A. Many YouTube videos explain features of Zoom, but most are unnecessarily complicated. And just to get a feel for the process, you might want to view one such as this.

B. Many hard-of-hearing people experience higher quality sound with a Zoom connection than over many telephones.

C. You have many options about how the display appears (controls at top of screen appear when you move your cursor there), but these may be all you'll need for our session --

1) gallery view with everyone about equal size                 [or their names in a box] which is probably how                 Zoom will open for you

2) speaker view (below) which shows the active speaker                 much larger with others in thumbnail images

3) as with most "windows," you can display the                 participants full-screen or you can resize                the frame or minimize it.

D. Only if everyone consents, a session may be recorded for those unable to participate.

E. Zoom has many wonderful features to explore --           1) stop video / start video           2) chat           3) break-out rooms           4) recording           5) thumbs up / applause icon           6) screen share           7) security features such as the waiting room           8) participants menu           9) scrolling through participants if more than 25 are                participating in the session

F. If you initiate a Zoom session, avoid using the Schedule menu. All you need to do is email the portion of the Zoom hot link before the question mark. (See #2 above.) Scheduling complicates the process and may best be avoided by non-expert users.

3. PARTICIPANTS RESPONSE PANEL
Groups can vote a shown below and offer other responses.

---

Addittional controls for host:

---

---

[1] The paper says that there’s an excessive amount of direct eye gaze as people look at other faces close-up. It’s unnatural and not what people would typically do in an in-person meeting. During a video call, everyone is often staring at the speaker and the listeners, whereas in-person, some people may glance at their notes or lean over to a colleague for a side conversation.
     “Now listeners in a Zoom call are being stared at the same way speakers get stared at in the real world,” Bailenson said, pointing to public speaking as “one of the highest sources of anxiety that there is.”

[TIP: Take notes, look into space, turn the video off for a short while.]

[2] There’s also the constant self-evaluation. Seeing our own faces and gestures several hours a day on video is stressful and taxing, Bailenson said. Imagine if someone followed you around with a mirror during the work day “and made sure that everything you’re doing, you’re staring at your own face in real-time.”
     “You wouldn’t be able to live your life that way, right?” he said. “That sounds insane.”
     He said this occurs largely because the default setting on video platforms is to show people their own image.

[TIP: Use "Speaker" view instead of gallary when you can, select "hide self-view," or minimize the video call screen.]

[3] Video chats also cut down on people’s ability to be mobile. Instead of walking and talking like you might be able to do during a phone call, video chats mostly force participants to stay in a fixed position.
     “The problem with video — because culturally it’s kind of offensive if you’re not sitting in that frame and looking in the field of view of the camera — people sit still,” Bailenson said.
     During in-person meetings, people may be more active, standing up and pacing, going to a whiteboard or doodling.

[TIP: Arrange your device so you can stand and move around your room.]

[4] On top of all that, participating in video calls may increase cognitive load, meaning more mental effort is needed.
     “In real conversation, you’re just talking. You’re gesturing. It’s the most natural thing in the world,” he said. “Now things like turn-taking have to become deliberate. You have to think about ‘When am I going to unmute myself and click that button?’ And you have to think about ‘Well, I want to make sure they see that I like the idea, I’ve got to pretend slow clap in front of the camera.’ ”
     All of those nonverbal gestures of communication — which are automatic during in-person interactions — now take extra mental effort for some people. Accessibility experts say the toll may be even higher for people with disabilities.

[TIP: If possible, leave the mute button in one setting unless courtesy requires constant changing. Stand when you want to applaud instead of using the reaction button if your group protocol permits.] 

[A final TIP: resist unnecessary Zoom sessions, make weekly calls biweekly, space regular calls, shorten a 60-minute call to 45 or 30 minutes, or group them to your convenience.]