any Zoom veterans here?

[Morgana]

All this time I have managed to avoid Zoom, but I have to use it for a meeting next week. I'm sure I can stagger through the basics ... but does anyone with Zoom experience have any tips? things to make it easier? pitfalls to avoid? are those "Zoom backgrounds" hard to make?

Thanks.

 

[rvwandering]

I've gone to Zoom meetings for the HOWA groups. https://www.meetup.com/Caravans/
I've also set up a couple of Zoom meetings to talk with a few people in person. They're very simple to set up but the time is limited to 40 minutes if you're using the free site.
The Zoom Backgrounds don't always work well. Sometimes they flicker and are distracting.
The video and audio buttons are at the bottom of the screen on my laptop. You may come into the meeting with your audio on so be careful about speaking. There's a mute button on your video square and it's better to leave it on mute unless you're speaking. If you have to do something that you don't want to be on screen like blow your nose turn the video off. It's all pretty easy.

 

[maki2]

On YouTube there are lots of how to videos about using zoom and doing things like backgrounds. Seeing it done is an easier to learn method than reading about because it is mostly about using pictures and icons