Virtual meetings are essential to remote work—but they can also be tedious. If Zoom is your video conferencing platform of choice, there are lots of hidden features you can tap to make meetings more efficient for hosts and engaging for participants. Here are the best tips and tricks for getting the most out of Zoom.
Use self-selected breakout rooms to create a virtual networking event
Virtual networking is already awkward, and potentially even more so if you send people to random breakout rooms to force conversation. While meeting participants are commonly assigned to breakout rooms automatically, Zoom has a feature that allows individuals to choose their breakout and move between rooms at their own pace. This creates a more flexible experience that simulates in-person networking—if you’re the host, you can name breakout rooms so participants can self-select based on interests or themes.
Click Breakout Rooms, select the number of rooms you want to create, select Let participants choose room, and click Create. Then, click Options or the gear icon and check Allow participants to choose room and Allow participants to return to the main session at any time. Once breakout rooms have been started, you’ll see a Rename option in the breakout rooms window, which you can use to add a name to each space.
To join breakout rooms, participants will click Breakout Rooms, hover over the number in the list, and click Join > Join. They can follow the same process to move between rooms or return to the main session. Note that self-selection is available only on the desktop and mobile apps—those on the web client will need to be moved manually by the host.
Upload a CSV to pre-populate breakout rooms for large meetings
Alternatively, there are plenty of situations in which you’ll need to assign meeting attendees to specific breakout rooms, rather than letting them choose or using Zoom’s random assignment feature—for example, when you want to ensure that all members of a team go to the same room. This can be done manually once the meeting has started, but with large groups, it’s much easier to do in advance, and all you need is a CSV file. There’s a template on Zoom’s support page : You’ll simply need one column with the breakout room names and another with participants’ email addresses. When you schedule the meeting, go to Options, check Breakout Room pre-assign > Import from CSV and drag and drop your file into the pop-up window. Zoom allows pre-assignment for up to 100 rooms and 1,000 participants.
Set your slides as a virtual background to simulate an in-person presentation
When you’re presenting to an audience in person, you are likely standing in front of projected slides, so they can watch both you and your content at once. Zoom’s Virtual Background feature simulates this by superimposing your video on your screen share, so attendees can see your expressions and gestures and follow your slides without needing to look back and forth. (Note that this is compatible with either PowerPoint or Keynote.) Click Share > Screens and select Microsoft Powerpoint from under Application Windows. You can then choose the overlay type for where your video will appear—In front displays you over your shared slides. You can resize your video and drag it around the screen. Then click Share.
Share your computer audio for ambient sound during breaks
If you want to maintain a specific vibe during meeting breaks—or use music as a cue to return from a break—you can share your computer audio for ambient sound. This works whether or not you are sharing your screen, so you could leave a slide up with information for participants while also playing music in the background. To share audio without sharing your screen, click Share Screen > Advanced > Computer Audio > Share. You can play audio from anywhere on your device, including music streaming services and YouTube. If you also want to share your screen, click Share Screen, select the program or desktop you want to share, and select Share Sound > Share.
Spotlight multiple speakers to simulate an in-person panel
Zoom’s default is to highlight the video or icon for the current speaker. Depending on your view, this can be distracting as videos move around your screen—especially during a Q&A when many participants are unmuting and interacting with presenters. To prevent the chaos, Zoom hosts can spotlight up to nine people as primary speakers to appear in participants primary speaker view. (This is different than pinning a participant, which sets people as primary speakers on your device only.)
Spotlighting essentially simulates an in-person panel, allowing participants to see all primary speakers on equal footing. Remaining attendees will be visible via scroll at the top of the meeting screen. To spotlight, hover over a participant’s video and click the three dots > Spotlight for Everyone. Repeat this process, selecting Add Spotlight for up to nine speakers.
Add an Immersive View of real-life meeting locations
Virtual meetings are often boring, but Zoom’s Immersive View makes a presentation, class, or group a little more interesting by placing participants in real-life scenes. Instead of floating heads in small boxes, you can move attendees to “sit” at classroom desks, in chairs behind a podium on stage, or even on logs around a campfire. Zoom has pre-built scenes, or you can upload an image of your actual office or outdoor space. These virtual backgrounds accommodate up to 25 participants. As a host, click View > Immersive, select whether to add participants to your scene automatically or manually, and select the scene. Press Start to place people into the immersive view. For custom immersive views, you’ll have to move participants around manually.
Separate audio files for recording podcasts or instructional content
Because any Zoom meeting can be recorded, it’s a convenient platform for creating and saving collaborative or conversation-based content, such as podcasts, instructional videos, board meetings, and more. However, having multiple people on mic at once can make it difficult to listen back—if people talk over each other or one participant has noise in the background while another is speaking. In these cases, you can record separate audio files and edit them together later for a cleaner experience. As the host, on the Zoom desktop app, click your profile picture > Settings > Record and enable Record a separate audio file for each participant. This will record and save each file locally under the participant’s name.
Set up a second device as “co-host” to manage participants and chat
Running a meeting in which you have to share a presentation, watch the chat, and keep an eye on attendees who want to participate—it’s a lot, especially if you’re trying to do it all on the same small screen. A workaround is to sign in on a second device and use one for screen sharing and the other to manage participants and chat activity. Join the meeting on both devices—on your primary device with host privileges, click Participants, hover over your other profile in the list, then click More > Make co-host > Confirm. (If you’re not the main meeting host, you can still be assigned co-host privileges.)
With a paid Zoom account, you can be logged in on two devices of the same type concurrently or a computer alongside a phone or tablet. Alternatively, anyone can log in on another device under a different account or as a guest. If you are logged in under the same profile, be sure to mute all audio on the second device to avoid feedback.
Customize your waiting room to share a live agenda and chat with attendees
If you want a more polished (or interesting) waiting room experience than the standard Zoom landing page that says “Waiting for the host to start the meeting,” you can customize what participants see. The simplest option is text title for the waiting room, but you can also add an image, upload a branded logo with a message or meeting description, or include a looping video (with or without sound)—which could be used to display the meeting agenda, meeting rules, and a welcome message. Enable Waiting Room when scheduling your meeting, then go to Waiting Room Options > Customize Waiting Room > Save once you’ve added your customizations.
Zoom waiting rooms also have a chat feature, so hosts can message everyone in the waiting room or communicate privately with individuals. Click Chat and select the individual or Waiting room participants to chat with all.
Use AI Companion to get a recap when you join a meeting late
AI Companion is Zoom’s generative AI tool with productivity capabilities like taking notes, creating meeting summaries, and identifying action items. If enabled for a meeting, it can also answer participant questions in real time—meaning if you join late, you can get a summary of everything you missed without drawing attention to your tardiness. Preset questions include “Catch me up,” “Was my name mentioned?” and “What are the action items?” although you can ask custom questions as well. Tap the AI Companion icon in the top-right corner of the meeting and select a provided question or compose your own. Note that the Meeting Questions feature is available only on workplace and enterprise accounts and must be enabled by the host.
