What Zoom Can Do

Zoom lets two or more people connect via audio and video to communicate with each other in a live session. One person has to be the host: the one who creates a meeting and can manage what participants can do, as well as end the meeting.

Everyone else is a participant, someone who has varying abilities in a meeting depending on what the host permits them to do and what’s available in their app. This book focuses on how be a meeting participant and understand all the tools available to you.

While Zoom emphasizes live video streaming of all participants in a meeting, there are a lot of variations in how Zoom can be used. You can also:

• Participate by audio only: A Zoom meeting member doesn’t necessarily have to have a camera or can choose to keep it turned off. You can dial in from a regular telephone or use only the audio features in Zoom’s apps.

• View/listen only: A Zoom participant can be a completely passive observer and send neither their audio nor video into the meeting.

Zoom videoconferencing also includes features that aren’t about sharing video streams. These include:

• Screen sharing: A Zoom host or participant can share their live screen, a video, or still images. If the host allows it, multiple people can share screens simultaneously from desktop apps at once.

• Screen annotation: Participants can mark up a shared screen in a way that everyone can see.

• Public and private chat: Zoom allows participants to send text messages within the meeting that everyone can see, as well as private messages to the host or among participants.