Zoom Tutorial

This is a tutorial on how to use Zoom. As you may know, Zoom is a video conferencing software like Skype and Google Meet. It allows you to set up and join video meetings easily. This tutorial will go over the steps required to create a meeting, invite people to a meeting, and schedule meetings.

Creating a meeting

When you open Zoom for the first time, you must log in. To login, please use your Google account for Thompson Public Schools (@thompsonk12.org). You will be greeted with the screen below when you first open Zoom:

To sign in, click “Sign In.” To login to your Google account, click “Sign in with Google.” Doing so will open a page in your browser, prompting you to sign in to your Thompson Google account. Once you have entered your username and password, you will need to create a Zoom account. Simply clicking the button on the screen to create an account will create an account using Google. If successful, you should be brought to the Zoom home page:

When you arrive on the home screen, you will notice the four buttons on the left side of the screen. Here, you can create a new meeting, join an existing meeting, schedule a meeting, and share your screen.

To create a new meeting, click the “New Meeting” button. If you click the downwards arrow next to the “New Meeting” text, Zoom will give you the option to start a meeting with video and use your own Personal Meeting ID (PMI). When you create a new meeting without turning your camera on, you will be presented with the following screen:

When on this screen, you are in a meeting. By default, your computer audio and computer microphone (if you have one) will be connected to Zoom. To start video through a webcam, click the “Start Video” button on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. You can enable security settings under the “Security” tab.

To send an invite for others to join your Zoom call, copy the Invite Link and share it with your participants. As part of your membership with Thompson Public Schools, you will be required to set a password for those wishing to enter the meeting. By default, a randomly generated password will be made for you. Make sure to share the invite link and password with your participants. Similarly, to join a meeting yourself, you will need an invite code and password to be provided to you.

Scheduling Meetings

Scheduling meetings is simple. On the home page, click on the “Schedule” button. Once you do, the following popup will display:

On this popup screen, you can prepare your meeting however you wish. You can schedule the start date and time, the

duration of the meeting, whether to use your Personal Meeting ID or to have Zoom generate one, manually set a password, select your video settings, and choose what calendar you would like to have this meeting be written to. Under Advanced Options, you can set additional settings for your meeting. Once you have finished entering the settings for your meeting, click the “Schedule” button on the bottom of the popup.

Recording Meetings

Zoom provides users with the option to record their meeting sessions. To do so, click the “Record” button on the taskbar during the meeting. Once you do, your audio and video will be captured until you click “Stop Recording.” The recording feature also works when you are screen sharing. Once you have finished recording your meeting, Zoom will wait until the meeting itself is ended by the host. Once it ends, Zoom will convert the meeting into a useable .mp4 file and will open the file location automatically. To find other meeting recordings you may need, click on the “Settings” button (the gear symbol) on the home page. From there, click “Recording.” On the top of the window, you will see a file path that leads to the location of where your Zoom meeting recordings are placed. To view this folder, simply click “Open.” To change the location of where Zoom recordings are placed, click change, and navigate to your preferred saving location.