486
Dealing with Zoom Newbies
To me, Zoom is a fairly intuitive platform. I started using it right away without difficulty. Unfortunately, that's not the case for everyone. In fact, during a recent meeting we spent well over 10 minutes at the start of the meeting "coaching" others about display issues and other settings. At one point I just wanted to blurt out, "can we just get on with the agenda and handle that later?"
Is it just me, or are others having difficulty being patient with Zoom Newbies who monopolize the beginning of the meeting with technical questions that they should have figured out on their own?
Valerie Rieger
1.23k
04/20/20 at 5:37PM UTC
Zoom seems to work well for me but I've been on meetings where some of the other participants were struggling. You could see it on their faces and hear it in their voices. Rather than get upset it worked for us to send designate a "fixer". That person reaches out to the struggling person (usually via text message) and walks them through their issues.
We've also kicked around the idea of having a Zoom 101 class.
Judy HutchinsonInternational Education Specialist.
140
04/20/20 at 1:24PM UTC
Our department IT folks are holding a Zoom session this week (by Zoom of course), mostly on security, but I think, as it's a presentation, it may answer questions to those who have not learned all of the tricks of Zoom. I, too, get frustrated, but some folks are not as tech capable, nor has their job required that they be until this point. So, while it's difficult to be patient, I try to give them a bit of room.
Anonymous
04/19/20 at 8:08PM UTC
It is irritating when I'm the one running the meeting and it's been setup over a week in advance, people forget, show up late, and/or can't get in. Then, my phone is blown up with questions while I'm attempting to run a meeting (what's the link, send me the email, what's the password, etc). I finally started doing Zoom by appointment and weekly tutorials for anyone to attend. It's kind of an open door access to technical assistance, where everyone is welcome to ask any questions and address concerns.
Anonymous
04/16/20 at 9:29PM UTC
As someone who is a longtime Skype user now moving to Zoom in many meetings, let me share my perspective.
It's not necessarily the person's technical ability or lack of preparation that makes new Zoom users need assistance. If the initial Zoom set up included a 1 minute tutorial on the basics (mute button down here, turn on video here, etc.) the new users would log in to their first meeting with ALL the basics they needed. Additional features could be added as needed.
How do I know this? I logged into my first Zoom meeting last month and watched everyone join, listened to the introductions, thinking all was well, until someone asked me a question and during my answer I saw arms waving trying to get my attention. My unknown mute button was on. I could hear and see them but they couldn't hear me. Duh.
And the calendar invite to the meeting did not give me the opportunity to do anything ahead of time to prepare. It simple said "click here to join your Zoom meeting." Lesson learned.
Anonymous
04/16/20 at 9:45PM UTC
That's a great point! Zoom seems to be the most popular platform these days (esp for these WFH meetings) but users may be more familiar with other platforms like Skype, Google Hangouts and Slack call. They all operate totally differently so knowing how to use one doesn't necessarily lend itself to using another as quickly.
Anonymous
04/16/20 at 8:26PM UTC
I think part of the problem is that some people use the Zoom app and others use the Zoom browser, so performing a simple function (like going to settings) differs greatly between the platforms. As someone who uses the app on my Mac, my video and audio are pretty much ready to go once I join the meeting, but it took me a solid 10 minutes to figure that out before I continued to use it. I recommend everyone do the same on their own time!
Carolyn FieldsInstructional Designer and Author
486
04/16/20 at 8:30PM UTC
Thank you! I get that people need to figure stuff out, but doing it on their own time would be much appreciated!
