Utilizing Zoom (and other video conferencing technologies) wasn’t new for me. From the time I started working for MSU, “meeting” in a digital space was a part of my regular work. My role was an educator with MSU Extension where I was one member of a 10-person team with statewide responsibilities (and statewide home bases). I zoomed with my teammates every month, and we utilized the platform for steering committee meetings with youth leaders for our events. Little did I know, these regular parts of my job responsibilities would become my day-to-day.
Covid19 pandemic has created the opportunity (or forced – depending on your perspective) for us to figure out interactions on a platform like Zoom. We have to think more intentionally about things like access, engagement, and active learning when we are planning, facilitating, and participating in video conferencing calls/classes. I was on parental leave during the start of this transition, so my work-from-home via Zoom has been a dive head-first… SO I thought I’d share a couple of the resources that have proven to be helpful to me.
For starters… Zoom Keyboard shortcuts: (these are for a PC, but there are additional shortcuts and MAC specific options here)
Control your audio and video:
- Alt + V: Start/Stop video
- Alt + A: Mute/unmute audio
- Alt + M: Mute/unmute audio for everyone except host
- Alt + S: Launch share screen window and stop screen share
- Alt + Shift + S: Start/stop new screen share
- Alt + T: Pause or resume screen share
Since we’re all at home… adding a virtual background can take away any unnecessary pressure to have the room behind you tidy:
Virtual backgrounds:
“Hide your office clutter or add some corporate branding with a virtual background during a Zoom Meeting. Users can upload their own images (Zoom recommends that these images have an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 px) and preview the virtual background to detect any issues before joining the meeting. And soon, Zoom will support Microsoft PowerPoint files as a custom background and the use of a video virtual background, a non-static background for added fun.” More tips from Zoomie here. Plus, fun backgrounds from the New York Public Library (and additional virtual background instructions) here.
Not all the meetings we’re joining are with people we know well.
Display Names:
“This is less important when you’re chatting with people you know well, but if you use Zoom to do a lot of sales calls, then this setting will ensure you never accidentally forget the name of the person you’re talking to. Go to Settings > Video and check ‘Always display participant’s name on their videos.’” More tips and how to’s like this are available here. Another thing I noticed in one of my meetings recently, was a colleague in a meeting updated his “display name” to include his preferred gender pronouns – which I thought was a great idea for meetings with people we might not know well. For example, my displayed name now reads “Makena Neal (she/her/hers)”.