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(This page has been adapted from )

Zoom is a powerful, very easy to use tool, but we do have to be careful how we use it so that we can be sure that only the appropriate people are in our meetings.

Zoom for Public Events:

  • When you share your meeting link on social media or other public forums, that makes your event 鈥 extremely public. ANYONE with the link can join your meeting.
  • Avoid using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) to host public events.
  • Use the waiting room or other security features (below) to control who has access to your audience.

Manage screen sharing

It's important that you are careful to not give screen sharing permissions to anyone you are not sure is an authorized user of your zoom meeting.

You can restrict this 鈥 before the meeting and during the meeting in the host control bar 鈥 so that you鈥檙e the only one who can screen-share.

To prevent users from screen sharing during a call, using the host controls at the bottom, click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options.

Advanced Sharing Options

Under 鈥淲ho can share?鈥 choose 鈥淥nly Host鈥 and close the window. You can also lock the Screen Share by default for all your meetings in your web settings.

Prevent others from screen sharing

Passwords are Required

Passwords are required for all zoom sessions hosted by 麻豆传媒映画出品 State accounts.  This is a security measure that was adopted in response to incidents of zoom event disruption by univited guests.  

If you are trying to enter an event that requires a password you dont have, you need to contact the host of the event.  

If you are the host of an event that was created without a password, and now your participants need one to get in, you can address this problem in two ways:

  • You can send an updated invitation to all invitees. The password will be added as an encrypted paramter in the link you share, and users will be able to enter just by clicking the link
  • You can send the password to all invitees, and they will be able to manually enter the password as they enter your event. 
Send an Updated Invitation
  • Enter the Zoom meeting
  • In the 鈥渞ibbon menu鈥 at the bottom of the Zoom screen, click on 鈥淧articipants鈥 (also called 鈥淢anage Participants鈥 depending upon Mac/PC)
  • A new window will open on the right.  At the bottom, click on 鈥渋nvite鈥
  • A new popup will open, and many names will be listed there. Look in the bottom left corner of that popup - there will be a link to copy the URL or a link to copy the whole invitation. Click on "Copy Invitation".  That. will copy the text of the invitation to your computer's clipboard.
  • Paste the new invitation text into the meeting invitation or an email to your attendees. Or, in the case of classes, you might post it as an announcement in your Blackboard class.
Send the Password 
  • Enter the Zoom meeting
  • In the 鈥渞ibbon menu鈥 at the bottom of the Zoom screen, click on 鈥淧articipants鈥 (also called 鈥淢anage Participants鈥 depending upon Mac/PC)
  • A new window will open on the right.  At the bottom, click on 鈥渋nvite鈥
  • A new popup will open, and many names will be listed there. Look in the bottom right corner of that popup and the password for the meeting will be listed.
  • Copy that password and distribute to the people who should be in the meeting

Manage your participants

Some of the other great features to help secure your Zoom event and host with confidence:

  • Allow only signed-in users to join: If someone tries to join your event and isn鈥檛 logged into Zoom with the email they were invited through, they will receive this message:

Authorized Attendees

This is useful if you want to control your guest list and invite only those you want at your event 鈥 other students at your school or colleagues, for example. 

To take advantage of this features, however, you will need to make sure to invite everyone who will attend through Zoom. 

  • Lock the meeting: When you lock a Zoom Meeting that鈥檚 already started, no new participants can join, even if they have the meeting ID and password (if you have required one). In the meeting, click Participants at the bottom of your Zoom window. In the Participants pop-up, click the button that says Lock Meeting.
  • Set up your own two-factor authentication: You don鈥檛 have to share the actual meeting link! Generate a random Meeting ID when scheduling your event and require a password to join. Then you can share that Meeting ID on Twitter but only send the password to join via DM.
  • Remove unwanted or disruptive participants: From that Participants menu, you can mouse over a participant鈥檚 name, and several options will appear, including Remove. Click that to kick someone out of the meeting.
  • Allow removed participants to rejoin: When you do remove someone, they can鈥檛 rejoin the meeting. But you can toggle your settings to allow removed participants to rejoin, in case you boot the wrong person.
  • Put them on hold: You can put everyone else on hold, and the attendees鈥 video and audio connections will be disabled momentarily. Click on someone鈥檚 video thumbnail and select Start Attendee On Hold to activate this feature. Click Take Off Hold in the Participants list when you鈥檙e ready to have them back.
  • Disable video: Hosts can turn someone鈥檚 video off. This will allow hosts to block unwanted, distracting, or inappropriate gestures on video or for that time your friend鈥檚 inside pocket is the star of the show.
  • Mute participants: Hosts can mute/unmute individual participants or all of them at once. Hosts can block unwanted, distracting, or inappropriate noise from other participants. You can also enable Mute Upon Entry in your settings to keep the clamor at bay in large meetings.
  • Turn off file transfer: In-meeting file transfer allows people to share files through the in-meeting chat. Toggle this off to keep the chat from getting bombarded with unsolicited pics, GIFs, memes, and other content.
  • Turn off annotation: You and your attendees can doodle and mark up content together using annotations during screen share. You can disable the annotation feature in your Zoom settings to prevent people from writing all over the screens.
  • Disable private chat: Zoom has in-meeting chat for everyone or participants can message each other privately. Restrict participants鈥 ability to chat amongst one another while your event is going on and cut back on distractions. This is really to prevent anyone from getting unwanted messages during the meeting.

Try the Waiting Room 

One of the best ways to use Zoom for public events is to enable the Waiting Room feature. Just like it sounds, the Waiting Room is a virtual staging area that stops your guests from joining until you鈥檙e ready for them.

Meeting hosts can customize Waiting Room settings for additional control, and you can even personalize the message people see when they hit the Waiting Room so they know they鈥檙e in the right spot. This message is really a great spot to post any rules/guidelines for your event, like who it鈥檚 intended for.

Waiting Room message

The Waiting Room is really a great way to screen who鈥檚 trying to enter your event and keep unwanted guests out.