Now that we are doing so much of 4D activity online, I want to encourage many more of our members to use Zoom. Here is a Primer prepared for an upcoming National Narrow Gauge Convention online.

Russ Segner

A ZOOM Primer

You have been invited to join a Zoom meeting. What do you do next?


Joining Zoom
• Click on the link which appears in the email.
• Join the meeting using your computer audio.
• You may see a message that indicated the Host is not ready for you to be granted permission to enter the meeting. Just be patient. Most of the time you will join right in the meeting.
• You will see your image on the screen with others.
• In most cases your microphone will automatically muted.
• The host may unmute you to interact with you.
• You can unmute yourself and speak by depressing the space bar and talk while holding it down.
• Try not to talk over someone already speaking, just wait your turn.

Presenting
• Get ready first
• Have your presentation open and ready to start with a single click.
• Share screen is the button at the bottom of the page near the middle.
• If you want to share additional mages, open the new image file and then press New Share
• When finished, press the Close Share button.

Noise on line
• It is essential that your environment is silent. No barking dogs, radios, lawn mowers or noisy grand-kids.
• If you are using a laptop or desktop computer with a built-in microphone, background noise will be a much larger problem; we recommend using a noise cancelling headset such as the Sennheiser PC-8 USB.
• If there is noise on the line, and it is not originating with your computer or background, you might need to ask the moderator to mute that person, or to remind everyone to be muted while you are presenting.

Chat Box
• The Chat Box allows participants to ask questions. The moderator will keep an eye on the Chat Box on your behalf, and help with the review of questions at the end of your presentation.
• If you need to type a response in the Chat Box, when you hit the Return key, it sends the message.
• You can select whether to respond to ‘All’ or to an individual attendee. For our purposes, just respond to ‘All’.

Slide Delay
• When you advance to the next PowerPoint slide, there is a delay before that new slide appears on the attendee’s screens. It is a good policy, when you advance to the next slide, wait for 2 or 3 seconds before you start speaking about that slide. Otherwise, viewers get confused.

Presenter Notes
• It’s a good strategy to have a written outline of points you want to remember, if they do not all appear on your slides.
• Speak slowly and clearly throughout your presentation. The technology is good, but it is less than perfect, and the viewer’s equipment may be less than ideal.
• Try to resist the temptation to tell ’war stories’ or go off topic.
• Send the moderator a pdf of your presentation for distribution.