This page contains notes and tips to help you participate in BLA hosted virtual Zoom meetings.

Different ways to join a Zoom meeting

There are a two different ways to join a Zoom meeting – pick which one works best for you:

1. Install Zoom client (preferred) – available for desktop (Windows or MacOS) and mobile (Android or iOS) platforms. This is the most capable and fully featured option recommended by Zoom, but requires you to install an application (through a browser download on the desktop or Google Play / Apple App Store on mobile).
2. Zoom web client – available for current desktop browsers only (e.g. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Apple Safari) – mobile browsers are not supported. This avoids the need to install anything, but has limited features compared to full Zoom client…but the web client supports basic audio/video/chat/raise-hand capabilities, which is all you should need. See Zoom Web Client guide for more details.

Testing your Zoom

If you’re new to Zoom, then you can test your desktop/mobile setup ahead of time. Just following these instructions:

1. Open your browser and go to https://zoom.us/test to join a test meeting.
2. Select the “Join” button
3. If you want to use the full Zoom client, then:
   • Select the “Open Zoom Meetings” option from the pop-up menu.
   • If you already have the Zoom client installed then it should start automatically. If you don’t have the Zoom client installed, then it will be downloaded – follow any prompts to install.
   • The Zoom test wizard will prompt you to select your camera (you should see yourself), the select and test the audio device/volume, and finally a microphone (say a few words and you’ll hear them playback). Your test meeting will end a few seconds after selecting “end test”.
4. If you want to use the Zoom web client (no app install), then:
   • Select the “Cancel” option from that pop-up followed by the “Join From your Browser” link (bottom of page).
   • Enter your name (this will be displayed in the Participants window for others to see), select the “I’m not a robot” checkbox (if prompted), then select the Join button.
   • Select the “Join Audio by Computer” option and be sure your speaker volume is turned up.
   • Select “Allow” if you’re prompted with “zoom.us wants to use your microphone”
   • There is no audio test available when using the Zoom web client unfortunately. If you can mute and unmute your mic without errors or warning then you should be fine.
   • You can test your camera by selecting the “Start Video” icon, then select “Allow” if you’re prompted that “zoom.us wants to use your camera”
   • To test the “Raise Hand” feature, select the “Participants” icon, then select the “Raise Hand” button at the bottom of the Participants window that pops up.
   • Leave test meeting by selecting the red “Leave” button.

What to be mindful of during a meeting

1. Upon joining the Zoom meeting your microphone will be muted (for speaking) and your video camera will be disabled. You are free to unmute yourself or turn on your camera during the meeting – just select the muted microphone icon or select the “Start Video” icon.
2. We recommend that you keep your microphone muted during the meeting unless you are speaking – this helps reduce background noise and meeting disruptions.
3. You can join the meeting up to 15 minutes before the start time. We encourage you to join early in case your have any challenges getting in – we’d like to start the meeting at the top of the hour and don’t want you to miss anything 😊
4. Please try to ensure your “Zoom Name” contains an actual name that identifies you (rather than something like “My iPad”). To check your Zoom name after joining the meeting simply select the Participants icon and look for yourself (should be at the top of the list). To change this just select or hover over your entry in the Participants list and select the “Rename” option.
5. The meeting host may use Zoom’s “Poll” feature to solicit input from all participants during the meeting (ex. voting on a motion). Watch for these poll questions to appear on your Zoom client and try to respond as soon as possible – the host will see response statistics in real-time and will have to end the poll when it appears no further responses are being received.
6. If a poll question is being used to vote on a motion then please limit your responses to a single member per property. Co-owners may be logged into the Zoom meeting using separate devices, but there should only be one vote per property.
7. To alert the Zoom meeting host of a question or comment you can use either Zoom’s “Raise Hand” (under “Reactions”) or “Chat” feature to send a message to the host.