Online Meeting App Zoom is a phenomenal application that can help you take your online meeting experience to the next level. As a freelancer, I’m constantly attending meetings via Zoom software as well as hosting meetings for my clients.
Zoom is an online meeting app like Webex and GoToMeeting. But it does something different: it has a suite of tools that can help you manage and lecture your team while you’re away from the office. The thing is, Zoom doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Some might dismiss it as just another online meeting app, but I want to convince you to think about Zoom in a different way. More than just another online meeting software, Zoom is a learning management system that can help you build better relationships with your team, no matter where they’re located and what time zone they may be in.
About Zoom Meetings
Zoom Meetings are easy, reliable, and secure, providing HD video, audio, and content sharing across everything from your mobile and desktop devices to telephones and conference room systems. Special features include cloud and local recording with transcripts and multi-user annotation capabilities via screen share. Easy access with one click, chat across platforms and share files all with encrypted, compliant settings for extra security. Learn more about Zoom Meetings
Pros
Easy to use, can have many people on same call. Good quality audio and amazing quality for the video.
Binu P.Read the full reviewI love being able to stay home or in the office while having an important meeting with others and feeling safe during a pandemic. I also like that you can put a password so random people can’t join.
Shari B.Read the full reviewHas great features like the ability to change the background, the ability to raise my hand and the fact that I can use reactions. Safe because each meeting requires a link, meeting ID and password.
Jana A.Read the full review
Cons
- “I find the updates frustrating sometimes because there is no warning and as a result, I can’t get into my meetings.”
- “What I dislike is that when you first sign on to a meeting you are not connected to the audio, so if the person on the other end tries to talk to you, you feel awkward and have to explain.”
- “This software does glitch sometimes which sucks in the middle of a lecture when you miss information.”
- “The quality of videos, and microphone, sometimes it gets really bad when you’re in a class or you’re giving a class because this can distract the student and them could misunderstand the class.”
Zoom Meetings, your virtual conference room”Overall: My experience with Zoom Meetings has been very pleasent. It helped me (along with thousands of others) to get my lectures and complete my study from home during the lockdown period caused by Corona pandemic.Pros: Zoom meetings is a superb audio and video calling client. You can comnect with multiple people at a time using it. It allows you to hold meetings, conduct classes and lectures, and attend conferences and seminars virtually right from your desk and actually participate in it. Participants can share files of different formats with each other in it. Also its screen sharing feature allows a participant to share his screen with other participants of the meeting when discussing a document or slides etc. Zoom meetings is equally useful on both computer and smartphone platforms. It also has a free version available for those who can’t afford license fee, only with a few small limitations.Cons: In its free version, the meeting session terminates automatically after 40 minutes and you have to re-initiate the meeting to continue further. The video quality is sometimes poor on bad internet connection, which may be a result of its high bandwidth requirements.Switched From: Google ClassroomReasons for Switching to Zoom Meetings: I shifted to zoom meetings because our administration decided to adopt it due to its high accessibility.
“Zoom did what Skype could not–highly recommend”Overall: I have used both Zoom meetings and the Zoom webinars as a student, presenter, and administrator.Pros: As my title says, Zoom made it easy to communicate, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. The security features they have added over the past year have been critical for blocking ‘zoom-bombers.’ I enjoy the features such as ‘annotation’ and have used that more times than I thought I would have during meetings. The webinar capability is terrific for hosting large sessions. The recent update for live transcription is great for accessibility and is fairly accurate for an automated system.Cons: The mobile/iPad version isn’t the best honestly and it makes the Zoom experience significantly less appealing. For instance, you can’t see everyone in the screen no matter how much you zoom in; you’re limited to either full screen presentation, full screen speaker, or 4-panel set of attendees. I understand that phone screens are smaller but I should be able to see everyone on an iPad at least–especially when there are only 6 people in the Zoom room for instance.Alternatives Considered: Anywhere365 for Skype Business and WebexSwitched From: Anywhere365 for Skype Business and WebexReasons for Switching to Zoom Meetings: Zoom was more easily accessible. Sharing the links for people to attend was far easier. Screensharing and other such capabilities were more intuitive in Zoom.
What People think about Zoom
I use it to communicate with clients, who are individuals in job search or career change. I use it for 1:1 meetings. And at times use it to address groups of candidates.<div>In particular, I use Zoom to help candidates practice for interviews. My comments in my review are mostly in relation to this way of using it.</div>
Pros and Cons
- Clarity of the sound, image
- Ease of login
- Use of chat bar
- Using it for recording practice interviews and playing back for critiquing, is awkward and kludgy at best. The steps are: Record the session, then END THE MEETING so that Zoom can save the recording. Then get the recording ready to play, then have the client log in AGAIN, you log in AGAIN, share the screen, play the recording.
- Zoom should make it possible to have the interviewer, especially if the practice interview is recorded, to make themselves SMALL throughout the whole recording so that *the candidate* is the focus on the screen. Neither the Speaker view or the Gallery view does this.
- There should be a separate timer on Zoom for the recording portion of the screen. I realize I can do this myself manually, but why can’t Zoom do it for me?
- Zoom needs to have a way to get feedback like this. I could not find a way to give them this feedback on their product, on their site or in the dashboard. All we get is a database that is tone deaf. Nowhere could I find any “Feedback? Click here.” Not good.
- If by these suggestions I’m asking for more functionality, I understand an increased cost. But small companies like mine cannot pay hundreds of dollars a month – please have a very functional version that small firms can still afford. Thank you.
Likelihood to Recommend
One-on-one meetings. Interview prep IF these fixes are made.
We sell software as a service and utilize Zoom to do our product demos and hold other virtual meetings. It is a very easy software to implement and has a great interface for both the users and the admins. Cost is great, and we have had virtually no problems with Zoom!
Pros and Cons
- Price
- Easy to Use
- Reliability
- Need a strong internet connection
- Limits on personal meetings
Likelihood to Recommend
Any virtual meetings, Zoom is a wonderful tool.
For our organization, we give a lot of online demonstrations. Zoom is a wonderful tool for that because not only can we screen share and talk with our perspective clients, but we can also give them controls, take controls from them, and even use a whiteboard to share notes. We have also made multiple recordings to send to them so they can share with the rest of their team. This has been a very powerful tool for us.
Zoom is being used throughout the company whether it has to do with meetings, meetups, and peer to peer communication. It addresses all of the problems of getting everyone together for a meeting, but now it’s only an email away to get everyone together and in a meeting together. It has made it much easier to get together and converse about upcoming projects throughout the company.
Pros and Cons
- Easy to navigate
- Bring able to start and invite people to a meeting in just a few clicks is amazing
- Very user friendly
- It would be nice if zoom could add a better chat feature
- More small goodies here and there (More backgrounds?)
- Zoom emails and room ID’s can get a little confusing at times
Likelihood to Recommend
Zoom is well suited for any kind of business that requires people meeting together and brainstorming ideas or coming up with ideas for a potential project. The simplicity of being able to click a few buttons, gather a group, and have everyone in one room is great. Also having breakout rooms is very nice when everyone needs to break up into their respective departments.
Conclusion
Is Zoom the world’s best online meeting tool? The way it works, combined with some great features like HD audio, make it hard to beat.