Please review the Zoom Guide for Conferences or Meetups early in your event planning stage to ensure you have adequate time to prepare for the Zoom set up, testing, and any other items that may come up. This guide is intended to consolidate information on how to leverage the Zoom platform to host and record events or meetups. If you would like to request a Zoom link for your meeting via LF AI, please first review the details under the LF AI Community Meetings & Calendars for the requirements, and then if applicable you can submit the request per the instructions provided. If you have any questions, please email events@lfai.foundation. 

What you need to host a meeting:

• Host laptop that can sit near the room audio system and have enough storage to record the sessions
• A typical all day recording will be around ~500MB - 750MB provided you are not recording video
• Pro Zoom account that can be leveraged with no conflicting meetings scheduled
  • See instructions above on how to request via LF AI 
• Setup the Zoom account with the applicable settings for the meeting type (see useful references below for best practices)
  • LF AI will provide the Zoom meeting link with standard settings, any modifications will need to be adjusted accordingly
  • Presenters will need their own laptop

What you need for Audio:

• Conference Call System that can dial to an external Zoom Conference call number and room audio can be heard OR
• Audio Adapter to capture audio from the Microphones in the Room

Audio Setup A: If you have a Conference Call System:

• From the Host laptop, select "Switch to Phone Audio" from the Microphone option in the bottom left of your Zoom screen
• Dial an appropriate number from the available displayed numbers based on your location or audio system
• Enter your Meeting ID: XXX XXX XXX
• Enter your Participant ID: XX 

Audio Setup B: If there is not a Conference Call System:

• Use Audio Adapter to connect the Host Laptop to the master out from the room audio mixer
• From the Host Laptop, select the ^ option near the microphone option in the bottom left of your Zoom screen and then select "USB Audio"

Presenting:

• Ensure that all presenters have the Zoom bridge information at least 24 hours in advance. Check with each presenter 10 minutes before their presentation begins to ensure they are already connected to the Zoom session and that their microphone is MUTED. 
• Option A (recommended)
• Host Laptop is connected to the room projector
• Presenter should be connected to the Zoom session before their presentation begins
• Presenter shares their screen from Zoom and it will automatically appear on the room projector via the Host Laptop
• Option B
• Presenter should be connected to the Zoom session before their presentations begins
• Presenter connects directly to the Projector when their session begins
• Presenter will still share their screen with Zoom

Recording Recommendations:

• Occasionally check the host computer to make sure that any remote viewers do not have their camera on 
• Mute any participants who unmute themselves and have background noise coming in
• Pause the recording during long breaks such as lunch or record the meeting is batches if that will be helpful for posting of your meeting recording later

Useful References:

• Blog Post: “Host and Co-Host Controls in a Meeting”
• Zoom Blog Post: “How to Keep the Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event”