Hostess Zoom Guide

You can also view this document in a PDF version.

This guide is for Zoom Hostesses.

We highly recommend that you use a computer for this role. The Zoom application lacks some features in the mobile and tablet versions.

The current Zoom Host will designate you as a zoom Co-Host when you are a Hostess for a particular Circle.

This guide presents screenshots and examples. The screenshots were snapped in the Mac version of Zoom. Please note that the Windows version is almost identical to the Mac version in functionality and button positioning with a slight difference in appearance.

Some Basic Definitions

  • Zoom Host – the overall administrator of the meeting who has full access to every feature of Zoom.
  • Co-Host – a meeting participant granted access to many, but not all of the hosting features by the Zoom Host. The Zoom Host can designate as many Co-Hosts as they want.
  • Participant – the people participating in the Zoom meeting.
  • Spotlighting – a zoom feature that focuses the “Speaker View” onto one or more participant screens designated by a host or co-host.

Basic Setup

Here is an example setup with three participants:

  • Co-Host – This is your point of view as a Hostess.
  • Razberry – A participant.
  • Oscar Wilde – Another participant.

Viewing All Participants

To view all the participants in the meeting:

  1. Click on the Participants button at the bottom center of the Zoom window.
  2. The list of Participants will appear in a pane on the right size of the Zoom window.
  3. Select the “Gallery” view from the view menu on the upper right of the screen.

If you are in “Fullscreen” mode, the participants will appear in a separate window.

Requesting to Be a Co-Host

A Zoom Host can authorize a Participant as a Co-Host, for example to give Oscar Wilde Co-Host permissions:

  1. Right click on “Oscar Wilde” on their video window or in the Participants list. A menu will appear.
  2. Click on the “Make Co-Host” menu item.

As a Hostess, you will usually just be requesting that a Zoom Host do this for you.

Spotlighting A Participant

To spotlight a Participant, for example Razberry:

  1. Move your cursor over Razberry’s video window or right click on “Razberry” in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Click on that blue rectangle to view a menu.
  3. Select the “Spotlight for Everyone” menu item.

All Participants will see Razberry spotlighted in their main Zoom window. The Participant list method works to spotlight everyone except yourself, so be sure to use the video window method if you need to spotlight yourself.

To spotlight another Participant:

  1. Move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or right click on the Participant’s name in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Click on that blue rectangle to view a menu.
  3. Select the “Add Spotlight” (check name) menu item.

<add screenshot here>

To stop spotlighting a Participant, you can use one of two methods:

  • Click “Remove Spotlight” on the upper left part of the screen. This method removes all spotlights.
    OR
  1. Move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or over the Participant’s name in the Participant list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Click on that blue rectangle to view a menu.
  3. Select the “Remove Spotlight” menu item to remove the spotlight just for that Participant, leaving any other spotlights as is.

Muting and Un-Muting Participants

To mute an individual participant:

  1. Move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or right click on the Participant’s name in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Next to that blue rectangle, select the “Mute” button to mute that Participant.

To unmute an individual participant:

  1. Move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or right click on the Participant’s name in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Next to that blue rectangle, select the “Ask to Unmute” menu item.
  3. The Participant will see a pop-up window that has two options, so they can choose to “Stay Muted” or “Unmute”.

To mute all participants:

  1. In the “Participants” panel on the right, click on the “Mute All” button.
  2. If you want Participants to later be able to unmute themselves, then check the “Allow participants to unmute themselves” checkbox.

To unmute all participants:

  1. Click on the “More” button in the lower right corner of the Zoom window or in the Participants panel.
  2. Select the “Ask All to Unmute” menu item.
  3. The Participant will see a pop-up window that has two options, so they can choose to “Stay Muted” or “Unmute”.

Debugging Participant Audio Issues

If a participant is having trouble with audio, you may need to guide them through troubleshooting audio. If the participant can’t hear you, you might have to help through chat.

When a Participant is having trouble being heard because of Internet bandwidth or Internet turbulence issues, then sometimes asking the Participant to click on “Stop Video” will turn off their video for the Zoom meeting but make it possible for the audio to be heard without interference.

When a Participant cannot be heard at all, a common cause of audio issues is when the mic or headphones/speakers are not configured correctly.

  1. First try using the procedure for unmuting a Participant described above. If that doesn’t work, then go on to the next steps.
  2. Ask the Participant to go to the small, up arrow to the right of the “Mute” button and click it. This reveals a pop-up menu.
  3. Make sure Select Microphone and Select Speakers are set correctly. The settings will vary slightly depending on whether or not the participant is using headphones.

If that doesn’t solve the issue, then ask them to open the “Audio Settings” for the computer and check their sound. This procedure will be very different for each operating system. The screen shot above displays the sound settings for a Mac.

Debugging Participant Video Issues

If a participant is having trouble with video, you may need to guide them through troubleshooting video. If the participant can’t see you, you might have to help them by talking aloud.

A common cause of video issues is when the camera are configured correctly.

  1. First try asking the Participant to start their own video by clicking on the “Start Video” button.
  2. If that doesn’t work, then move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or right click on the Participant’s name in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear. Then go to the small, up arrow to the right of the “Mute” button and click it. This reveals a pop-up menu. Ask them to start their video by clicking on the “Ask to Start Video” <check name of item> menu item. When the Participant sees a pop-up window, the Participant should click “Start My Video”.
  3. If that doesn’t work, then go on to the next steps.
  4. Ask the Participant to go to the small, up arrow to the right of the “Start Video” button and click it. This reveals a pop-up menu.
  5. Under “Camera”, click on the menu and make sure to select the correct camera.

Removing a Participant

Removing a participant should only be done as a last resort if a participant is extremely disruptive in a meeting. Once you have removed the participant, they may never be able to return to the Zoom meeting.

To remove a participant, for example Oscar Wilde:

  1. Move your cursor over the Participant’s video window or right click on the Participant’s name in the Participants list. A small blue rectangle with three dots in it will appear.
  2. Select the “Remove” menu item.

Whether or not to report the offending participant to Zoom depends on what the Participant has done. If it is a random zoom bomber, then you should probably report them. If it is a faerie, then it will depend on what the faerie has done. This situation will be discussed with more nuance in the Hostess training.

Rapid Response to Zoom Bombers

The Rapid Response Protocol is to quickly change the security settings of the zoom room to prevent further intruders, remove the intruders, and then restore “normal” security settings.

Change the security settings for the meeting immediately when an incident occurs:

  1. Click on the Security button at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  2. By selecting/checking and unselecting/unchecking, change the security settings to:
  • (checked) Lock Meeting
  • (checked) Enable Waiting Room
  • (unchecked) Hide Profile Pictures

Allow participants to:

  • (unchecked) Share Screen
  • (unchecked) Chat
  • (unchecked) Rename Themselves
  • (unchecked) Unmute Themselves
  • (unchecked) Start Video
  • (unchecked) Suspend Participant Activities
  1. Locate the names of zoom bombers in the chat.
  2. Remove them using the directions described in the previous section.

Once you have removed the Zoom bombers from the meeting, reinstate the security settings for the meeting to the default state, which should probably be:

  • (unchecked) Lock Meeting
  • (unchecked or checked) Enable Waiting Room
  • (unchecked) Hide Profile Pictures

Allow participants to:

  • (unchecked) Share Screen
  • (checked) Chat
  • (checked) Rename Themselves
  • (unchecked or checked) Unmute Themselves
  • (unchecked) Start Video
  • (unchecked) Suspend Participant Activities

Please note that using the Remove feature on a participant may mean that they are permanently banned from the room and may get their Zoom account investigated for permanent removal as well, so it’s not something we should do lightly. It should only be in the case of clear and persistent violation of faerie space and hopefully only after a warning identifying the offensive behavior and asking the participant to stop it.

Sharing A Screen To Present A Video

A Hostess who is a Co-Host can present a video to the meeting:

  1. Start the application that will display the video.
  2. Click on the “Share Screen” button at the bottom of the Zoom window.
    A page with bunch of items will appear which are your display(s) and each window open on your desktop.
  3. Select the “Desktop” item.
  4. When the “Share Sound” and “Optimize for video clip” items appear in the bottom left corner, select both of them.
  5. Click on the “Share Button”.
  6. Set the application displaying the video to full-screen mode.
  7. Start playing the video.

Note: Performing the last two steps in this order may prevent some jerkiness in video playback.

Note: sometimes Participants will multiple screens will get confused about how to share videos. Try to debug issues by noting the large number that Zoom displays on each screen.

Sharing Music Only

A Hostess who is a Co-Host can present music to the meeting as a DJ or for background music:

  1. Click on the “Share Screen” button at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  2. When the “Share Screen” dialog appears, click on the “Advanced” tab at the top of the dialog.
  3. Select the “Music or Computer Sound Only” item.
  4. Click the “Share” button.

Assisting Those Who Are Singing or Playing Music Live

Participants who are singing or playing music live may improve the quality of sound that Zoom provides to other meeting participants by using the “Turn On Original Sound” feature.

If the feature is already configured, the participant will see a “Turn On Original Sound” menu in the upper-left corner of their Zoom window.

If the “Turn On Original Sound” menu doesn’t appear in the upper-left corner of their Zoom window:

  1. Click on the up-arrow menu to the right of the “Mute” or “Unmute” button.
  2. Check the “Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from microphone” item under “Music and Professional Audio”.
  3. Unless there is a reason not to do so, check the three items below (or leave them checked if they are already checked).

Once the “Turn On Original Sound” menu appears in the upper-left corner of their Zoom window, a participant can:

  1. Click on “Turn On Original Sound” to turn on original sound.
    The menu name will change to “Turn Off Original Sound” which means that original sound is on.

For live performers, it is advisable to do a sound check / rehearsal prior to the meeting with the same setup as for the meeting to make sure that the performer sounds good to other participants. For example, performers may need to adjust the volume of their performance or their distance from the microphone.

Thanks and Sharing

Thanks to Raspberry and the Tech Circle of the Global Online Breitenbush Faerie Gathering for preparing this document.

Please feel free to share it with faeries everywhere!