1. Davidson Technology & Innovation
  2. Communication & Collaboration
  3. Voice & Conferencing

Use Zoom to Host or Join a Meeting

Zoom combines video conferencing, online meetings and mobile collaboration with a cloud-based software solution. For most functionality, the tutorials provided by Zoom are excellent and we provide links below. 

 Schedule a Zoom meeting

Log into the Davidson Zoom website

  1. Open a web browser and navigate to http://davidson.zoom.us
  2. In the upper right corner of the page, click on the LOGIN link. It is just to the right of the two big red buttons.
  3. Log in with your Davidson credentials.

Set up the meeting(s)

  1. On the Davidson Zoom page, click on Meetings in the left frame.
  2. Click on the blue Schedule a New Meeting button.
  3. Meeting parameters:
    • Enter a meeting Topic.
    • Define When with a date and time for the start of the meeting. Note: You can manually type in the start time if the meeting does not start at the top or bottom of the hour. (Example: You can enter 3:15)
    • Set a meeting Duration by specifying the length of the meeting.
    • In the Video section, select the On radio buttons for both host and participant if this is a video meeting. 
    • Leave the Audio setting at Computer Audio.
    • In the Meeting Options section, the most common option added is Enable join before host. This allows the second party to connect to the video meeting even if the host has not yet joined.
  4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Send the invitation

  1. After you save your initial meeting, the screen changes. In the Invite Attendees section, click on Copy the invitation along the right edge of the screen.
  2. On the Copy Meeting Invitation dialog box, click on the Copy Meeting Invitation button.
  3. Close the Copy Meeting Invitation dialog box.
  4. Open Microsoft Outlook and prepare an email to your attendee(s). Paste into the body of the email. Feel free to edit the text copied from Zoom as, in many cases, you can delete the second half of the email providing backup phone numbers.
  5. Send the Outlook email. 

Join a Zoom meeting (as the Davidson Host)

Log into the Davidson Zoom website

  1. Open a web browser and navigate to http://davidson.zoom.us
  2. In the upper right corner of the page, click on the LOGIN link. It is just to the right of the two big red buttons and, on some screens, is easy to miss.
  3. If necessary, click on the sso.davidson.edu option and log in with your Davidson credentials. Duo two-factor authentication users will also need to authenticate as with other SSO applications.

Join the Meeting (as a Host)

  1. On the Davidson Zoom page, click on Meetings in the left frame.
  2. In your list of meetings, find the meeting you'd like to join and click on the Start button to the right of your screen.
  3. You should now see the video image on your screen. Adjust the camera so that you (and the other meeting attendees) are framed appropriately.

Join the meeting

  1. Click on the meeting link in the Zoom invitation you received via email.
  2. Your default browser will now open. If you have not previously installed the Zoom application, please follow the steps below:
    • In your browser window, click on the download & run Zoom link.
    • At this point, the Zoom installer file will download to your computer.
    • Click on the Zoom installer file to install the application. 
  3. Once the Zoom app is launched, you should see a large video window on your screen. Adjust the camera so that you are framed appropriately.

 Note: Computer audio is usually preferred because it can be higher quality, and carries no cost to the College to use. Telephone/dial-in access carries a nominal cost to Davidson; if you need to use this, please note that “call me back” dialing is significantly more expensive than dialing into a Zoom meeting.

Troubleshooting audio issues

  1. If one party cannot hear the other, the issue is either with the audio speaker at one end or the microphone at the other.
  2. Start with speaker adjustments with the following steps:
    • Take the mouse pointer and hover over the live video image.
    • In the lower left corner of the video image, just to the right of the microphone icon, click on the up arrow Zoom_microphone_popup_icon.JPG to view all available microphone and speaker options.
    • Select each of the speaker options in succession until you can hear audio from the other party. 
  3. If there is still no audio, follow with microphone adjustments with the following steps:
    • Take the mouse pointer and hover over the live video image.
    • In the lower left corner of the video image, just to the right of the microphone icon, click on the up arrow Zoom_microphone_popup_icon.JPG to view all available microphone and speaker options.
    • Select each of the microphone options in succession until the other party can hear audio.
  4. See if you are connected to an insecure WiFi network (like DavidosnGuest).  Some security software limits your connectivity on insecure wireless networks to protect you, and this can affect Zoom meetings.  Try to join a WiFi network with a lock next to it (like eduroam).

Zoom video tutorials for these and other topics

 

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