How To Use Zoom Effectively

By Robert Whent

In many crises over the years, certain technologies bubble up to the top of the must-have list. With the COVID-19 pandemic, that technology is the videoconferencing platform Zoom.

While it seems like an overnight sensation, Zoom is used widely now by businesses, TV shows, schools and work-from-home employees, but it was actually created way back in 2011 by Eric Yuen, a former engineer of the WebEX videoconferencing platform.

When tech giant Cisco bought WebEx in 2008, Yuen left a few years later with the idea of building a simpler way to video chat across many types of devices without having to download plug-ins or updates to make the system work and Zoom was born.

As with most cloud-based software, Zoom has its security challenges although it does encrypt your data end-to-end and has recently increased its security measures, including the use of passwords, waiting rooms and the recently announced choice of local data centres. It does NOT use Chinese servers or sell your information to Facebook (anymore).

Even though these measures are in place, it’s NOT recommended to use Zoom for confidential or sensitive data just to be safe.

A key feature of Zoom is its ease of use.

You do not need a Zoom account to join a meeting. You may get an invite by email with a link or meeting ID/Password to join the conference. Just click on the link and Zoom will launch in your Internet browser. Simple!

To host your own Zoom meeting, you will need to sign-up for a free account allowing you to host 100 participants for up to 40 minutes. If you purchase a Pro licence, meetings can be up to 24 hours and a Business licence includes up to 300 participants.

There is a lot of online training and various setting you can choose to tailor Zoom to your preferences. Visit online for more information.

Rob Whent is an Industrial Technology Adviser for the National Research Council of Canada’s IRAP program. A lifelong technology entrepreneur, he has built numerous tech companies over the past 30 years. Follow him on LinkedIn.