Whether you are working at home or at the office, chances are you are using Zoom to conduct meetings. Zoom is not just a video call if you want to lead more effective video calls and set yourself from the competition familiarize yourself with these ten skills:
1. Unmute Yourself Shortcut Key
For the longest time, I moved my cursor to the top right of my video to mute or unmute myself. It was ok but seemed like a bit of a drain on my motor skills. I prefer this shortcut:
· Microsoft: Alt + A
· Mac: Command + Ctrl + A
Practice with these 2 or 3 keys a few times and you will never use your cursor again.
2. Mute all – Shortcut key
If you hear background noise while in the middle of your presentation, like a dog barking, a baby crying or someone talking, you have two options:
a. If you can see all participants look for where the noise is coming from – (an active microphone) and mute that person
b. If you are screen sharing and cannot see participants
Use this shortcut to mute everyone
Microsoft: Alt + m = mute everyone
Mac: Command + Ctrl + m
Use the same keys to unmute
3. Turn off my video when joining a meeting by default
There is nothing worse than appearing on camera if you are not quite ready. You will feel more confident and in control if you are the one that initiates when your video starts. You can set this by default and have your camera off until you are ready.
· Go to settings
· Video
· Check: Turn off my video when joining a meeting
4. Set up a virtual background
You do not get a second chance to make a first impression. How you or your office looks on a virtual call matters. Zoom allows you to set a virtual background so no matter where you are or how distracting your background is, you can look professional.
· Go to settings
· Virtual background
· Choose a virtual background – Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay
· Upload more images – hit the + sign
· Upload a video
· Add a logo or clients logo
Quite a few clients are using green screens and highly recommend it. They are not too expensive ($30-$50) and the results look very professional.
5. Scheduling meetings
If you run a lot of client meetings you can connect Zoom to your calendar using a Chrome extension. With a single click, it allows Gmail users to make any meeting into a Zoom meeting
· Download and allow the Zoom Chrome extension
6. New Share
If sharing your screen but want to seamlessly switch between two documents, for example, a Word doc or a PowerPoint
· Go to meeting controls
· Select new share
· Locate the new document
· Hit select
7. Pause Share
If you want to keep showing your current screen while you look for something on your computer or the internet.
· Go to Meeting Controls
· Select Pause share
8. Using Annotation
There are a number of tools you can use to highlight something on your screen and guide where you want people to look:
· Add a red spotlight to your cursor
· Arrow - add an arrow with your name on it and place it next to anything on the screen
· Draw
· Write text
o Go to Meeting Controls
o Select View
o Choose Annotate
o Select tools from the toolbar
9. Share Screen Shortcut Key
Share screen shortcut is useful if you want to quickly share your screen, but even more useful if you want a participant to share theirs. Sometimes participants are not Zoom experts and can get frazzled trying to follow your instructions on how to share. With screen share shortcut they do not need to be an expert, you can just tell them to hit Alt S and they can share
· Alt + s
· Apple: Command + Shift S
10. Pause/Resume screen sharing
Alt + T
Bonus Material
(Because we are the company that loves you more than your own parents)
11. Controlling who can share their screen
You probably want others to share their screens at some point, but it is best to start with you being the only one who can share. To set the default, go to:
· Goto Meeting Control Bar
· Security
· Scroll to - In meeting basic
· Screen sharing settings
· Who can share
· Check “host-only”
When you want others to share their screen
· Meeting Control Bar
· Security
· Scroll to - In meeting basic
· Screen sharing settings
· Who can share
· Check “all participants”
12. Share a portion of your screen.
This is another useful tool that helps you highlight information with prospects. If you want to share a pdf but only need to show the top half of the document
· Share screen
· Go to advanced
· Select “portion of the screen”
· Click on the green box and place it on whatever you want to show and resize the box Anything within the green line will be shared with participants
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