We’re aware that there has been a lot of guidance around how to configure Zoom meetings and so just wanted to draw your attention to a few settings and our recommended advice.

Join before host

If ‘Join before host’ is enabled then participants can enter the room before the host. This means that there may be discussions and behaviour that cannot be monitored by the host as they have yet to enter the room.

Enabling ‘Join before host’ also means that, since recording is started automatically when anybody enters the room, if a student arrives early and then leaves the room before the host a video recording (file) is created; this has resulted in numerous recordings logged against each Zoom meeting which can make it confusing for seminar leaders to manage once they wish to share the recording.

Recommended: No (unchecked)

Enable waiting room

If the waiting room is enabled it requires the host to admit students as they arrive which can be time-consuming and distracting for those already present in the meeting so may not lead to the best online experience for the students.

It also requires the host to be regularly monitoring the ‘Waiting room’ for anybody that might have arrived late to the session, and may also mean that students may be left in the ‘Waiting room’ for a substantial period of time.
Recommended: No (unchecked)

I appreciate that for the above recommendations there will be exceptions but hopefully, with the details outlined above, this will help to inform any configuration choices that you make.