As you prepare to host your upcoming SAA component group virtual meeting or event, please review the following tips for managing Zoom most effectively! Note that the SAA Zoom account has a Zoom Meeting license only.
- Group members and speakers should plan to join the Zoom meeting 10 minutes early to make sure all settings and permissions are adjusted appropriately. (If anyone plans to screen share, make sure to test that ahead of time!)
- Designate all speakers and organizers “co-hosts” so they have stronger control of their Zoom settings through the meeting.
- Use the Spotlight feature to keep all participants focused on the current speaker or panelists. You can spotlight up to 9 speakers simultaneously.
- Review the settings in the Security Button on the Zoom toolbar (to the left) to control participants’ access to muting/unmuting, sharing their video or screen, etc. I recommend unchecking most of these options, especially for panels or speaker presentations, to avoid unwanted interruptions. (Adjustments to these settings will not affect co-hosts controls.)
- To enable live captioning, click the "Captions" button in the Host toolbar and then click "Show Captions." You can also change caption language. You can also assign a participant to type manual captions by clicking on "host controls" under the "Captions" button.
- Click the Interpretation button in the Host toolbar to add a sign language interpreter. Click + Add Interpreter to include a new interpreter.
- For those recording the meeting, make sure to click “Record to the Cloud” as your meeting begins. The recording will save to the SAA Zoom. Please reach out to Editorial and Program Specialist Hannah Stryker at hstryker@archivists.org. Staff will not edit the recording before posting to the SAA YouTube channel.
- Tips from members: Restarting your modem and computer can help refresh the bandwidth. Closing all applications and doing a restart also helps with streaming. You might want to consider using an ethernet cable and not Wifi if your connection is not strong.
For all other questions, the Zoom Help Center has many articles and how-to videos to answer any other questions – including information on new Breakout Room features!
