Using Zoom for Cathedral study groups and online social events

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By Dr Katherine Firth

To download a Zoom Beginners Guide please click here: Guide to Zoom

One of the most common platforms for hosting group conversations online is Zoom. It works like Facetime or Skype, but is more stable with larger groups of people, and you don’t have to give out personal contact details. You all just follow a link to an online meeting.

If you want to you can set up your own account. You can do so by navigating to the sign up page. But you can also just click on the meeting links that are sent to you by the Cathedral.

 

What does a Zoom meeting look like?

Picture 2

Zoom meeting on a desktop

Picture 1

Zoom meeting on an iPhone

Exercise

Try out a Zoom meeting before your first Cathedral study or social group session!

  1. Navigate to: https://zoom.us/test (links to an external site) and press ‘Join’. You may be asked whether you give permission for zoom to open Zoom. Click ‘Allow’.
  2. Press ‘Join with Video’ and then follow the prompts to set up your sound and video. Then press ‘Join with computer audio’.
  3. On the toolbar find the ‘Mute’ microphone button, and turn it on. This mutes your microphone, but you can still hear other people.
  4. Find the video camera button, and turn it off. This turns off your video.
  5. On a laptop or desktop: Find the ‘Share screen’ button. Click on it. Can you work out how to share documents this way?
    On a phone, click ‘Share Content’ and see how to send a document from iCloud, OneDrive or Google Drive.
  6. If you are the meeting host: Click ‘Manage Participants’ and see if you can find the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ buttons.
    If you are a participant: click ‘Participants’ and see and see if you can find the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ buttons. The ‘raise hand’ button is only available for participants.
  7. Find the ‘Chat’ button and type a message to everyone in the chat box.
  8. Leave the meeting.

Well done, you have successfully joined and used Zoom. We look forward to your joining us for our study and social events. Do make sure you have sent your email details to welcome@stpaulscathedral.org.au, or that you have signed up to our weekly newsletter which will contain links to our meetings.