Zoom for Beginner

[Matte2]

I attended an HOA Board meeting on Zoom, but since I do not have a camera or a microphone, I could not communicate with others during the meeting, only watch/listen. I have a few questions.

1) Noticed that when someone was talking, often times other participant's name/video feed would appear on the main screen and then disappear after a few seconds. Is this because they wanted to interrupt the speaker and make a comment?

2) Is there a way in the future, to go back and watch the meeting again?

3) I noticed there was a "chat" option. If I don't have a video camera or microphone, is this a good option to communicate with others in the meeting, or will it sidetrack and confuse participants.

4) If I do purchase a microphone (not interested in buying a camera), is there a way to test out the microphone on Zoom before a meeting starts to see if it works? When the Board Presidents asks if there are any homeowner comments and I wish to make one, do I just start speaking into the microphone or is there a button to enter a queue to speak?

5) If I do not purchase a microphone, is participating vs the telephone call in number going to conflict logistically with those who are participating from their computer?

Thank you for helping a beginner.

 

[D.T.]

The Zoom help center is pretty good, definitely do a deep dive there to get more detailed info, but just to provide some quick answers:


1) Zoom can be set to "auto focus" on someone speaking, occasionally background noise might cause the system to switch to a person - there's a couple of display modes (for you as a user), a grid, where everyone has the same video window size, or focus on speaker, where everyone is in a small window until they speak - the meeting admin can also set a focus to host (and set a host for that matter), so they're always the main speaker window

2) Yes, you can record meetings, both locally and to their cloud service (the latter requires a paid account). I believe it's only available to the meeting coordinator, even if someone else is made the host - at any rate, it stores an MPG video, that could be posted on a streaming service (and then shared via your HOAs website)

3) That's hard to answer, but I can tell you, most people can't multitask very well, and it's very secondary to the focus on the video portion

4) Yes, there's a test sequence to confirm your mic level - you can manage meeting where only the host can speak, they can toggle people to speak, kind of a "rise your hand" sort of thing - or everyone can just chime in, but that gets really noisy with more than just a few people

5) No, it should be seamless (i.e., device/mic = phone), I almost always use a phone with business related video systems (I find the audio is better, less compressed), but with Zoom do use the device mic (usually I'm on an iPad).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Zoom meetings that I have attended have both a "chat" function and a "Q&A" function, and they strongly encourage you to use the latter (which involves writing a question or comment, much as you would a text message which the person 'hosting' the meeting then receives).

It is not perfect - as in, it lacks some of the immediacy face-to-face interactions, but hit does work, and it does allow for questions and some sort of dialogue.

 

[ejb190]

Zoom meetings also have "Call in" phone numbers so you can watch the meeting on the computer, but talk/listen via a phone call. Ask your meeting host if they have this number.

 

[Matte2]

Zoom meetings also have "Call in" phone numbers so you can watch the meeting on the computer, but talk/listen via a phone call. Ask your meeting host if they have this number.

I have a Mac Mini that does not have an internal microphone and only has a headset jack that I use to connect external speakers. What would be the least expensive and most efficient way to connect a microphone to a Mac Mini?

Is the option you mentioned (i.e. "calling in" and watching the meeting on the computer simultaneously) seamless for both the host/moderator and the participant?

 

[Erehy Dobon]

What would be the least expensive and most efficient way to connect a microphone to a Mac Mini?

The least expensive way would be to plug in any pair of Apple earbuds that have shipped with an iPhone (the ones with the standard 3.5mm minijack). I think I have about 7-8 pairs plus 5-6 aftermarket sets.

They have an inline microphone in the cord.

If you have AirPods, you can pair them to your Mac mini’s Bluetooth.

 

[Lasrjock]

What would be the least expensive and most efficient way to connect a microphone to a Mac Mini?

My wife has a mini and she just got a USB connected webcam/mic combo. That way she has both audio and video. It also gives her a bigger screen than using either her iPad or iPhone.

One advantage of using a desktop device is the ability to connect via ethernet instead of WiFi. This reduces the likelihood of buffering issues and frame freezing. One of the participants on a Zoom call my wife hosts (paid account) frequently 'freezes' when talking. I suspect it is because his WiFi network is overloaded and can't handle the throughput.

 

[Matte2]

If I purchase EarPods, I will not have the ability to listen to the Zoom meeting via a speaker. Is there a splitter that could permit me to listen to the meeting via external speakers while at the same time use the Apple EarPods as a microphone and have both be connected to the Mac Mini's 3.5mm input receptacle via a splitter?

If not, what basic Mac friendly USB microphone would you recommend?

 

[Lasrjock]

If I purchase EarPods, I will not have the ability to listen to the Zoom meeting via a speaker. Is there a splitter that could permit me to listen to the meeting via external speakers while at the same time use the Apple EarPods as a microphone and have both be connected to the Mac Mini's 3.5mm input receptacle via a splitter?

If not, what basic Mac friendly USB microphone would you recommend?

In the Mac OS (and I believe the Zoom UI) you can separately specify the input and output devices. I believe that would still work with blue-tooth connected devices. Do the EarPods even have a microphone (I thought that they were just an output device)?

 

[Matte2]

In the Mac OS (and I believe the Zoom UI) you can separately specify the input and output devices. I believe that would still work with blue-tooth connected devices. Do the EarPods even have a microphone (I thought that they were just an output device)?

I read that the EarPods have a built-in microphone.