Not so long ago, we used to Google everything. Now, we’re all Zooming.

The Zoom meetings app isn’t anything new. In fact, it’s been used for a while by businesses to have meetings with staff in other offices and clients in other parts of the country and across the world.

Pre-lockdown, Zoom had already been growing in popularity for some time, and on March 23 alone – the day before the UK went into lockdown, it was reportedly downloaded 2.13million times.

Literally overnight, businesses have all been forced to adapt and think of new ways to stay connected and keep operating as everybody works from home. Zoom is one of the video conferencing apps that’s enabling people to still have team catch-ups and contact clients, albeit virtually.

I’ve already lost count of the number of Zoom calls I’ve had in the last two weeks. While I’m no stranger to digital working, my Zoom account was used once or twice a month max. I’d never scheduled a Zoom call myself, but had joined others that had been scheduled by my clients.

Now I’ve hosted several Zoom meetings and am having one to two Zoom calls a day.

Zoom calls are the new norm, but as we’re only into week two of the UK lockdown, there are bound to be some businesses, who are still just starting to get to grips with digital remote working and using platforms, such as Zoom.

As with most platforms, you need to set up an account (which took me about 15 minutes). I’ve listed the main steps below to help guide businesses through the Zoom account creation process:

Other Zoom pointers:

• The steps above relate to creating a basic Zoom account, which means you can chat away for as long as you like in meetings with a maximum of two people
• If you hold meetings with three or more people on the basic package, then your session will time out after 40 minutes
• Zoom Pro costs £119.90 annually and £11.99 a month (here are some more details about the pricing and plans)
• If you need to have Zoom meetings with more than three people and chat for longer than 40 minutes, then having a Pro account is most probably the best option
• When you create your account, you’ll be provided with your own meeting link/meeting ID
• When you schedule a meeting and then save it to your chosen calendar, you’ll find the meeting ID and password within that calendar entry. These details are what people need to join your meeting
• You can log into a Zoom meeting via your desktop (if using a monitor, you’ll need to set up a camera if you want to be seen), as well as other mobiles devices (I use my iPad, which has a built-in camera)
• One practical tip – during your meetings, look into the camera and not at the box you appear in; that way you’ll be giving people eye contact rather than vaguely looking at them
• While Zoom may be a video conferencing app, you don’t have to be seen if you don’t want to. There is an option before the start of each meeting to join with audio or audio and video
• If you’re using Zoom for work, then it’s important your background looks professional. One way this can easily be achieved is by using a virtual background. Canva has lots of them – https://www.canva.com/create/zoom-virtual-background/. I love the fact you can brand them too.

Having read this post, you’ll hopefully feel more confident about giving Zoom, or virtual meetings in general, a go. The future is digital and I’m sure when things do start to bounce back, many more companies will still value video conferencing’s role in enabling them to move with the times, embrace working from home and work with greater efficiency.

Got any questions? Or perhaps you’ve got some Zoom tips to share? You can reach me on sanina@skcopyco.com or 07810 636 748.