Your background in a Zoom presentation can impact how your audience perceives your professionalism and credibility. Choose a neutral background that is free from distractions and clutter.

If you have an office space at home, that will work even better. Pick from Zoom’s virtual backgrounds, preferably plain and clean. Make your background boring so your audience’s attention is drawn to you. Stay away from bed!

Dress Appropriately

Even though you may be presenting from the comfort of your home, it’s important to dress professionally for your Zoom presentation. It’s not bad to wear your usual duds when attending a casual game night with your team. But if it’s a formal setup, like a business proposal, you must suit up to invite success.

Dressing up smartly may improve your mood and confidence. In a 2014 study , two groups of male subjects were asked to put on business suits and sweatpants before engaging in a negotiation task. Those who dressed up obtained more profitable negotiations than the other group.

As a rule of thumb, avoid wearing loud colors or busy patterns that may distract your audience.

Keep an Eye Contact

Maintaining eye contact is essential in any presentation, whether in person or on Zoom. Making eye contact helps you connect with your audience and convey your message more effectively.

The common advice you’ll get to achieve this on Zoom is to look directly into the camera to create the impression of eye contact with your audience. We agree with these, but as the speaker, you also have to read the facial expressions of your audience and see how they react to what you are saying.

If you are using a desktop or laptop, the simplest solution to achieving these two is to reduce Zoom to a smaller window and place it directly below your webcam. This way, you can glance at their faces occasionally while keeping the illusion of eye contact.

Keep Your Notes Minimal

If you are an expert in the topic you are presenting, it would be best to ditch your notes during Zoom events. Constantly looking down at your notes can be distracting for your audience.

But if the need calls for it, make sure to keep your notes minimal and stick them in the right place. You can use a second screen or a tablet, or position your notes close to the camera to refer to them without breaking eye contact. This way, you can stay focused on engaging with your audience and delivering your presentation smoothly.

How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom (Step by Step)

How to present on Zoom? Once you understand what Zoom presentations are and the tips for Zoom presentations, it is time to give the presentation using Zoom. Let’s see this step by step:

Step 1. Open the PowerPoint file you want to present.

Step 2. Join the Zoom meeting and click on the Share Screen icon in the meeting control panel at the bottom of your screen.

[Optional] You can customize who can share their screen in the Zoom meeting. Click on the small arrow in the corner of the Share Screen icon and select Advanced Sharing Options.

Select Hosts Only or All Participants.

Step 3. Select the window you want to share – in this case, the one that contains the PowerPoint slide – and click on Share.

If you are playing audio or video within your presentation, make sure to tick Share sound and Optimize for video clip.

Step 4. Click on the Slide Show tab in the PowerPoint window and begin the presentation by selecting Play from Start or Play from Current Slide.

Step 5. To stop screen sharing of PowerPoint, hover over the meeting controls at the top of your screen and select Stop Share.

It’s not uncommon for technicalities to derail a live Zoom presentation – video, Wi-Fi, or audio may fail. But there are things you can do to prevent them, or at least minimize their impact on your presentation when they happen.

First, test your equipment before your presentation and make sure everything is in place. You can join a meeting test on Zoom to check your internet connection, camera, audio, and microphone.

You may also send a PDF copy of your presentation to the attendees before the meeting if sharing your screen won’t work. This will allow you to carry on as you or your technical team figures out the problem.

If the technical issues persist, you should have a good Plan B and be prepared to continue on a different platform like Google Meet. Send the alternative link with the meeting invitation and give clear action steps when technical difficulties happen.

Following up after a Zoom presentation is a crucial step in maintaining momentum and maximizing the impact of your presentation. For example, if you are selling a product, you can use a follow-up email to make the final push of your sales pitch.

Start your email by expressing appreciation for their participation and summarizing the key points of your presentation. Include any additional resources, such as presentation slides or a video presentation recording, to reinforce your message. Offer yourself as a resource for further questions or discussions, and encourage feedback or comments from your audience.

Here’s an example of a well-executed follow-up email for a Zoom workshop event:

Conducting a virtual presentation sounds overwhelming as you must consider technical aspects in addition to delivering your message and keeping it engaging.

Remember, there’s no such thing as overpreparing when you have bosses or potential clients to impress. Follow the tips in this article to nail your next Zoom presentation!

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Business Presentations, Video Filed under Business

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Productivity

19 Zoom tips and tricks for better video meetings

Before, during, and after a zoom meeting—here's everything you need to be a pro zoomer..

For better or worse, Zoom has infiltrated almost every aspect of my life. From work meetings and conferences to night classes and virtual workouts, I Zoom all the time. You'd never know it, though, by the way people constantly have to remind me, "Jess, you're on mute," and then patiently wait while I fumble around for the unmute button. 

But no more. I've found the foolproof trick to quickly mute and unmute myself. Plus, I've rounded up 18 other tips to make me—and you—look like pro Zoomers.

To make things even easier, I've listed the tips in order of how they're likely to be used (before, during, and after a Zoom meeting). 

Before a Zoom meeting 

Mute Zoom audio when joining a meeting

Turn your Zoom video off by default

Give attendees a waiting room

Automatically schedule meetings—and let people know about them

Schedule recurring meetings with the same URL

Let someone else schedule your meetings

Collect information from attendees

Learn a few of the most useful Zoom keyboard shortcuts

During a Zoom meeting 

Record a Zoom meeting as a video

Use live transcription

Co-host calls

Pin participants' videos

Turn on Zoom gallery view

Mute and unmute with the space bar

Raise your hand (and give other non-verbal feedback)

Have a collaborative annotation session

Brainstorm ideas on a Zoom Whiteboard

After a Zoom meeting 

Check who attended a Zoom meeting

Note: Some of the tips include Zap templates (what we call our pre-built workflows at Zapier). Simply click on the Zap template to get started. You'll need a Zapier account if you don't already have one. 

Zoom web portal vs. Zoom desktop client 

Let me clarify one thing: The Zoom web portal refers to your web account (e.g., CompanyName.zoom.us), which is mainly used for customizing your profile and updating your meeting settings. The Zoom desktop client refers to the Zoom app. 

For reasons unbeknown to me, the Zoom desktop client and mobile app have different features than the Zoom web portal. Additionally, you need to select Save for any edits made in the web portal whereas Zoom automatically saves most changes made in the Zoom desktop client or the mobile app. 

Here's hoping that by this time next year, Zoom makes it so you can update all your settings directly from the web portal or Zoom desktop client. But until then, let's dive in!

1. Add a profile picture

While Zoom is designed for video calls with live feeds of participants' faces, there are plenty of occasions where you'd rather not show your face . For me, it's when I'm eating sushi, which must be done in one large bite—and no one needs to see that. This is why Zoom lets you add a profile picture , which will display whenever your camera is turned off . Here's how. 

Log in to your Zoom web portal. 

Click Profile . 

In the main section with your name, click the pencil icon in the picture frame.

Click Choose Files to upload your picture. 

Click Save.

2. Mute Zoom audio when joining a meeting 

No one wants to be that person who joins a meeting late, only to have their dog bark and interrupt the speaker because of course that's when your mute button disappears from view. Here's how to mute your audio by default. 

Log in to your Zoom desktop client.

Click the gear icon to open your Zoom settings. 

Select Audio > click the Mute my mic when joining a meeting checkbox.

3. Turn your Zoom video off by default 

Despite my best efforts, I always remember to check for food in my teeth after I've joined a meeting. If, like me, you regularly need an extra moment before you're camera ready, here's how to join Zoom meetings with your camera automatically turned off.

Select Video > click the Stop my video when joining a meeting checkbox.

4. Give attendees a waiting room

When I teach, it might be considered poor form for my students to be waiting in our virtual classroom without me there. That's why I give them a waiting room so they can hang out until I let them into the main room. You can also automatically move attendees to the waiting room if the host is unexpectedly disconnected from the meeting. 

You can create a waiting room by selecting the Waiting Room checkbox when scheduling a meeting. 

You can also enable or disable waiting rooms during a meeting by selecting Participants > More > Enable Waiting Room (or Disable Waiting Room ).

5. Automatically schedule meetings—and let people know about them

Scheduling meetings , especially if you run a lot of them, can be an unnecessarily time-consuming task. Thankfully there's a Zap for that. By connecting Zoom to your scheduling app and calendar, Zapier can automatically create a new Zoom meeting and add it to whatever app you use for your personal calendar. Here are some pre-built Zaps to power this workflow.

Create Zoom meetings for new Calendly events

Create detailed Google Calendar events from new Zoom meetings

Update Google calendar events with Zoom meeting links when new bookings are made via OnceHub

To make this automation even more powerful, you can add a step that shares the meeting details with your team via a messaging app like Slack. We use this automation all the time here at Zapier—any time a new team meeting in Zoom kicks off, the Zoom link gets posted to the appropriate channel in Slack automatically.

Get Slack notifications for new Zoom meetings

Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. Learn more about how it works .

6. Schedule recurring meetings with the same URL

To minimize last-minute messages of "Where's the meeting link?", Zoom lets you schedule recurring meetings with the same URL. Here's how. 

Log in to your Zoom web portal.

Select Meetings > Schedule a Meeting. Edit the meeting options as needed.

In the Time Zone field, check the Recurring meeting box. 

Edit the recurrence, including the number of times the meeting occurs and how often it occurs. 

Click Save.  

If you export the meeting to your Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, or Yahoo Calendar, the recurrence pattern and meeting URL are automatically included in the calendar event. Plus, the meeting settings remain locked in, so you don't have to update it for every meeting. 

Additionally, if you meet with the same group but on an irregular schedule, you can also set your recurrence to No Fixed Time. This lets you use the same settings and meeting URL no matter when you get together. When I teach, I use this option to host open office hours for student meetings. 

Note: You can't schedule recurring meetings with your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) since this ID is reserved for you and the link never changes. Also, meeting IDs expire after one year, so you'll have to generate a new one then. 

7. Let someone else schedule your meetings 

If someone else manages your calendar and bookings, here's how to give them Zoom privileges, so they can schedule meetings on your behalf. 

Select Settings.

Under the Meeting tab, select Other.

Under Schedule Privilege, click Add. 

Add your scheduling assistants by inputting their email addresses, and then click Save.  

Once done, your assigned scheduling assistant must log out of their Zoom desktop client and log back in for the feature to take effect. 

This feature is also helpful if your assistant has scheduled a meeting, but the meeting host needs to be changed from you to someone else. Here's how to transfer a meeting between Zoom users . 

Requirements: The primary Zoom account holder and everyone who receives scheduling privileges must share the same account or have linked accounts. Everyone must also be Licensed or On-Prem. And for webinars, everyone must have the webinar add-on. 

8. Collect information from attendees

For any number of reasons, you may want to ask attendees to share a few details about themselves prior to joining the call. For example, you might want to require that attendees provide their name, company affiliation, or industry. 

Here's how to collect this information.

Log in to the Zoom web portal. 

Select Meetings > Schedule a Meeting. 

In the Registration section, select Edit.

In the Registration window, select the Questions tab. Here you can add standard fields, such as name and organization, by selecting the checkbox to the left of the field name. To make specific fields mandatory, select the Required checkbox to the right of the field name. You can also create your own questions under the Custom Questions tab. 

Click Save All.  

If you're using Zoom to run a digital event like a webinar, however, you might want to let attendees register using a form on your website or an event management app. Here are some handy Zaps that automatically register all attendees, regardless of where they sign up.

Add new Eventbrite attendees as Zoom webinar registrants

Create Zoom registrants from new contact activities on ClickFunnels

Add new Leadpages leads as Zoom registrants

Generate Zoom registrants for new Gravity Forms form submissions

Enroll new Mailchimp subscribers as Zoom webinar registrants

You can make this automation even more powerful by making sure that any registrant information collected is also added to your CRM or email marketing tool, so you can easily follow up with potential leads or customers.

Add new Zoom registrants to Mailchimp as subscribers

Update activecampaign contacts from new zoom registrants.

Add new Zoom webinar registrants to Keap Max Classic as contacts

Requirements: To require attendee information in Zoom, the host must have a Pro account. Additionally, the meeting cannot be your Personal Meeting ID.

To enable registration for Zoom meetings, you must 1) be the host, and 2) have a Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account. Additionally, the meeting cannot be created using your Personal Meeting ID and it cannot be a No Fixed Time recurring meeting.

9. Learn a few of the most useful Zoom keyboard shortcuts 

Zoom has quite a list of keyboard shortcuts , but here are my go-tos that I think are worth learning. 

M is for mute. Press Cmd + Ctrl + M (macOS) or Alt + M (Windows) when you are the meeting host and want to mute everyone else on the line. If using windows, press Alt+M again to unmute. For mac, press Cmd+Ctrl+U (macOS).

S is for share. Press Cmd + Shift + S (macOS) or Alt + Shift + S (Windows) to share your screen.

10. Record a Zoom meeting as a video 

Zoom lets you record your web conferencing calls as videos, a handy feature for sharing the meeting with people who may have missed it or for reviewing what was said.

When you record, you must choose whether to use the local or cloud option. Here's the difference: 

Local means you store the video file yourself, whether locally on your computer or in another storage space that you provide. 

Cloud means Zoom stores the video for you in its cloud storage. One major convenience of the cloud option is that people can stream the video in a web browser once it's ready. This option is available for paying users only. The amount of available cloud storage will vary depending on the account type. 

If you record meeting attendees' video or audio, it's common courtesy—and in some places a requirement—to inform them before you do. Once you begin recording, Zoom will also notify all participants that the meeting is being recorded. 

When creating a video from a conference call, it makes a big difference in the final quality if you optimize a few settings in advance. For example, some calls might be broadcast-style, where only the host appears on screen. In that case, set Zoom to only record the audio and video of the host. Other calls might be in the style of a collaborative meeting, in which case you want to record everyone. Be sure to check out Zoom's local recording settings and cloud recording settings at least a few minutes before starting a call. 

Requirements : To record videos, you need Zoom on macOS, Windows, or Linux. If you don't have the option to record, edit your recording settings in your Zoom web portal or have your account administrator enable it. 

If you need to share the recording later, try one of these Zaps to automatically share once the recording has finished.

Send Slack channel messages for new Zoom recordings

Send gmail emails for new zoom recordings.

Send emails from Microsoft Outlook with new Zoom recordings

11. Use live transcription 

Let's nerd out on a few terms for a second: 

Transcript: Text that's been converted from another medium, such as speech or audio.

Caption: A text form of audio information, including speech and non-speech, in video and animations. In some regions of the world, " captions " and " subtitles " are used to mean the same thing. For the purposes of this article, I also use these terms interchangeably. 

Closed caption: Captions that can be hidden or shown as selected by the people watching the video. 

Caption frames: Chunks of text from the transcript that run synchronously with the audio of a video.  

Zoom offers a few options for adding closed captioning during meetings: third-party closed captioning integrations or Zoom's live transcription feature, which automatically populates machine-generated captions. 

Tip: Whether you're hosting a meeting for two or 200, don't wait for someone to request closed captioning. Always enable Zoom's live transcript. While this feature isn't 100% accurate, it's a positive step towards making meetings more accessible. 

If you're hosting a meeting, you can turn on closed captioning by selecting Live Transcript from the Zoom control bar > Enable. If you don't see it, you may need to click More first. 

If you're participating in a meeting, you can view closed captioning by selecting Live Transcript > Show Subtitles. This will populate caption frames. As closed captions can be visually distracting, you can also view a running transcript on the side of your screen by selecting Live Transcript > View Full Transcript. 

12. Co-host calls 

Double the hosts, double the fun! That's a saying right? Here's how to co-host a Zoom meeting with another person.

Ensure this feature is enabled in your meeting settings in your Zoom web portal. Look for Co-host under the In Meeting (Basic) section. If the toggle is gray, click the toggle to turn the feature on. 

Once your co-host has joined the meeting, select Participants from the meeting controls > name of your co-host> More > Make Co-Host . Alternatively, you can hover over their video box, click the menu (...), and select Make Co-Host. 

Then, when you start a meeting, wait for your co-host to join, and add the person by clicking the three dots that appear when you hover over their video box. 

Requirements : To use co-hosting, you need a Pro, Business, Education, or API Partner account with Zoom, and you need to run on macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS. 

13. Pin participants' videos

If you join a meeting with your camera on and your dog in the background, I will privately message you to ask your dog's name, nicknames, and quirks. That is to say, I'm very easily distracted. But when I need to reign in my focus, I pin the speaker's window, so everyone else is hidden. Here's how. 

During a Zoom meeting, hover over the video of the participant you want to pin.

Click the menu ( … ) > Pin. You can pin up to 9 total videos. 

14. Turn on Zoom gallery view

Let's say you're teaching a class or taking a class—it can be helpful to see everyone in the meeting. Here's how to turn on the gallery view in Zoom.

During a Zoom meeting, click View in the top-right corner. 

Select Gallery . If the meeting has 49 or fewer attendees, you may need to adjust the size of your window to see all windows displayed on one page. If your meeting has more than 49 attendees, you'll have the option to navigate through multiple pages. 

Ninety-nine percent of the time, my gallery view is on, but apparently it's creepy when I meet someone in real life and say, "Tell me more about the posters I saw displayed in your office that one time on Zoom"?

15. Mute and unmute with the space bar 

I have no problem playing favorites, and this Zoom tip is inexplicably my favorite.  

If you're on mute and need to speak, press and hold your spacebar while in the Zoom app to quickly unmute. Be sure to hold the spacebar down while you're talking.

Note: This push-to-talk feature won't work if you're actively using another application (which is great if you're multitasking!).

16. Raise your hand (and give other non-verbal feedback)

So you've asked a question in the chat, but it looks like the speaker may have missed it. You don't want to interrupt, so what do you do? Raise your hand!

In the control bar, select Reactions > Raise Hand . This will pin a 🖐🏼 to the top of your video and move your thumbnail to the top of the gallery, which will hopefully catch the attention of the speaker. To lower your hand, select Reactions > Lower Hand.

Another neat way to communicate without interrupting is by giving non-verbal feedback (e.g., yes, no, slow down, and speed up) and meeting reactions (e.g., thumbs up, heart, and clapping hands). These can all be found in Reactions . If you don't see these options, you may need to ask the host to enable non-verbal feedback . 

17. Have a collaborative annotation session

When screen sharing, it can be immensely helpful to point participants to specific areas of your screen or to let everyone draw on visual materials, such as mockups or graphic designs. To do this, try using one of Zoom's handy annotation tools, which can be found in the Zoom control bar during a screen share. 

Spotlight: Turn the host's cursor into a red dot (only available if you started a screen share or whiteboard).

Arrow: Turn your cursor into a small arrow with your name on it. Click anywhere on the screen to "stick" your arrow. Any subsequent clicks will remove the previous arrow placed. 

Vanishing pen: Mark up a shared screen or whiteboard. The markings will fade away within a few seconds, so you don't have to erase or undo your previous drawings (only available if you started a screen share or whiteboard).

To disable attendee annotation altogether, select More (...) from the control bar > Disable Annotation for Others . 

18. Brainstorm ideas on a Zoom Whiteboard 

Zoom's annotation tools are useful for a simple collaborative experience. But if you need more advanced capabilities—like sticky notes, flowchart builders, and the ability to upload images directly to your shared screen—try using Zoom Whiteboard. 

Click Whiteboards in the Zoom control bar. 

Click New to create a whiteboard from scratch. Or click Templates to choose from Zoom's library of prebuilt templates. From basic flow charts to project retros with sticky notes, there's a template for almost everything. If you go with the template option, click the template you want to use, and then click Use Template . 

Click the way you want to share the board (allow meeting participants to edit the board or view only). Then click Create . 

Zoom will automatically share your screen, showing only the whiteboard and editing tools. You can even add a timer to the screen, which is helpful if you want to give participants a time limit to contribute ideas. 

To add more pages to your whiteboard, click the Page icon in the whiteboard toolbar in the bottom-right corner, and then click Add Page . Note: You can only add blank whiteboard pages—not templated ones. 

19. Check who attended a Zoom meeting

Say you're using Zoom to hold a mandatory event, like a university lecture or a training session. You probably want to know who attends. You can get that information from a report once the meeting is finished. Here's how.

Select Reports > Usage Reports > Meeting .

Edit the Meeting Report fields, including the date of the meeting and type of report you want to create (registration). You can search for a meeting using your meeting ID. 

From the list of available reports, click Generate for the report you want. 

Requirements : To generate an attendee list, you need to be 1) the host of the meeting, 2) in a role with Usage Reports enabled, or 3) an account administrator or owner. You also need a Pro, API Partner, Business, or Education plan.

Not enough for you? For more inspiration on how to use Zoom effectively, here's every other tip we have:

Working with sound 

How to DJ a Zoom call

Zoom noise cancellation: How to block background noise on Zoom

How to play background music on Zoom—without sharing your screen

How to join a Zoom call by phone

Updating your background or display

How to win at Zoom backgrounds, from a first-place winner

How to blur your background in Zoom—and the case for not doing it

How to not see your own face during Zoom meetings

How to add your pronouns on Zoom

Facilitating meetings 

How to facilitate workshops on Zoom

How to share a presentation on Zoom without sharing your browser tabs and address bar

4 tips for getting the most out of Zoom chat

How to make Zoom the default video call app in Google Calendar

How to quickly find links to your Zoom meetings

Oh, and one last gift for you: Here's how to automatically close those annoying "Launch Meeting" tabs from Zoom .

This article was originally published in November 2018. The most recent update was in August 2023.

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Jessica Lau

Jessica Lau is a senior content specialist at Zapier. Outside of writing, she likes to snuggle her dogs, and provide unsolicited podcast and book recommendations.

• Video conferencing
• Video & audio
• Remote work
• Event management

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The complete Zoom guide: From basic help to advanced tips and tricks

Zoom  is a video communications platform that many of us at ZDNet consider to be a valuable digital tool today. One of Zoom's key strengths is its simplicity, but the platform also has a variety of advanced features that remote workers will find useful for improving their productivity. 

Below, we'll show you how to get started, and also offer some tips and tricks that experienced users may be missing out on. 

Let's get started: Zoom basics

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First of all, head over to Zoom in your browser. The platform is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The layout will be slightly different depending on whether you are on desktop or mobile. 

There are four plans available; the most popular now likely being the free tier, in which virtual meetings can be held with up to 100 participants, 1-on-1 meetings (30 minute time limits), and meetings with multiple participants can be held for up to 40 minutes. (When your time is up, you can simply restart a meeting if need be.)

The free option also includes private and group chats. Participants can join via their PC or a telephone line, and both desktops and apps can be shared.

Zoom's Pro, Business, and Enterprise packages come with additional features, including an increase in meeting duration limits, cloud recording and storage, Skype for Business interoperability, single sign-on options, transcript recordings, and company branding.   

It is possible to join a meeting just from your browser, but in the interests of longevity and avoiding browser limitations, we recommend you download the application. 

Also:  Remote working jobs: 5 problems we need to solve in 2022

To start using Zoom, make your choice (browser or a direct download) and then sign up. You will be prompted to type in your email or sign in through either Google or Facebook. 

Businesses can also provide you with a single sign-on key (SSO) to attend meetings, although you will also need to know the company's .zoom.us domain. Alternatively, you can look up the domain by performing a search based on your company email address. 

At the next sign up prompt, Zoom will ask for permission to send resources including product videos and how-to guides your way. Either click "confirm" or "Set Preferences;" the latter option being to receive emails once a week, once a month, or never. Make your selection. 

By now, a confirmation email should have landed in your inbox. Open the message, click "Activate Account" or paste the included confirmation link into your browser, and then at the next prompt, you will need to complete account creation with your name and a strong password . 

If you wish, on the next screen, you can invite your colleagues to also create an account. If not, click "Skip this step."

Now you can choose to create a test meeting if you like, as well as add Zoom as an extension. There are various plugins available including a Google Chrome extension, Zoom for GSuite, a Mozilla Firefox extension, a Microsoft Outlook plugin, and an IBM Notes plugin. If you will be using Zoom for the foreseeable future for work purposes, you may want to select and install appropriate add-ons now. 

You can choose to launch a test meeting, which contains the meeting's URL and the option to invite others. We will go through the core features of the meeting system in a moment, but for now, let's head over to the web portal, zoom.us , to make sure that the correct settings are enabled and that you know how to create and launch a meeting. 

The web portal

On the Zoom website , head to " Your Account " in the top-right to manage your profile.

You can change details under the " Profile " tab such as your name, picture, default meeting ID, password and time zone. 

Next, head to " Settings ." Here, you can adjust settings implemented by default, including whether or not video is automatically enabled when you -- or participants -- join a meeting; and whether or not participants can join a scheduled meeting before the host arrives. 

Also:  The modern workplace: Will remote tech workers tolerate being monitored?

In the interests of security and to prevent scammers from hijacking a meeting , you should make sure you use strong passwords. 

Passwords were not always enabled by default, but after Zoom  apologized for "falling short of the community's -- and our own -- privacy and security expectations," a rush of security changes were made, including the enabling, by default, of passcodes for scheduled, instant, and personal meetings.

The security tab is now extensive and includes options to allow or restrict public and private chats when you host a meeting; you can give permission for files to be transferred, select who can screen share, enable end-to-end encryption (but you will need to verify your phone number first to select this option), and you can even impose blocks on users coming from specific countries or regions. 

The Zoom desktop app has a similar layout, with "preferences" accessible from the top-right corner. The options you can access here are related to your PC, such as whether or not you want to use dual monitors or automatically enter a full-screen mode when a meeting starts. 

You can also test your microphone and speaker setup, choose a color theme, select a default location for recordings, and tweak accessibility controls, among other functions. 

With your basic preferences in place, let's go to the " Meetings " tab in your profile. 

Scheduling and hosting a meeting 

The first screen you will see reveals any scheduled meetings in your diary. Click "schedule a new meeting" and a new screen will appear, in which you can name your meeting, add a description if you want, and choose the date and timezone.  

If this is to be a continual meet up with colleagues, there is a handy " recurring meeting " checkbox under the timezone tab. If you select it, you can then choose how often the meeting needs to be repeated -- whether daily, weekly, or monthly, and how many times during a day you want the meeting to repeat. 

Once you have input these details, scroll down and click "save." 

The meeting is set, but how do you invite others? 

The short answer is: you must do so manually. There are two ways to do this: through calendar invites, or via your own email account. 

If you wish to invite others through a calendar, links to Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Yahoo Calendar are displayed once your meeting has been saved. 

Alternatively, next to the "join URL" link on this screen, there is an option to "copy this invitation."

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Clicking on this page element brings up a screen with all of the important information required for the meeting, including the URL, of which the meeting ID is already embedded. Copy this to your clipboard, open your email client, paste the details into a new message, and invite away. 

So, in short, all participants need is the meeting URL , date and time , and a passcode . 

If you want to try out features before bringing other people in, create a test meeting at this stage and select "Start this meeting." Alternatively, you can do exactly the same within the first page of the Zoom desktop app:

The first prompt, in either case, will ask you to join with computer audio if you are on PC, and will also give you the option to test your speaker and microphone. At the top right of the meeting window, you can choose to go full screen. 

We are now going to go over the basic settings you need to know about in meetings for management purposes.

Two fundamental options can be found in the bottom-left part of the black menu tab: the option to mute/unmute your microphone and either start/stop your camera. If you are using an external microphone, speaker, or camera, open up the arrow tabs next to these options to choose which equipment you want to use (external or inbuilt). 

Moving on, the " Manage Participants " tab is particularly important. Under this tab, you can find " invite ," which is useful if you've forgotten to bring someone into a session. 

Clicking this option will bring up a box with everyone connected to the meeting. If you hover over a name, you can mute/unmute them, and at the bottom, there are options for doing the same for every participant. In the interests of privacy, however, hosts and other participants cannot control individual camera feeds. 

A handy feature to note here under " Security " is " lock ," which stops anyone else from joining an active session. 

Different views : You can pick one of four view options -- but this only impacts how you view a meeting, and not others. By default, Active Speaker is the default video layout -- in which the person talking is ramped up to a larger screen -- but there is also a gallery layout that brings in every participant on one screen through a grid, an " immersive " view that puts participants in the same 'room' through a virtual background, and a floating thumbnail option.

The " Share Screen " tab allows you to share your PC screen with others, including your full desktop, browser, or open applications, and also permit others to share their own screens simultaneously.

Now, let's talk about messaging. The " Chat " tab on the main bar is designed for users to type out questions and messages, as well as share files either hosted by cloud storage providers or stored directly on your PC, as long as the "Send files via meeting chat" option in Account Settings has been enabled. 

As a host, you can also select the "..." button to save a chat session and control who participants can talk to -- no one, the host alone, everyone publicly, or everyone publicly and privately. 

The final tab of note is the " Record " option, which you may want to use if you are discussing work matters and want to save the session in order to email a copy of it to others later. By default, no one except the host can record a session unless the host gives permission to do so.

Participants will be warned that the meeting is being recorded through an automatic audio message. 

Finally, the " End Meeting " tab finishes the session. If the host needs to leave but the meeting should carry on, they can assign the host status to another participant -- but enabling co-hosts has to be selected first in the "Meetings" tab and can only be selected by subscription holders. Alternatively, you can leave the meeting or end the meeting for all. 

Advanced tips and tricks

Now that the basics have been covered, there is a range of settings and features that more experienced users might want to use. 

Let's head back over to the web portal to run through a few options. If you are using the  desktop application , you can quickly access this area by going to "Settings".

You can find features including:

• Breakout room: split meeting participants into separate, smaller rooms. This can also be done before a meeting begins to prevent logistical problems
• Virtual backgrounds: enabling/disabling 
• Encryption: By default, Zoom requires encryption for all data transferred between the Zoom cloud, Zoom client, and Zoom Room. You can also require encryption for 3rd party endpoints (SIP/H.323).
• Waiting room: a feature to keep participants in a 'waiting area' until the host is ready for them -- particularly handy for remote interviews or office hours. This feature is now on as default.
• Private chat: Allow or restrict direct messages by participants
• Auto-save chat: You can enable chat records to be automatically saved
• Feedback: You can enable an end-of-meeting experience feedback survey to display
• Report to Zoom: You can allow users to report others for inappropriate behavior during meetings
• Far end camera control: You can allow others to seize control of your camera during meetings

If you have a Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan, you can take advantage of the webinars option . Webinars can be set up that broadcast to up to 50,000 view-only attendees at a time. Screens, video, and audio can be shared; chat sessions between attendees and panelists can be hosted, and webinars can be run on either a pre-registration or open basis. 

Language interpreters

In 2022, Zoom introduced the option for enabling language interpretation . Up to 20 participants can be designated as interpreters during a Zoom session, and they can create their own audio channels for participants to select in their preferred language. 

Virtual Backgrounds

Virtual backgrounds can be used to hide the chaos and clutter of your home. There are specific hardware requirements, which can be accessed here . Most modern PC setups should be able to manage -- but the virtual background, either made up of images or video, works best with a green screen and uniform lighting. There is also "studio effects," a beta service for adding filters. 

To set up a virtual background, go to the desktop app, "Settings," and choose "Virtual Background." You can try out different screens or add your own image/video instead. You may see a warning that says your hardware isn't good enough -- but give it a go, anyway. 

Whiteboards, annotations

This is a useful option if you are canvassing ideas or soliciting feedback and it comes with different annotation options, including text boxes, arrows, and more. The "spotlight" is a form of highlighter which can be used to bring user attention to a particular area or point. This can be enabled under in-meeting settings. Notes can be added to a virtual whiteboard and shared screens.

What about Zoom gatecrashers?

When software is popular, scammers come out of the woodwork to try and find a way to capitalize. Zoom is no different ; the appearance of scammers jumping into unprotected meetings and posting malicious links and pornography has given rise to the phrase "Zoom-bombing."

Zoom has  published a guide on how to prevent gatecrashers from disrupting your meetings, including pointers such as:

• Keep your meeting links off social media
• Choose "only host" for screen sharing control during a meeting
• Taking advantage of Zoom's extensive security options
• Use the "lock" feature to prevent random users from joining in after a meeting has begun
• If you are gatecrashed, hover over the user's name in the Participants menu to bring up a "remove" option.

Zoom Rooms  is a more advanced software offering available on a subscription basis. Zoom Rooms, an option for business owners, combines audio conferencing, video conferencing, and wireless screen sharing. A PC running Zoom Rooms is the bare minimum requirement, but iPads, TV displays, external speakers, cameras, and microphones can all be integrated within one room. 

You can find the Rooms client and controller software (iOS, Android, or Windows) in the Zoom  Download Center . 

App Marketplace

Zoom's App Marketplace is worth investigating if you're looking to implement more features in Zoom Meetings or Zoom Rooms. Apps can be integrated including the Otter.ai transcription service, Google Workspace, Adaptive Shield, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Okta. 

Additional points

• When screen sharing, the " optimize option " is especially useful when sharing YouTube and other online videos as it can prevent distortion, lagging, and buffering issues. 
• Hot Keys and keyboard shortcuts are available for Mac and Windows machines. A full list can be found here . 
• Meeting times: If you are experiencing connection issues at peak times, consider scheduling a meeting at times other than on-the-hour or on a half-hour. 
• Zoom now offers the "Events" service, a solution for live events and both in-person and virtual attendance. 
• Need training for specific purposes, such as for education? Zoom offers over 30 live training sessions per week. 
• If you need additional technical support, Zoom has an online help center . 

Zoom's best practices

• Double-check meeting default settings
• Test your audio and video as you join
• Use a USB-connected headset
• Mute your microphone when not speaking
• Position your webcam properly
• If hosting, connect from a large screen
• For best results, use the app and not a browser
• Use a stable/wired connection
• Join meetings in quiet areas

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7 Zoom Presentation Tips to Bring your Virtual Events to Life (Best Guide in 2023)

Anh Vu • 02 May 2023 • 7 min read

Here are 7 Zoom Presentation Tips to help you hold better Zoom events and fight off that fatigue – let’s make your next Zoom presentation the best yet!

Presenting can be extremely difficult, but virtual presentations (via Zoom or any other video meeting platform) offer their challenges.

After a couple of years of remote working, many team leaders and senior business managers are noticing Zoom fatigue amongst staff, so it’s time to reignite our presentations and ensure we’re creating engaging and memorable meetings.

Table of Contents

• Take the Mic
• Check your Tech
• Ask the Audience
• Keep it Short and Sweet
• Tell a Story
• Don’t Hide Behind Your Slides
• Take a Break to Answer Questions

Tips for Better Engagement

How to make a Zoom presentation? Check out more Zoom presentation tips with AhaSlides!

• Pictionary on Zoom
• Zoom Word Cloud
• Complete Guide to Interactive Presentation
• Bad presentation at work
• Easy Topic for Presentation

Start in seconds.

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Zoom Presentation Tips for the Intro

Tip #1 – take the mic.

One of the most simple and effective ways to capture your virtual audience is to take control of the conversation and ease anxieties. This doesn’t mean dictating all conversation, it’s more about creating a comfortable environment where your audience can feel focused and contribute to the discussion. 

We’ve all been in awkward pre-meeting “waiting rooms” while holding on for the last couple of people to join. As the person running the session, you can remove people’s meeting anxieties and instantly get them on your side.

As the presenter and (probably) host of the Zoom meeting, others will consider you a confident leader. Make sure you welcome people in as they join your Zoom presentation, use a meeting icebreaker , and show them your personality and that they are welcome to engage with your presentation. You will have their attention from the very start.

Remember, you are presenting for a reason. You are the expert on your topic, and they are looking to you to communicate that information – You’re the pro, and you’ve got this!

Tip #2 – Check your Tech

Mic check 1, 2…

Of course, sometimes tech fails us, and we can’t always do anything about it. But, you can help reduce the chances of that happening by checking in on your presentation software, camera and mic before the Zoom presentation starts and people join.

Also, check any videos or links you’re using to give yourself the best chance of delivering a wonderfully seamless presentation with preparation.

One of the best parts of a Zoom presentation is that nine times out of 10, there isn’t anyone else in the room. This has a massive benefit for anyone presenting – you can prepare. This does not mean writing a script and reading it word for word. Still, it allows you to have extra notes with any data and information you need, and it can be right on the screen for only your eyes to see – so you can browse your messages for answers to a question without looking away.

💡 Extra presentation tip for Zoom : If you’re sending out Zoom invites ahead of time, make sure that the links and passwords you’re sending out all work so that everyone can join the meeting quickly and without added stress.

Zoom Presentation Tips for Punchy Presentations

Tip #3 – ask the audience.

You can be the most charismatic and engaging person in the world, but if your presentation lacks that spark, it can leave your audience feeling disconnected. Luckily, an easy solution to this problem is to make your presentations interactive.

Tools like AhaSlides provide opportunities to include creative and engaging elements in your presentations to keep your audience switched on and involved. Whether you’re a teacher looking to engage a class or an expert in your business, it’s proven that interactive elements like polls, quizzes and Q&As keep an audience engaged when they can respond to each on their smartphones.

Here are a few slides you can use in an interactive Zoom presentation to pull that audience focus…

• Make a live quiz – Regularly ask audience questions they can individually answer via a smartphone. This will help you understand their topic knowledge in a fun, competitive way!
• Ask open-ended questions and pose scenarios – This allows your audience to engage and show off their knowledge. For a teacher, this could be as simple as ‘What is the best word you know that means happy?’, but for a marketing presentation in a business, for example, it could be a great way of asking ‘which platforms would you like to see us use more in Q3?”
• Ask for feedback – It’s vital that we’re constantly improving, so you might want to gather some feedback at the end of your presentation. You can use interactive sliding scales to measure how likely people are to recommend your services or even gather opinions on specific topics. If you were pitching a planned return to the office to your business, you might ask, “how many days would you like to spend in the office” and set a scale from 0 to 5 to gauge the consensus.
• Play games – Games in a virtual event may seem radical, but it could be the best tip for your Zoom presentation. Some simple trivia games, spinner wheel games and a bunch of other Zoom games can do wonders for team building, learning new concepts and testing existing ones.

These engaging and interactive elements make a huge difference to the focus and attention of your audience. Not only will it make them feel more involved in your Zoom presentation, but it will give you added confidence that they are absorbing your presentation and enjoying it too.

Make Interactive Zoom Presentations for Free!

Embed polls, brainstorm sessions, quizzes and more into your presentation. Grab a template or import your own from PowerPoint!

Tip #4 – Keep it Short and Sweet

Where you can, you want to try and keep your Zoom presentation digestible. While most meetings or presentations are scheduled for an hour, it’s generally agreed that most viewers can only maintain focus for around 10 minutes . This makes it important to keep meetings brief, and where you can’t keep them short, ensuring your audience is engaged is vital.

You can maximise your audience’s focus by not overcomplicating your slides. Text-heavy slides will have your listeners reading rather than listening to you, and they will burn out and lose stress much more quickly. If you need to give a lot of information, break it down into a few slides or use an illustrative graphic or interactive drop to talk people through it instead.

Tip #5 – Tell a Story

Storytelling is powerful. Suppose you can build stories or examples into your presentation that illustrate your message. In that case, your Zoom presentation will be much more memorable and your audience will feel more emotionally invested in the stories that you tell.

Case studies, direct quotes or real-life examples will be much more engaging to your audience and can help them relate to or understand the information you’re providing on a deeper level.

This isn’t just a Zoom presentation tip but also a great way to start your presentation. Read more about it here !

Tip #6 – Don’t Hide Behind your Slides

Although it’s much more difficult to present your body language via Zoom than in person, there are still things you can do to help ensure that your Zoom presentation gets your message across effectively.

Camera on! It’s tempting to hide behind your slides, but having your camera on will make a huge difference. Not only will your audience be able to see you, but it will communicate confidence and encourages others to leave their cameras on and hold the meeting in the open atmosphere of a live setting.

Although many workers remain remote, there is still a desire for that face-to-face connection we once had when working in offices and travelling for meetings and presentations. Sometimes, just seeing a friendly face will put someone at ease, creating a positive sentiment that they associate with you and your presentation.

As well as leaving your camera on, some people find that standing up to present is still effective – even on Zoom! If you have a large enough space and can find a way to make it work, standing up gives you added confidence, and it’s a great option if you’re presenting virtually for a conference.

Tip #7 – Take a Break to Answer Questions

If you know, you’ll be presenting for a long time; there’s a lot to be said for making space for a few breaks. Over Zoom, it’s not as easy to send everyone off for a quick coffee break because of how lengthy it can be to get everyone back and focused, so instead, you could end each section with a quick Q&A session.

Doing this has two advantages:

• To keep everyone up to speed by elaborating on points you may have gone over a bit too quickly.
• To give everyone a break from listening and looking.

On some live Q&A software , you can accept Q&A questions from your audience throughout your Zoom presentation and then answer them whenever.

These tiny breaks in the presentation can bring back your audience’s focus as they anticipate that they need to interact.

No time like the present

So, that’s the zoom presentation tips and tricks! With these tips, you should feel ready to take on the (presentation) world. We know that presentations aren’t always accessible, but hopefully, these virtual Zoom presentation tips go some way to relieving the anxieties. Try to use these tips in your next Zoom presentation. If you stay calm, stay enthusiastic and keep your audience engaged with your shiny, new interactive presentation, it will be your best Zoom presentation yet!

More from AhaSlides

• Presentation

Zoom Presentation Tips: How to Deliver a Successful Zoom Meeting

• May 28, 2022

In the age of remote work and virtual meetings, Zoom has emerged as a dominant platform for Presentation design services and conferences. Whether you’re a business professional, educator, or simply connecting with friends and family, Zoom presentations have become a daily part of life. In this article, we’ll explore the world of Zoom presentations, highlighting their benefits, offering zoom presentation tips for success, and discussing essential dos and don’ts.

We are going over some really cool tricks that will guarantee an engaging experience for everyone in attendance. “First off: remember they always want something new – don’t repeat anything word-for-word during PowerPoint cycles or handouts unless it’s important enough Repeat stuff, when necessary, though!”

Table of Contents

What is Zoom?

Before delving into the specifics, let’s understand what Zoom presentations are. A Zoom presentation involves using the Zoom video conferencing platform to deliver content, whether a business proposal, educational lecture, or an informal gathering. With the ability to share screens, engage participants through video and chat, and display slideshows, Zoom has revolutionized how we communicate and present ideas.

It’s a common way to recall what you want to emphasize or say on a slide is by adding speaking notes to the Notes section of PowerPoint. You can then use the Presenter View mode, which will show you slides and your notes. The audience won’t see your notes. This is the default way to connect to a screen or projector in a meeting room.

Meetings have moved to Zoom, and will continue to use this technology in the future. How can you use the PowerPoint Presenter view in a Zoom meeting? To present your PowerPoint along with your notes in a Zoom meeting? You will see the answers to your questions about whether you have one screen/monitor or two and whether you are using Windows or Mac. You will also learn why you may need three screens, and how to set them up.

During the Pandemic, Zoom was a popular communication tool for business and education. There were 485 million Zoom downloads in 2020, which was 30 times more than in the previous year! 

Zoom Presentation Tips

Now that we’ve covered Zoom let’s dive into some practical tips for presenting on zoom for delivering effective Zoom presentations:

1-Practice your presentation beforehand

It’s important to rehearse your Zoom presentation before you deliver it. This will help get comfortable with the interface and ensure that everything runs smoothly, which means less chance of making a fool out of yourself in front of everyone!

2-Use a clear and concise speaking voice

Let’s talk about what you need to do when speaking on Zoom. First off, make sure that your voice is clear and concise so people can understand everything easily!

3-Make sure your slides are easy to read

present your slides with large fonts and clear images to ensure that the audience can see what you’re trying to say. Make sure there isn’t any clutter on the screen, as it makes reading difficult for people behind glass or sitting far away from a projector. You should also take care when preparing your presentation materials- make them easy enough so everyone understands!

4-Gesture naturally as you speak

When giving a presentation, make sure to gesture naturally as you speak. This will help your audience follow what’s being said and appear more natural – which in turn makes them feel at ease with the whole situation!

5-Pause occasionally to give listeners a chance to absorb your points

It’s important to pause periodically while speaking on Zoom so listeners can absorb your points. This helps ensure that you aren’t missing any key information in the presentation, and it will make them more engaged with what they’re hearing!

6-Avoid reading from notes or slides – be conversational instead

When giving a Zoom presentation, it is important to avoid reading from notes or slides. Instead, try being conversational and engaging your listeners so that you can connect with them more easily while delivering an engaging speech!

Communication is the key to success. So what better way than by speaking face-to-face with your audience? With Zoom, you can literally be in front of them and see their reactions as they listen! It’s time for us all go get our hands on some new tech so we’re ready when this millennials generation comes knocking at our doors looking around confused because there were no video conferences during childhoods.

Zoom presentation tips and tricks to give a great Zoom presentation

here are some of the best Zoom presentation tips and tricks that will increase your confidence, competence, success, and have an effective presentation.

Explain your agenda before you begin presenting.

People like to know what to expect before they log on to a meeting. Your presentation opens with a slide that outlines your agenda. This is one of the best Zoom meeting presentation tips to set the stage for the meeting and assure your audience. Your agenda should include details about when and how audience interaction will be possible.

The slide(s) can be used to list and/or illustrate the points that you are going to cover in your presentation. A slide can be used to pose a question and then show how you will answer it. You can make your audience feel at ease by starting with a humorous (but still work-appropriate!) illustration or photograph.

The superpower of data

It’s common to optimize your presentation while using technology to communicate and collaborate.

Consider what images, documents and graphics you should share as part of your preparations for Zoom meetings. This will help to build credibility and professionalism in your pitch. You can also use this information to keep a Zoom audience’s attention from beginning to end.

You should familiarize yourself with Zoom’s Share Screen option. This will show you the best ways to display videos during Zoom calls, as well as advanced sharing methods for online presentations.

These are some great Zoom share screen tips, including how you can add a video to your presentations on Zoom.

You can plan your Zoom background/location in advance.

You can either use a Zoom background or a place in your house. Make sure the area you choose is clean and uncluttered. You can create a professional environment by having bare walls or shelves with well-arranged books.

Consider lighting. You can use soft lighting to illuminate you evenly. However, sitting in front a window or door can create shadows and glare.

Your background should not distract from your presentation. Your audience shouldn’t be distracted by a photo of your family or dishes at the sink.

Tell a Story

Telling a story is the best way to build an emotional connection with your audience. Incorporate storytelling into presentations to help people better remember and understand information.

How do you include a story in a presentation? The storyline must be tied to your main goal, and carried through the entire presentation, according to the best Zoom presentation tips.

Clarify the emotion you wish to evoke. This could be surprise, joy or desire, anger or any other emotion. You can think of examples, statistics or jokes that are relatable to your audience. If people are nodding their heads when you present, it’s usually a sign you’re delivering a great presentation. Or they’re using active listening.

Elena Valentine, Skill scout CEO, uses Prezi Video as a way to demonstrate the importance of storytelling in presentations. She also shares tips to help you focus on story as an attention grabber. You can find out more in this video.

Place notes at the right places on your screen.

While you need to see your notes, you don’t want them to be hidden.

Dual monitors can be used to combat this. You can position your presentation on one monitor, which is visible to everyone, and your presenter’s notes (plus the webcam) on the other.

You can also present your slide show from one window and then have a private view of all your notes from another window. Zoom offers step-by-step instructions on how to use single or dual screens.

Let your audience see and hear you

Another tip for Zoom presentations is what your audience can hear and see. Try to appear professional whenever possible.

You don’t need to have all the lights on. The best way to present your work in a virtual setting is with natural light. Avoid putting your head against the window as it can create shadows. You can also experiment with lamps, even a small ring light. Make sure your audience can also see you. It’s not good to be able to see Zoom presentations with disruptive background noise or a squeaky microphone.

Grab your Audience’s attention and don’t let go

How to present on Zoom in a way that will be remembered by your audience? You must grab their attention quickly and not let them go until the end of the call.

People who are required to attend a presentation will be bored long before the event begins. You need to establish your tone and keep it going throughout the presentation. Your audience will lose interest if you take too much time to get started or waste your time fiddling with your presentation modes settings. Fast. You can’t let that happen. Preparation is crucial for making good first impressions.

Be clear about the purpose of your presentation. What is the purpose? What are you asking the audience to do when you give them the information? What will you do to communicate the important information? How will you allow your audience to ask questions?

Your credibility is important. Why is this the right topic for you? You may have gaps in your knowledge about certain eras. That’s okay. Recognize what you don’t know.

Start with an icebreaker. If your audience is full Dads, I would recommend that you avoid dad jokes. It’s a good idea to begin with a warm greeting and a relevant fact about you that establishes a connection with your audience.

Good Visuals

The visual aspect of any presentation is crucial. Do you want to be the only one presenting? Or will you have slides to share with others? Follow the steps above to make sure you are able to present a Zoom ppt via the Screen Share feature before you begin.

It is also a good idea include relevant:

• Statistics and data
• Images and videos
• Stickers and GIFs

However, don’t hide behind slides. People don’t want to see a slideshow that goes on forever with your face hidden in a corner. Make sure you only show the essentials and don’t forget to cover any extras.

End Zoom presentations correctly

A final word of advice about Zoom presentations. Do not let your relief get in the way of your call to actions at the end.

Every communication should contain an invitation in clear language. Now that your Zoom time has ended, what would you ask your audience to do? With one final warm smile, tell them and thank them for their attention.

Zoom Presentation Don’ts

• Don’t Overload Slides: Avoid cramming too much information onto slides; this can overwhelm your audience.
• Don’t Multitask: Stay focused on the presentation and avoid checking emails or engaging in unrelated tasks.
• Don’t Ignore Technical Issues: If technical problems arise, address them promptly and professionally.
• Don’t Rush: Speak clearly and at a moderate pace; rushing can make it challenging for participants to follow.
• Don’t Neglect Etiquette: Maintain proper etiquette by muting when not speaking and refrain from interrupting others.

Zoom presentations have become an integral part of our modern communication landscape. Embracing the benefits they offer, following best practices and tips for presenting on Zoom, and avoiding common pitfalls can help you deliver impactful and engaging presentations in the virtual world. Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or new to the digital stage, mastering Zoom presentations is valuable in today’s interconnected world.

What makes a successful meeting?

An effective meeting can bring a thoughtfully chosen group of people together for a specific purpose, provide a forum for open discussion, and deliver a tangible result: a decision, a plan, a list of great ideas to pursue, and a shared understanding of the work ahead.

What makes Zoom work better?

By closing other applications that you do not need during the working session, It can be helpful for Zoom to run better. Avoid other activities that will steal bandwidth. Communicate with the instructor or moderator of your Zoom meeting.

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Zoom Cheatsheet: 25 Tips and Tricks for Your Next Meeting

We'll walk you through our favorite Zoom hacks, from how to change your Zoom name, background, adding your pronouns and more.

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Zoom is rich with features, many of which you may have never heard about. No matter how long you've been using the video conferencing app, there are a number of helpful and fun tips, tricks and hidden features you can find to upgrade your video chatting experience. Here are 20 ways to become a Zoom master.

Read more : Ultimate Webcam Tips: How to Look and Sound Great Online  

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 Zoom background. You can read our step-by-step guide to changing your Zoom background on the desktop and mobile app, but basically you go to Settings > Virtual Background and select or upload the image you want from there. However, you do have to make sure that your system meets all of the requirements to do so. 

Read more :   10 free Zoom alternative apps for video chats

2. Change your name on Zoom

There are two ways to change how your name appears in Zoom meetings: Temporary and permanent. If you want to change your name for only the meeting you're currently in, after you enter the meeting, click the Participants button at the bottom of the screen. Hover over your name , and click More > Rename . Type in the name you want to appear, and click OK . 

If you want to change your name for every meeting going forward, go to the Zoom web portal and sign in to your account . Click Profile . In the top right corner across from your name, click Edit . Enter the name you'd like under Display name, and click Save changes . Your new name should appear in every meeting from now on, but you can still change it for individual meetings with the steps above if you'd like.

3. Add your pronouns on Zoom

Adding your pronouns to your name on Zoom is one way to make meetings more inclusive of transgender, gender nonconforming and gender nonbinary people. Including your pronouns can ensure you aren't assuming anyone's gender identity based on their appearance, as well as normalizing the use of pronouns in different settings. Similar to changing your name, you can add your pronouns either for every meeting going forward, or just for the meeting you're currently in. Read the  full instructions for adding your pronouns on Zoom .

4. Add a profile picture on Zoom

Zoom lets you change your name and add a profile picture that will appear if your camera is off.

To add a profile picture for an individual meeting, after you enter the meeting, click the Participants button at the bottom of the screen. Hover over your name , and click More > Add profile picture . Select the picture you want from your computer, and click Open . 

To add a permanent profile picture to your Zoom meetings, go to the Zoom web portal and sign in to your account . Click Profile . In the top right corner across from your name, click Edit . Under the empty photo icon, click Change > Upload . Select the picture you'd like from your computer, and click Open . Readjust which part of the picture you'd like to appear, and click Save .

5. 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, select Settings > Audio > Mute microphone when joining a meeting , and then Settings > Video > Turn off my video when joining a meeting . 

6. 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. 

Read more : Zoom, Skype, FaceTime: 11 Tips for Your Video Chat Apps

7. Turn on the beauty filter

Zoom's Touch Up My Appearance feature 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 . 

8. Set up a waiting room for added privacy

One way to help prevent unwanted guests from crashing your meeting, or Zoombombing , is by enabling the Waiting Room feature, so you can see who's attempting to join the meeting before allowing them access. To do so, go to Account Management > Account Settings . Click on Meeting , then click Waiting Room to enable the setting. (We've got more tips on how to prevent Zoombombing in your meetings here .)

9. Create Zoom breakout rooms for smaller group discussion

Split your big Zoom meeting into up to 100 separate smaller sessions with breakout rooms. To start a breakout room as the host, go to More > 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, rename rooms and set time limits for the breakout rooms to close. 

Zoom has lots of features to help your meetings run more smoothly.

10. 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. 

11. React with emoji onscreen 

Zoom added a larger set of emoji reactions in an April update.

If you're muted in a meeting, you can still let others know your thoughts with emoji reactions. Send a thumbs-up, a clapping emoji or dozens of other options to communicate without interrupting the meeting.

To react during a meeting, click the Reactions tab at the bottom of the meeting screen (it's in the same panel as mute audio and video, to the right) and choose the one you want. The emoji will disappear after 10 seconds. 

If the meeting organizer enables the nonverbal feedback feature, participants can choose the Raise Hand emoji option and wait to be recognized. Every participant will be able to see each other's feedback. 

12. 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.You can find commands to join a meeting, start or stop recording, enter full screen and share your screen (more on that below). Check out Zoom's full list of hot keys and keyboard shortcuts. 

13. 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.

14. Put yourself in the same virtual background as your coworkers with immersive view

Try out Zoom's immersive view feature to put yourself in the same virtual space as your fellow meeting participants.

Zoom's immersive view feature lets you put yourself in the same virtual background as your fellow video chat participants -- be it a conference room, classroom or anywhere else you can think of. If you're the meeting or webinar host, start the Zoom meeting on your desktop (it will be enabled by default for all free and single pro accounts using Zoom 5.6.3 or higher). In the top right corner, where you find Speaker or Gallery View , you'll see the option to enable Immersive View. Click Immersive View, and choose from one of Zoom's provided scenes, or upload your own. 

Your meeting participants or webinar hosts will now be placed in the same virtual background and will appear that way on every participant's screen.

15. 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 non-video participants . Now you'll only be distracted by your co-workers' pets and children who appear on video. 

16. Use the vanishing pen to highlight without having to go back and erase

Zoom's vanishing pen feature lets you highlight text as you share your screen. 

Zoom's vanishing pen feature lets you draw on your shared screen to call attention to text or objects, but then fades away so you don't have to go back and erase your markings. To use it, share your screen, and click Annotate . On the menu that pops up, click Spotlight and click Vanishing Pen . 

17. Record the meeting to your computer

Both free and paid Zoom subscribers can record their meeting to their laptop or computer using the desktop app (you can't record on mobile at the moment, unless you have a paid account -- keep reading for more on that). Those recorded files can then be uploaded to a file storage service such as Google Drive or Dropbox, or a video streaming service such as YouTube or Vimeo. 

To enable local recording, go to Settings > Recording , and toggle it on . When you're hosting a Zoom meeting, click the Record icon on the bottom toolbar. 

18. Record a meeting to the cloud

If you have one of Zoom's paid plans (which start at $149.90 for the year ),  you can make a recording that will save directly to the cloud (or to your computer if you prefer). To use this feature, click Record at the bottom of the meeting screen. You can pause or stop your recording at any time. Zoom will notify you when the recording is ready. 

Here's what it'll look like when you start a new Whiteboard in Zoom.

19. Use the Whiteboard tool

The Whiteboard feature allows participants to collaborate on a sharable canvas that you can access even outside of meetings. To enable Whiteboard, make sure you've updated to the latest version of Zoom. Click Whiteboards in the bottom of the menu screen, choose New Whiteboard and click Open and Collaborate . You can choose if participants can view only or edit your board. Clicking Close Whiteboard will automatically save your Whiteboard for future use or viewing.

20. Host more than 100 people 

If you have a group of more than 100 people to host for work or school, you have to upgrade to a paid professional account. If you upgrade to the highest tier (Enterprise Plus), you can host up to 1,000 participants.

21. Turn off or limit chat 

Zoom's chat feature is another great way to communicate with others in the meeting. If the chat is going off the rails and becoming a distraction, the meeting host can turn off chat, limit participants to only message the host or turn off chat completely. To do so, click the More dots in the chat side window and choose between No One, Hosts and Co-hosts or Everyone.

 22. Turn on Live Transcript 

To turn on captions during your Zoom meeting, click Live Captions at the bottom of the screen. From there, you can assign someone to type, use a third-party app or click Enable to use Zoom's caption tool. Once you've turned on Live Transcript, you can repeat the previous steps and click View Full Transcript to read along with timestamps. Once the meeting is finished, you can click Save Transcript to keep a copy. 

You can put Zoom into dark mode and change the skin tone of your emoji in the same place.

23. Turn on dark mode

Dark mode is a great way to save yourself from eye strain during a long work day. To turn on dark mode in Zoom, click your profile icon in the top right corner to open Settings . From there, choose between Light, Dark or Use System Setting . 

Watch our video on how to make your webcam video look and sound great online and make sure to subscribe to the How to Do It All channel on YouTube for more how-to videos. 

24. Change emoji reaction skin tones

By default, most emoji in Zoom are yellow, but you can customize them. Click your profile icon in the top right corner to open Settings . Under the options to change your Zoom settings to dark mode, you should see six thumbs-up emoji. Select the skin tone you want to use and the changes will save automatically. Now any hand emoji reaction you use during meetings will be the tone you chose. 

You can choose from a number of animal avatars.

25. Use a fun avatar 

If unique backgrounds aren't enough fun, Zoom lets you use avatar filters during meetings. Go to Settings > Background & Effects and select Avatars . From there, you can choose from various animals to replace you in a meeting.

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20 zoom tips and tricks for better video meetings.

Senior Content Marketing Manager

February 8, 2024

Zoom calls with internal teams and clients have become the norm thanks to the pandemic and shifts in our work style. Given this change in working style and the importance of Zoom meetings, it is critical to be well-prepared.

Have you ever attended those awkward Zoom meetings where you forgot to unmute your audio? Or were you part of remote meetings on Zoom where your PC got an update a minute before the call, making you late to a critical virtual meeting? 

We’ve all been there, but if you don’t want awkward virtual meetings to be your thing, familiarize yourself with these 20 Zoom tips and tricks.

Understanding Zoom and How to Use It

Common zoom meeting challenges , 1. integrate clickup and zoom to schedule, summarize, and record videos , 2. use the handy keyboard shortcuts to complete your tasks quickly, 3. add your name and preferred pronoun on zoom , 4. set privacy settings in one go , 5. add a professional profile picture and a virtual background , 6. set up your zoom waiting room , 7. start all zoom meetings with the audio and video off, 8. always switch on the gallery view to check on all meeting participants , 9. use a single zoom link to schedule recurring meetings , 10. practice using the raising hands feature, 11. enable emoji reaction skin tones  , 12. switch on the live transcript option for zoom meetings , 13. play around with zoom avatars , 14. make the most of the zoom whiteboard for brainstorming sessions, 15. set reminders for auto-scheduled zoom meetings , 16. opt for advanced screen-sharing , 17. use zoom team chat for in-call communication  , 18. close tabs before screen-sharing , 19. avoid software updates before zoom meeting , 20. identify and resolve the early signs of ‘zoom fatigue’ , ace your next zoom call with the tips and tricks.

Zoom is a cloud-based virtual communication software that small, medium, and large businesses use to host virtual meetings, webinars, masterclasses, and 1:1 sessions and create breakout rooms. 

Some advanced features that make it more robust than the Zoom alternatives are its real-time collaboration capabilities, instant messaging, and Zoom room systems. Zoom is also easily accessible across mobile and desktop apps. 

Some of Zoom’s most popular uses include: 

• Unify a distributed team with regular virtual communication 
• Capitalize on Zoom’s simple and intuitive user interface, which technical and non-technical professionals find easy to use
• Avail of Zoom’s affordable and free plans 
• Create Zoom breakout rooms to divide long sessions into multiple smaller sessions
• Use Zoom chat to collaborate with team members 

While Zoom is a great application to improve work performance, not all Zoom calls go well. Some inherent challenges can make Zoom difficult to use sometimes.

The challenges of creating and attending Zoom meetings may vary. To some, a stable internet connection may be the biggest challenge, while taking meeting notes during a Zoom call could be more of a challenge for others. 

We spoke to many professionals who attend multiple Zoom calls daily and compiled a list of the most common Zoom meeting challenges: 

• Not having a process to document the meeting agenda
• Deviation from the main topics of discussion 
• Difficulty finding the meeting ID for the appropriate Zoom meeting rooms 
• Not setting up technical aspects like microphone, camera, speaker, and background noise in advance 
• Struggling to concentrate on the meeting discussions 
• Experiencing issues with audio and video quality 
• Facing trouble with reducing background noise
• Letting in spam meeting attendees within the Zoom video calls automatically without the host’s consent, leading to privacy concerns
• Struggling to share your opinion in a large team
• Not understanding what others are saying due to language barriers 
• Complicating internal communication by not using Zoom chat efficiently 
• Getting distracted while multitasking, like switching between applications multiple times 
• Finding it challenging to keep track of the meeting notes  

Were you able to relate to any of these?

If yes, here’s how to address these challenges easily with Zoom tips. 

20 Tips for Zoom Video Meetings

Zoom calls are now integral to business process improvement . You likely won’t find an effective alternative to Zoom in the current market, especially if you have large, remote teams working from multiple locations. Zoom features allow such teams to run recurring calls and daily stand-ups, create breakout rooms, and all-hands sessions. 

The ideal approach is to make the most of your Zoom calls by following the proper Zoom etiquette and best practices. 

Are you using ClickUp at your workplace? Add a collaborative layer by opting for the Zoom integration to host meetings within ClickUp. 

This integration helps you to: 

• Start Zoom sessions within a ClickUp task using the Zoom meeting button. The built-in ‘/zoom’ command means you don’t have to switch between Zoom and ClickUp whenever you need to get on a 15-minute call with your team members. Furthermore, when a Zoom meeting starts, the meeting link will automatically appear in the task comment for everyone’s visibility

• If you record your Zoom video calls, you won’t need to wait 15-20 minutes for the cloud recording to reach your inbox. ClickUp automatically updates the link to the meeting recording within the same task shortly after the meeting ends

• Add your Zoom video conferencing checklists within ClickUp, and as the meeting continues, make sure to strike off the tasks from your checklist one by one
• Summarize your ClickUp meetings like a pro with an expert editorial feature that picks up all critical discussion points from your conferences and organizes them to create the MoM

Here are some helpful Zoom keyboard shortcuts if all your virtual meetings run on Zoom: 

One crucial Zoom tip for anyone using the platform for professional meetings is to add your legal name to your Zoom portal. You only need to do this once to ensure that it reflects every time you are in a Zoom meeting. 

The process is pretty simple. 

• Sign in to your Zoom web portal 
• Click on ‘Profile’ followed by ‘Edit’ 
• Add your name in the ‘Display Name’ field and save the changes 

You will see an option to enter your preferred pronoun below the ‘Display Name’ field.  In the spirit of diversity and inclusion, consider adding your preferred pronoun. This ensures that others appropriately address you during remote meetings.

Setting up all the Zoom meeting privacy settings in advance will enhance the video conferencing app experience for the host and all the guests.

Use the following Zoom tips to set up the privacy settings in five minutes: 

• Keep your private Zoom meeting rooms separate from your professional Zoom session 
• When hosting a webinar or a public event, don’t use your private email ID to protect your privacy
• Enable End-to-End (E2E) encryption on your Zoom account. This will automatically limit information-leaking activities like guests recording the meeting or trying to screen share without the host’s permission
• When hosting public events, remove unwanted guests from the calls. It is also a good practice to block their audio and video calls entirely 
• If you schedule a live event with over 100 attendees, don’t allow guests to join the meeting before the host. This Zoom tip ensures that guests don’t get bored by entering early. Go to ‘Settings’ in your Zoom web portal, hover over the ‘Meetings’ tab, and scroll down to find this option

The added advantage of uploading your professional profile picture is that it lets you switch your video off during lengthy Zoom meetings without making the other participants feel like they are talking to a blank space. 

A professional profile picture with a virtual Zoom background looks something like this: 

Changing your profile picture is pretty straightforward. Go to ‘Profile’ and click ‘Edit’ to change it. 

Another Zoom tip is to add personalized Zoom virtual backgrounds. 

Our remote work setups are not always the best. Zoom lets you choose a virtual background that gives you more privacy while ensuring you don’t have to worry about tidying up before a meeting. Whether it is an image of the shining Golden Gate Bridge or a sky full of stars, pick the virtual background that suits your personality the best. Go to ‘Zoom Settings’ and scroll down to find this option.

One of the best Zoom tips to secure your personal meeting is to set up your waiting room. As the host, you can add genuine guests to the online collaboration events and remove spammy entrants.

Go to ‘Meeting Settings’ followed by the ‘Meeting’ tab, and scroll down to switch on the ‘Waiting Room’ field in your Zoom web portal. 

Do you often join an early morning Zoom call with a messy bedhead? Or do you struggle to stop your dog from barking while the meeting is about to start? 

Here’s one Zoom tip that works wonders in such situations—mute your audio and switch off your video to settle down before you’re ready to unmute your audio, reduce background noise, and be video-ready. You can make this your default setting by following the steps mentioned below:

• Mute audio by default: Go to Meeting Settings > Audio > Mute microphone when joining a meeting
• Switch off video by default : Go to Video Settings > Video > Turn off my video when joining a meeting

Whether it is an online collaboration event like a webinar or another Zoom call, it is a common Zoom courtesy to observe everyone present in the meeting, not just the speaker. To do that, you must first switch on ‘Gallery view’ whenever you join a Zoom meeting. 

Go to ‘View’  at the top right corner of your Zoom screen and select ‘Gallery.’ 

The gallery view lets you see 49 or fewer guests on a single meeting screen. If you have more participants, enable the option for multiple pages. 

Zoom lets you establish breakout rooms to convert a long session into 100 shorter sessions. Hosts can automatically or manually assign participants to these sessions, and participants have the flexibility to choose the breakout room they prefer.

To create breakout rooms: Go to Settings > Breakout meetings > Assign participants > Schedule meeting.

Scheduling recurring meetings on your Google calendar using just one meeting URL is a great time-saver that saves you the trouble of sending multiple invitations right before the meeting starts. 

Steps to follow: Meetings > Schedule a Meeting > Check the Recurring Meeting box > Add frequency > Save.

Once you change your scheduled event, it automatically updates your Google or Outlook calendar with your personal meeting ID and becomes the default setting for all your upcoming meetings.  

In the virtual world, jumping in while someone’s talking is a big no-no. Expressing your thoughts in virtual meetings can be tricky. Luckily, Zoom got us covered with the hand-raising emoji. It’s like giving a little virtual wave to show others you’ve got something to say so the host can give you the floor without the chaos of everyone talking at once. 

Here are two ways to use it: 

• Go to the ‘Reactions’ button in your call screen and choose this emoji ‘✋’ to let the meeting participants know you want to say something and are waiting your turn. To enable the feature, go to your profile settings and turn on the ‘Non-verbal feedback’ capability
• Post the same emoji within the in-call chat window to inform your team members that you are waiting to speak

While the default settings of all emoji skin tones are yellow, Zoom lets you personalize them in six available skin tones. Go to Profile> Settings > change emoji skin tones.

Zoom lets you switch on live transcripts during meetings. If you host a video call, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the ‘Live Transcript’ button next to the ‘Record’ button. 

Generate subtitles for all speakers and view the entire transcript later to draft the minutes of the meetings (MoM). 

A call transcript feature is an excellent option for diverse teams with members of different ethnicities, as it ensures that participants don’t miss out on meaningful discussions. 

Tired of the same old appearance during all-hands Zoom sessions? Switch to using Zoom avatars to add some fun to your meetings.

The steps to choose your avatar are Settings > Background & Effects > Avatar.

You can also choose from multiple favorite animal avatars and replace your profile picture with a fun animal character. Your meeting appearance will look something like this:

Zoom whiteboard is your one-stop solution for brainstorming, which works as a visual collaboration software that allows you to: 

• Start a brainstorming session, add images and mindmaps, and share it with all meeting participants
• Present a virtual canvas to the larger team 
• Create real-time interactive whiteboards to simplify collaboration 

Accessing the whiteboard is simple. Right-click the ‘Share Content’ button on your call screen and scroll down to find the whiteboard. 

Activate meeting reminders on your phone through the Zoom app to get notified about upcoming Zoom meetings, even when you’re away from your workstation. 

Go to Settings, click the ‘Remind Me’ option, and toggle it. Choose how many minutes or hours before the call you want to receive the alert.

Hosts can enhance the collaborative nature of Zoom meetings by opting for the advanced screen-sharing option. Use Zoom’s screen-sharing annotation tools to: 

• Pinpoint a specific area on the screen 
• Convert your cursor into an arrow and click anywhere on the screen to ‘stick’ the arrow 
• Turn the host’s cursor into a dot 

Why interrupt a multi-team meeting to tell a specific team member something when you can directly message your thoughts separately instead? Zoom’s built-in instant messaging chat lets you: 

• Chat before or during a remote call 
• Seamlessly find contacts and files
• Add, remove, mute, and block participants
• Attend Zoom meetings from your mobile and desktop 

The best part? Zoom Team Chat is free. 

Have you ever had to present your screen during a work call only to reveal your Amazon wishlist accidentally? 

Those pesky tabs get you every time, don’t they? 

Close the extra tabs before you start sharing your entire desktop screen with your team. 

Keep the meeting tab and other relevant folders and applications open so you don’t have to switch between Zoom and other applications. Not only does it help keep your personal matters private, but it also helps your computer work faster!

Occasionally, you will see the ‘updates are ready to install’ messages on your screen. 

If you see such pop-ups before a Zoom meeting, please avoid clicking on the ‘update now’ option. Instead, wait until the end of your workday to run all software updates. 

When attending a session, do you often feel like everybody is staring at you? Sometimes, frequent long meetings can lead to cognitive overload and leave you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. 

These are signs of ‘Zoom fatigue,’ a prevalent symptom among the virtual workforce. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to address this. 

Jeremy Bailenson, a communications professor at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) at Stanford University, makes a few suggestions in his research paper that help alleviate symptoms of Zoom fatigue:

• Reduce the size of your Zoom window 
• Activate the ‘hide self-view’ option during back-to-back remote meetings 
• Switch off your video during long meetings to take a break from being on-screen 
• Take audio breaks to manage the pressure of being constantly verbally active 

While Zoom meetings may not always provide the best experience, it’s undeniable that Zoom effectively bridges the gap between global and remote teams, making information easily accessible. 

With these straightforward Zoom tips and tricks, hosting successful Zoom meetings is a breeze. 

Make remote work easy by starting your Zoom meetings right within ClickUp Tasks. 

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20 Tips and Tricks for Zoom – Before, During, and After Meetings

7. Use filters like a pro during Zoom video conferencing

16. keep all meetings secure as they happen, 20. get feedback from zoom meeting attendees, enjoyed these zoom tips.

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What if I told you you’re not using Zoom to its full capacity?

Zoom’s popularity is widespread as the app has been named the “Preferred Video App” by Okta for two years straight. Hundreds of millions of people use Zoom on a daily basis. And it’s not just professional teams. Your friends, family, neighbors, and even your kids are familiar with it. 

All of these people are using their Zoom client differently. 

The pitfall is that once you get the hang of the basics, you won’t be interested in learning more about the Zoom advanced features that can make your calls more productive and comprehensive. The biggest issues that could appear are security-related with people popping in a meeting just because they got hold of a link to it.

In this tried-and-tested guide, you’ll find out how to choose the right privacy settings, use advanced screen sharing options, and loads of other advanced Zoom tips you can apply straight away. 

Note that all previous meeting etiquette tips apply in order to guarantee a successful meeting be it with your team, partners, clients, or potential candidates. 

We’ve divided the following Zoom tips according to when you should consider: before, during, or after a call.

Before a Zoom call

1. start a meeting on mute every time.

Stop the initial buzzing or people tuning in late and distracting the others by having everyone on mute at the start. When scheduling new video calls, simply go to your Advanced Options and check the Mute participants upon entry feature.

Fun fact: Press and hold the spacebar to temporarily unmute your microphone during meetings.

2. Remove background noises completely

Struggling to hear your colleagues or can’t get your point across because your surroundings are bustling? Use Krisp to automatically mute all background sounds, chattering, construction work, barking, and everything else for both you and your listeners.

See Krisp in action:

Here’s how to set it up in less than one minute for any Zoom account.

3. Get your privacy settings right

Have you ever joined a meeting five minutes early only to find your host was still in another individual meeting?

Yup, happened to me.

Here’s everything you can do to prevent such blunders:

• Enable end-to-end encryption (E2EE): This automatically disables entry before the meeting host, live streaming, cloud recording, and more actions that could leak information.
• Don’t share your meeting link on social media or publicly: Unless you’re hosting a big industry event or webinar via Zoom, share links within other secured communication channels.
• Keep private Zoom meeting rooms separate from public ones: When hosting a public event, make sure you’re not using your Personal Meeting ID.
• Remove unwanted or spammy meeting participants: This is especially helpful if you’re hosting a live event where anyone can join. Remove them from the call or block their video/audio entirely. Limit their screen sharing capabilities or disable the chat, file sharing, and annotations options to avoid them sharing spam or dangerous content.
• Never allow people to join before a host: Head to your profile’s Settings and the Meeting tab to disable the Join before host option. You can also do this for every meeting from the advanced settings when scheduling a call from the desktop app.

Note that Zoom has taken extra caution measures and now makes it mandatory for a meeting to have one of the following: a passcode , a Waiting Room , or the Only authenticated users can join meetings feature turned on. You can add these manually but note that passwords are a must and you can’t completely remove them.

Don’t forget to stick to our full list of privacy tips to prevent hacking, information theft, and “Zoombombing”.

4. Create recurring meetings with a single URL

Whether it’s for a weekly standup meeting or one-on-one call, recurring meetings are a must for every team. Setting these up right off the bat ensures your team won’t forget about them and they’ll always have access to the same URL — so no more “Where’s the meeting link?” issues.

To do so, just schedule a meeting like you’d regularly do and make sure you select the Recurring meeting option. For advanced features, choose No Fixed Time when meeting up with your team or the same person as usual without having a set time. You’ll still use the same meeting settings and meeting link but can always edit the time.

5. Get accustomed to shortcuts you’ll use often

There’s a shortcut for almost everything you want but the most common ones you might want to use for a faster Zoom experience are:

• Alt: To hide or show your meeting controls.
• Alt+A: To mute and unmute your audio.
• Alt+C: To start or end cloud recording.
• Alt+N: To switch your camera when using multiple ones.
• Alt+F: To enter or leave the full-screen view.
• Alt+S: To start or stop screen sharing.
• Alt+Shift+T: To take a screenshot.

These are particularly helpful when you’ve already got multiple windows and browser tabs open and don’t want to switch back to the Zoom app. Keep in mind that you can edit these to suit any other shortcuts you’re using elsewhere.

6. Create your own Zoom background

Ditch the classic office or beach background by creating your own. Photoshop will work but a user-friendly version like Canva provides dozens of ready-made templates you can further customize—animated ones includes:

Executives, freelancers, customer support and sales teams, and more can customize the background to match the company’s branding. Depending on the occasion, you can add your contact information, fun or helpful announcements, product features, calls-to-action, general tips for conduct or reminders, or fun easter eggs.

Then, go to your desktop app’s Settings , choose Background & Filters , add your custom background from the plus sign on the right side of the meeting screen, and uncheck the Mirror my video option . 

Another one of the best Zoom tricks is to disable this last feature even when you don’t use a background if you often show things with text or imagery on camera. Note that checking “Mirror my video” only mirrors the display for you, but not for others on Zoom.

Filters for Zoom? Why not?

Go to the Zoom web app’s Settings , click on Video , and check the Touch up my appearance option under My Video .

Tip: Under the Touch up my appearance option you’ll find an adjustment for low light which is perfect for dark rooms or cloudy days when you just can’t get the light right.

During a Zoom meeting

8. use waiting rooms.

Zoom has A LOT of privacy settings. When not used correctly, people can get into your common meeting room even if it’s not their time yet. They can get information that’s supposed to be confidential or disturb your current meeting altogether.

The first thing on our list of Zoom tips is the safest privacy measure: to set up a waiting room from which the meeting host needs to approve every participant before they can join.

To enable Zoom meeting rooms at a user-level, go to your profile’s Settings , click on the Meeting tab, go to Security , and toggle the Waiting Room option.

Besides this quick hack, there’s loads of other Zoom privacy tips to use…

9. Raise a hand [two ways]

The worst part about virtual meetings is that it can be hard to signal when you want to say something. 

To aid Zoom meeting etiquette, hosts can enable non-verbal cues by going to their profile’s Settings , choosing the Meeting tab, scrolling to the In Meeting (Basic) section, and turning on the Non-verbal feedback capability.

Now, when a user goes to their Reactions option, a Raise hand button will appear, making it extra easy for anyone to get their ideas across.

A tiny hand icon will be displayed next to the participants who called it so hosts will be immediately notified. Alternatively, you can use the other emoji reactions to signal your thoughts or willingness to say something. For example, a Slow down reaction will tell the host to go through their explanation or demo at a slower pace while the No reaction implies disagreement so the host can get back to you to clarify a topic.

10. Try advanced screen sharing options for more accuracy

Ever seen these?

You should check Zoom’s Advanced screen sharing capabilities if you often prefer sharing only a part of your screen, want to use a second camera, or want to share a video. The PowerPoint presentation option is also super handy as it works for virtual backgrounds too:

Note: Krisp lets you set up and use your virtual backgrounds across multiple video communication tools. This way, in case Zoom crashes or someone calls for an unexpected meeting on a different video conferencing app, you can keep a consistent background without having to add it again.

Recording for a video or just want the best quality for the meeting? Use the camera from your phone as a webcam in Zoom:

If you want to later publish the video online, make sure the Optimize for video clip box is checked when choosing which screen to share.

11. Always use a mouse spotlight when sharing your screen

Once you start screen sharing your screen or a whiteboard, this bar will pop up once you hover your mouse at the top:

12. Record meetings

The option to record your meeting in an MP4 format is available for all plans, including the free one. You can record meetings to later upload them to YouTube, social media, or just use them as a reference when writing a case study or analyzing the usability of your website and user feedback. 

Besides the audio and video format, the text chat window will also be recorded since you wouldn’t be able to go through it again otherwise like you can with a live event on a social network.

Always ask for permission to record and publish online beforehand. The various recording layouts allow you to film only the speaker or the screen if you want to keep your audience’s identity secured.

Tip: With paid Zoom plans, you can save these directly in the cloud but they can’t be embedded on a website due to security concerns.

13. Use breakout rooms for users without a Zoom account

Breakout rooms help hosts divide a bigger audience into smaller groups so everyone can get to interact with one another. Add themes to rooms so participants can enter or leave as they wish. 

You’ll find the option to allow breakout rooms on your personal Settings , under the Meeting tab. Choose In Meeting (Advanced) and head below to Breakout room and enable the feature.

Once you’re in a meeting, the Breakout Rooms option will appear in your meeting controls and you’ll be able to create several such groups and assign hosts and participants for each one:

Large-scale events or business meetings can benefit from these so everyone can get the chance to contribute to the discussions. If you want to invite external collaborators or partners, keep in mind that users without a Zoom account can also join these rooms.

14. Bored of Slack? Try Zoom Chat!

I’ve always recommended using a single team communication tool to keep everyone in the loop with their tasks, files, and updates. But in Zoom, this feature is super easy to miss out on. You can find it on your Zoom home screen with the Chat icon at the top.

Just like with a regular team messaging app, you can create channels, set statuses, create polls where people can vote using emojis, and even add custom GIFs. External participants are welcome too.

15. Automatically transcribe your meetings

Transcribe your virtual presentations and meetings through Zoom to review them later or turn your talks into captions. The feature is only available with paid Business, Education, or Enterprise plans as you can only transcribe videos that were saved in the cloud. 

To transcribe your Zoom meetings for free, utilize Krisp’s AI Meeting Assistant feature. It offers unlimited transcriptions with high quality, requiring minimal to no edits. Additionally, it provides extra features like generating automatic meeting summaries and action items. Check this resource for more details.

Zoom is constantly taking active steps towards more secure meetings. We’ve already talked about privacy options but note that during calls, you can find the Security icon on the left side of the main menu:

There’s various options you can quickly make use of in case of an emergency:

• Locking a virtual meeting in case you’re getting uninvited guests
• Hiding profile pictures to maintain the privacy of session participants [especially helpful for online events]
• Allowing certain meeting participants to share their screen, use the chat panel, or do other common actions
• Remove participants who are being rude or sharing spam content

After a Zoom session

17. review meeting effectiveness.

Take each call at a time to improve your online communication skills and provide an excellent video meeting experience with insights and analytics based on your team’s specific needs.

Want to get everyone on your team to participate? Krisp’s Talk Time gives you real-time insight into your meeting participation by displaying the exact amount of time you speak during a meeting. This lets you monitor your own engagement and know when it’s time to leave room for others to speak. Perfect for creating collaborative and inclusive meetings.

Feel like you’re wasting too much time in Zoom meetings? Keep track of call performance with Krisp’s Call Summary. You’ll know how long meetings usually last, how much time you spent speaking, and how much noise Krisp canceled. 

In the future, the tool will let you get noise insights and run an overall sentiment analysis to better understand your team and how meetings run.

18. See who attended a meeting or event

This is a big one if you’re hosting webinars via Zoom and need to keep track of attendees. Plus, it’s a must for mandatory online lectures or team training sessions.

The get this list, head over to the Reports section under Zoom Account Management available here . Pick Usage Reports > Meeting > select the event or meeting you had and choose the report type and date range to create the report.

Keep in mind you can only get this list if you were the host for the meeting, and you’ve got Usage Reports enabled. You can also be the account administrator/owner but this feature doesn’t work for free plans:

19. Run that update after the meeting

Zoom updates can take a while to be completed. So the general best practice is to log in at least an hour before an important session to check for updates and run them. However, in most cases, you’ll get a pop-up with the latest available update right before the actual call.

Whatever you do, don’t accept the update just yet. Meetings will run fine without the most recent update installed. If you choose to update Zoom before a meeting, the upgrade could take too long and delay your meeting. Sure, there’s always short updates that take less than a minute, but you don’t want to risk showing up late for an interview or online event.

As the meeting organizer, you can run polls or ask your audience questions during the call, but if you want accurate feedback, opt for an anonymous survey you can send after the call. 

Classic questions to ask include:

• How would you rate the webinar?
• How would you rate the speakers?
• Were your expectations met?

But you can get into extra details that can help you improve future events, like:

• What topics would you like us to cover in the future?
• Any improvements that can be made to the webinar?
• How did you hear about this event?

Stick to one or two questions though to make sure people won’t be put off by the extensive length of the survey.

Here’s a complete guide on how to set up these surveys directly in Zoom or with your preferred third-party tool.

Two easy ways of sending these are:

• Sharing the survey invite link right at the end of the call
• Sending a follow-up email after the event with the feedback link in there

Share your own Zoom best practices with us and the community on Twitter by mentioning @ krispHQ .

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15 Best Zoom Tips and Tricks for Video Conferencing

Zoom Tips and Tricks for Video Conferencing in 2020

1. add a virtual background.

2. Mute and Unmute Your Mic Quickly

3. Disable Video when Joining Meeting

4. Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

• Turn on/off video : Alt + V or Command + Shift + V
• Turn on/off screen sharing : Alt + S or Command + Shift + S
• Take a screenshot : Alt + Shift + T or Command + T
• Turn on/off local video recording : Alt + R or Command + Shift + R
• Read active speaker name : Ctrl + 2 or Command + 2

Apart from this, you can also enable “Global Shortcut” which means, when the Zoom app is not in focus, you can execute the keyboard shortcuts from anywhere in the operating system. You can enable it from Settings -> Keyboard Shortcuts. Here, enable the Global parameter for the shortcuts which you are most likely to use. As far as Zoom tips go, this is the one to memorize.

5. Enable Gallery View

6. Automatically Copy Invitation URL

7. Use Snap Camera on Zoom

8. Share Your Screen

9. Integrate Third-party Apps

10. Enable Local Recording

The best part about Zoom is that it offers major features under the free tier. For instance, you can record all your video meetings locally on your computer. Simply click on the “Record” button during a meeting and it will start the recording in just one click. You can find all your recordings in the Documents folder. Apart from that, Zoom also offers cloud recording but that is available only to paid users.

11. Enhance Your Look

12. Audio Transcript

13. Schedule Meetings

14. Waiting Room

To enable Waiting Room, open Zoom Account Settings on a web browser and move to “Account Management”. Here, open the “Waiting Room” option and enable it. After that, choose whom do you want to keep in the waiting room: all participants or guest participants who are not on your Zoom account or those who don’t have a Zoom account. This will stop gatecrashers to enter your Zoom meeting. In case, you are not available to authorize a guest, you can also allow “internal participants to admit guests from the waiting room”. Finally, click on “Save” and you are done. Keep in mind, this feature is only available to premium users.

15. Breakout Room

Apply the Best Zoom Tips and Tricks for Video Conferencing

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.

1. Log into your zoom account 2. Click “Recordings” on the left side. This will bring you to the recording settings with two tabs: “Cloud Recordings” and “Local Recordings.” 3. Click the “Settings” button in the top-right corner of either the “Cloud Recordings” or “Local Recordings” page. 4. Check the boxes that give hosts and participants permission to record locally and to the cloud. They’ll need to be paying subscribers to have Cloud Recording access.

Found this article very informative; especially for being a ZOOM novice! Thank you for useful tips- and indicating just how to use them! Appreciated it all!

Thanks so much.

I just wanted to know if it is possible me being a host, to allow the attendee of my meeting to record it on his laptop or mobile phone?

He says that Zoom is asking for my permission to record the meeting.

If so, how do I permit him to record?

Kind regards.

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Zoom Meetings: 10 tips and tricks you should know about

Published on January 15, 2022

Zoom is all the rage these days. It allows people to stay connected with their colleagues while working from home due to the COVID-19 virus. We’ve already talked about exactly what Zoom is and how much it costs , how to set it up , and how it compares with the competition . In this post, we’ll talk about various tips and tricks you need to know about to take your Zoom game to the next level. Let’s get started.

Zoom tips and tricks

• Use a virtual background
• Touch up my appearance
• Mute someone
• Rename yourself

Turn on gallery view

• Hide non-vide participants
• Share part of your screen
• Turn off camera/mic before a call

Raise your hand

• Record to the cloud

Editor’s note: Steps on this article were put together using a custom PC running Windows 11. Some steps might be different depending on your device and software. 

Use a Zoom virtual background

If you don’t want your colleagues to see the inside of your apartment during a Zoom meeting, consider using a virtual background . You can select an image or video and set it as your background with just a few clicks. The feature isn’t perfect and works best if you have a green screen, but it’s still surprisingly good without one. I had a little fun with it and made a screenshot (above), so you can see what it looks like in action. You’re welcome!

We suggest that you set a virtual background before joining a meeting. That way, you won’t have to play around with the controls once the session starts.

Step-by-step instructions:

• Open the Zoom app on your PC.
• Click the gear icon under your profile image.
• Click on Background & Filters .
• Select the Virtual Background option.
• Select an image/video or upload your own.

Make yourself prettier

Want to look your best for that important meeting? Zoom has you covered. The tool offers a feature called Touch Up My Appearance , which is a filter that smooths out your skin. It’s not very aggressive, so the changes it makes aren’t super noticeable. But that’s a good thing if you ask me because your face still looks natural after applying the filter. Some filters can make you look like you’re a porcelain doll, and that’s not a good look for a business meeting either.

You can try it out as well as set it up before joining a meeting. It only takes a few clicks to get the job done.

• Select the Video option.
• Check the box next to Touch up my appearance .

Also: How to look your best for webcam meetings

Mute someone’s mic

There’s always that one guy who gets a call and answers it during a Zoom meeting or has children screaming in the background. Fortunately, you can turn off a participant’s mic with just a few clicks and eliminate the excessive noise that’s bothering others.

However, keep in mind that only a meeting host can use this feature. Participants don’t have this option, but they can turn off their own mics.

• Join or start a meeting.
• Click the Manage participants button in the taskbar.
• Hover your mouse over a participant’s name.
• Click the Mute button that shows up.

Related: The best USB microphones

Change your name

In Zoom, you’re not stuck with your name, or whatever the app chooses to name you. Changing your Zoom name is a breeze, and it might actually be fun for those less casual meetings. It could also help you look more professional to change your name to something more official. Whatever your reason may be, it’s a great feature to have.

• Enter a meeting.
• Click on the Participants button.
• Hover the cursor over your name. Click on More .
• Hit Rename .
• Type the new name in.
• Select Rename .

We recommend changing the layout to “Gallery View” so that you’ll be able to see all the participants on the page simultaneously. Zoom will show you a maximum of 49 participants on a single page. If there are more people in a meeting, you can click on the arrow to move to the next page. And, if you still want to pay attention to the meeting leader/main speaker, you can use Zoom’s “pin” tool to make sure you can always see who’s speaking.

• Select the View button in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Select Gallery .
• Click the arrow on the left/right side to move between pages if there are more than 49 participants in a meeting.

Also read: How to help others set up Zoom remotely

Hide non-video participants

Okay, so you’ve enabled Gallery View only to find out a lot of the people in the meeting have their cameras turned off, so all you see is a bunch of black windows containing names. In this case, you can declutter your screen by removing all the participants who don’t have their cameras turned on.

If you like this option and want to use it, we suggest enabling it by default before heading into a meeting.

• Click the Video option.
• Check the box next to Hide non-video participants .

Only share a part of your screen

When giving a presentation with Zoom, you often have to share your screen. The problem with this is that the people in the meeting will see the apps you have installed on your PC, the tabs you have open in your browser, as well as other data that you may not want to share. Luckily, Zoom has a solution.

Also read: How to use Whiteboard on Zoom

You can choose only to share a part of the screen, which provides you with a bit more privacy. For example, you can share the content in your browser but cut out the bottom and upper parts that reveal the apps in your taskbar and the tabs you have open.

• Click the Share Screen option in the taskbar.
• Click the Advanced tab up top.
• Select the Portion of Screen option and click Share .
• Resize the green window to your liking.

Turn off the camera/mic before a Zoom meeting

When you join a meeting, do you want your mic and camera to be turned on or off by default? This is something we recommend you set beforehand, so you don’t have to play around with the controls as soon as a meeting starts.

I keep mine off and only turn them on when needed. This prevents any possible background noise coming from my end because of my neighbors mowing their lawns or cars passing by.

• Check the box next to Turn off my video when joining meetings .
• Click the Audio option.
• Check the box next to Mute my microphone when joining a meeting .

Whenever you want to speak, you can signal it to the host by raising your hand virtually. The host will then give you the floor to talk or ask questions.

This is a great feature that prevents multiple people from talking at once. It’s also simple to use, as you can see in the instructions below.

• Join a meeting.
• Click on the Reactions button.
• Select Raise Hand .

More: The most common Zoom issues and how to fix them

Record a Zoom meeting to the cloud

When recording a meeting, we advise you to do it to the cloud. What that means is that the recording will be saved to Zoom’s server, after which you’ll be able to view it under the “Recordings” tab in your account. Just keep in mind that this feature isn’t available on free accounts.

Recording to the cloud is a good idea because you can share a recording with ease, allowing employees who missed a meeting to check it out later on. If you save a recording to your device, you’ll first have to upload it to Drive or a similar service before you can share it.

• Join a meeting, or create one.
• Click the Record button in the taskbar.
• Select the Record to the cloud option.
• Click Stop recording at the end of a meeting.
• Visit the Recordings page to see and share a recording.

Are you still not convinced by Zoom’s capabilities? There are plenty of other options. Check out our article comparing Zoom’s biggest competitors. You might like one of those alternatives better.

Next: Not sold on Zoom? These are the best alternatives

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

Why is my Zoom video backwards and how do I fix it?

• Your mirrored image on Zoom's preview screen isn't actually what others see -- your text will look fine to them.
• Mirroring in video calls aids in natural interactions by showing you an image you're accustomed to seeing.
• Zoom allows you to turn off mirroring in video settings, making it easier for online tutors and frequent presenters.

Video calls and conferences are now a permanent part of most of our work weeks. Many of us enjoy working remotely, or in hybrid settings where not all the staff are going to be in the same building at the same time. Zoom has been the go-to video calling program for most thanks to its ease of use, yet there's one odd issue that plagues people to this day.

For whatever reason, Zoom likes to take your camera and flip it so you appear mirrored to everyone you're talking to when you look at yourself in the little preview screen. This can be rather annoying, especially if you need to show off something with writing to an audience. Thankfully, this issue is far less of a problem than you might think.

How to use Zoom on a TV: Stream your meetings to the big screen

Why is my zoom backward, it's all about mirroring.

There's no need to panic because your video isn't actually backward. When people on the other end of the call see you, you appear exactly as you should. That means all text is the right way around for them. In essence, to fix this issue, you don't have to do anything at all, because it's only the preview of yourself in the video that you see that appears the wrong way around.

This is because mirroring is turned on by default when using Zoom and other services. You can test this by reaching out to shake hands with yourself -- mirroring will show both you and your video image reaching out with the same hand. That's how you know mirroring is on. It's also mirrored in Teams, Skype, and Google Meet too.

Don't panic. Your text looks normal to everyone.

The good news is that if you're displaying text through the camera -- perhaps showing something you've written -- mirroring means that it looks backward to you while appearing normal to everyone else in the video conference. Just avoid writing anything backward, because then it will indeed be backward.

Zoom, Skype, Teams, and Google Meet all present you with this mirrored view, but everything appears exactly as it should to the viewers. So, don't change anything, don't write things backward, don't print things backward -- instead, stop worrying about it, as you'll only tie yourself in knots.

What is Zoom and how does it work? Plus tips and tricks

How to turn off mirroring in zoom, back to normal.

Zoom is currently the only platform that allows you to turn off mirroring. If you find it too confusing -- perhaps if you spend a lot of time presenting text, like an online tutor -- then you can turn off mirroring in the video settings.

Here's how to do it:

• Open the Zoom app and tap the settings icon .
• Click on video settings - this will open a preview of your video.
• Click on " mirror my video " and see which view works best for you.

You can only do this on the desktop app. Yu can do it on the mobile app, although you'll still appear mirrored in the mobile app. If you're using Zoom in the browser (which we wouldn't recommend), the video isn't mirrored.

How to use Zoom's Studio Effects filters to change your makeup in video calls

Q: why is mirroring used.

A mirrored image presents the view of yourself that you're used to seeing. You see it every morning when you look in the mirror. When it comes to presenting, it's much easier for you to understand what's going on, giving much more natural results thanks to mirroring.

Without mirroring in your preview window, when you reach left, you'll see yourself reaching right, and that's confusing. You immediately think you're doing it backward because it's not what you expect to see, so you try to correct it. It's a phenomenon that only really arises with video where you can see yourself, which is something we've only been dealing with for a couple of decades.

The important thing to realize is that the people on the other end of the line aren't sitting in your seat; they are effectively sitting opposite you. When you see their view -- the unmirrored view -- it's like an out-of-body experience. It's something you never see, which is why mirroring is used.

Q: Where else does mirroring exist?

Mirroring is very common in selfie cameras. They present a view that you're not accustomed to seeing -- namely, someone looking at you. So, the images you see on a selfie camera are mirrored, not what the camera is actually capturing.

You can test this yourself with the handshake test we mentioned earlier. If you reach out to shake hands with your image, a mirrored image will show both of you raising your hand on the same side, preventing a handshake.

Smartphones usually offer an option to save either the mirrored image you see in the preview or a flipped version, which is what a person standing opposite you would see. This can create confusion with text on clothing, where brands appear backward if you save the mirrored image, a choice many people make.

This situation raises a broader philosophical question about the intended audience of selfies: if you prefer the mirrored version, you're taking them for yourself; if you prefer the flipped image, you're taking them for others. Does this make you a narcissistic selfie-taker?

However, it's best not to overthink this, as it can be quite perplexing. But if you notice your selfies are always "backwards," checking your phone's camera settings might allow you to adjust this and achieve the desired result.

Use these tips to photograph the eclipse and avoid damaging your phone or camera

Most phone cameras automatically adjust exposure, making eclipse photography difficult with only 4 minutes. taking more test shots in the days before the eclipse will save time..

Thousands attend Adler Planetarium’s Eclipse Fest during the solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

The last time the United States saw a total solar eclipse was back in 2017. Since then, the cameras in our smartphones have gotten even better at capturing the rare phenomenon.

But just like our eyes, even the most high-tech lenses can be damaged from the eclipse, so there are steps to take to keep your eyes and your phone safe.

When the 2024 solar eclipse takes place Monday, it'll pass through several time zones and have a totality path of 115 miles on average. While Chicago will see 94% coverage, some locations, including Carbondale and other parts of Southern Illinios, will experience totality for about four minutes. Weather permitting, folks will be able to walk outside and witness the event as it happens.

Use these tips to best capture the moment:

Protect your eyes and your phone

Eclipse glasses should be worn to safely view the event with your own eyes . Using solar film or holding your glasses over the lens can protect your phone and eyes from damage.

Ashlee Rezin, acting Sun-Times photo desk editor, will be wearing glasses to photograph the eclipse.

"We rely on our eyes and cameras to do our jobs, and more," Rezin said. "It’s too important and there’s too much at stake to risk not taking protective measures. It was a no-brainer."

NASA experts recommend you visit the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) Reputable Vendors of Solar Filters & Viewers page to find a verified list of eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewers, although the Adler Planetarium and other locations will be giving away glasses for free.

Approved AAS eyewear contains darker filters than normal sunglasses, which blocks almost all light, providing the best protection.

Purchase a zoom lens attachment

A zoom lens attachment will protect your camera and phone while also providing zoom. If you try to zoom in on your phone, it will appear hazy. However, with the attachment, the total solar eclipse will appear much clearer.

NASA recommends a "zoom lens attachment that will give you 12x to 18x."

Practice taking your eclipse shot

Practice never hurts. Photographing the moon to get a sense of how large the sun-in-eclipse will appear through your smartphone's lens or a lens attachment is a good start.

Most phone cameras automatically adjust exposure, making eclipse photography difficult with only four minutes to work with. The more test shots you take in the days before the eclipse, the less time you'll waste.

Look around you

Although it sounds like the only photos you should capture are of the eclipse, there are many more photographic opportunities.

Brian Ernst, Sun-Times' director of digital operations, suggests photographing the scene.

"Depending on weather conditions, the surrounding area could look like a sunrise/sunset in every direction," Ernst said.

Photographing the eclipse is one of the best ways to preserve the memory, but pointing your camera at friends and family as they enjoy the experience or photographing the landscape as it changes during the eclipse is another great way to savor the moment.