Hey there! Are you looking to organize and host your first Zoom meeting but feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the settings and options? Don‘t sweat it! In this step-by-step guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to schedule a seamless Zoom meeting experience for you and your attendees.
By the end, you‘ll be a master at planning and customizing engaging virtual gatherings. Let‘s get started!
A Quick History of Zoom
Before we get scheduling, some quick background on Zoom…
The video communications company was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, an early engineer at WebEx (later acquired by Cisco). Fun fact – the name "Zoom" was inspired by Yuan‘s cross-country flights to Silicon Valley where he hoped to "zoom" ahead of the competition!
Zoom launched its first product in January 2013. In the early days, the platform focused primarily on business and enterprise customers.
In 2019, Zoom reached a major milestone – its IPO valuing the company at $16 billion!
However, Zoom‘s huge mainstream breakout was in 2020. With entire workforces shifting remote due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Zoom experienced absolutely explosive growth.
By April 2020, Zoom hit 300 million daily meeting participants – up from just 10 million in December 2019!
Now in 2023, many offices have resumed in-person operations. But Zoom continues holding strong with over 200 million daily participants.
Its comprehensive platform made Zoom meetings an integral way people connect across distances for work and personal life.
Now let‘s get you set up to host your own!
Scheduling a Zoom Meeting via the Web Portal
The Zoom web portal allows hosts to schedule meetings days or weeks in advance. You can easily modify existing meetings too.
Here are the step-by-step instructions to schedule from your web browser:
Step 1: Visit zoom.us and Login
Go to the Zoom homepage and click ‘Sign In‘, then enter your credentials when prompted to access your account dashboard.
Step 2: Select ‘Meetings‘ in the Left Sidebar Navigation
On the left sidebar menu, click Meetings to open your Meetings management dashboard.
Next, click the medium blue Schedule a New Meeting button to kick things off.
Step 3: Enter Your Meeting Title, Date, Time & Duration
First, give your meeting a title at the top that attendees will see.
Next, select a date and time. And indicate how long you expect the meeting to run using the Duration field.
Finally, scroll down and toggle any additional options to your preferences like enabling video, allowing screen sharing, and requiring a meeting passcode.
Once your settings look good, click the blue Save button at the very bottom.
Pro Tip: Make sure to account for a few minutes of "buffer time" in your meeting duration, in case you run over while wrapping up!
Step 4: Copy and Share the Custom Meeting Invitation
Hooray, your Zoom meeting is now officially scheduled!
Scroll down and click Copy the invitation to add the custom invite link to your clipboard.
You can then paste this link in calendar invites, email, chats etc. to forward to whomever you want to have join your scheduled meeting session.
And that‘s seriously all there is to pre-scheduling a Zoom meeting via the web! Nice work.
Up next, let‘s review how to schedule meetings using the installable Zoom desktop application…
Scheduling Zoom Meetings via Desktop App
While the web portal works great for planning one-off meetings in advance, the Zoom desktop app makes meetings faster to start and manage on-the-fly.
You can download the app for free on Mac or PC directly from Zoom‘s website.
Once installed, just log into your Zoom account and you‘re ready to schedule.
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Launch the Zoom Desktop Client and Login
Double click to open the Zoom app you installed, and sign in with your credentials when prompted.
Step 2: Click the Blue "Schedule" Button
In the top right of the Zoom window, click the medium blue Schedule button to open the meeting creation pop-up.
Step 3: Name Your Meeting and Pick Your Settings
Just like on the web portal, give your meeting a title and input the date, time duration and any specific meeting options you want enabled.
Pro Tip: Make sure to check the box for "Enable join before host" if you want attendees to be able to join the meeting before you arrive!
Step 4: Launch Instantly or Copy Invitation Link
Once you hit Schedule, you‘ll see confirmation of the meeting details. From here, you can either:
- Instantly start the meeting if you‘re ready to go.
- Copy an invitation to send out for later.
And that‘s all there is to it! Much easier than the web right?
Now let‘s cover scheduling from mobile…
How to Easily Schedule Zoom Meetings on Mobile
In addition to web and desktop options, Zoom also allows hosts to schedule upcoming meetings right from iOS or Android devices.
Here are the simple steps for mobile Zoom meeting creation:
Step 1: Download the Zoom Mobile App
If you don‘t already have it, download the free Zoom Cloud Meetings app from the App Store on iOS or Play Store on Android.
Step 2: Tap the "Schedule" Icon
Open the Zoom app on your phone or tablet. At the bottom, tap the medium blue Schedule icon to pull up the meeting scheduler.
Step 3: Enter Details and Tap "Done"
Name your meeting, pick a date/time and duration, and customize any options like enabling video or recurring meetings. Once done, tap Done at the top right.
Step 4: Launch, Share, or Add to Calendar
With your meeting saved, you can start it instantly, add it to your calendar, copy an invitation link to share, or make any last-minute edits.
And that‘s scheduling on mobile in a nutshell! Pretty straight-forward right?
Now that you know how to schedule across all platforms, let‘s quickly cover some important meeting settings and options to consider…
Key Zoom Meeting Settings to Know
Here are some of the most vital settings to be aware of when scheduling:
Meeting Passcode: Adds an extra password attendees must enter to join, for increased security. This can be disabled or changed.
Waiting Room: Forces participants to wait in a virtual staging area for the host to manually admit them before joining the actual meeting. Super handy!
Participant Video: Allows the host to force attendee videos off by default when joining if bandwidth is limited.
Mute Participants: Mutes all attendees automatically when they first join the meeting (so you don‘t get ambient noise).
Record Meeting: Enables automatic recording of meetings to your local device or cloud transcripts.
There are seriously tons of customizations so feel free to poke around. But those 5 options are clutch for controlling meetings!
Now let‘s talk about managing recurring meetings…
Scheduling Repeating Meetings
Meetings a one-time thing? No problem.
But Zoom also makes it a cinch to schedule regular repeating meetings with the same group at a cadence of your choosing.
Common examples include:
- Daily team standup meeting
- Weekly company all-hands
- Monthly book club catch-up
To set up a recurring meeting, simply toggle the Recurring Meeting switch when first creating the meeting in web or desktop.
Choose how often you want the meeting to repeat (daily, weekly, monthly etc). Set an end date if desired.
And that meeting will then autmatically reoccur without any extra work! Pretty magical right?
Of course, you can still cancel or edit specific instances if needed while keeping the overall recurring schedule.
Let‘s wrap up with some tips for first-timers!
Top Tips for Newbie Meeting Hosts
If it‘s your first ever time hosting a Zoom gathering, it‘s 100% normal to feel a little nervous about managing the call!
Here are some quick pro tips to set yourself up for success:
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Check equipment – Test video, audio, and screen sharing ahead of time in a test meeting. Adjust mic and camera placement as required.
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Login early – Join the meeting room 5-10 minutes prior to go time. Gives you a buffer to get oriented, admit folks from waiting room etc.
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Greet attendees – Give a warm welcome as people join in! Let stragglers know you‘re just waiting on a couple more arrivals.
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Use an agenda – Have a simple meeting outline prepared to share on-screen so everyone‘s on the same page for topics.
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Check for understanding – Pause frequently for questions. Slow down if needed to ensure everyone absorbs key points.
And don‘t worry if you mess up or forget something in your first meeting! It happens to all of us. Just apologize quickly and keep things moving.
With just a little practice running meetings, you‘ll be a totally confident Zoom host in no time!
Final Thoughts
Hopefully by now, scheduling a Zoom meeting feels way less intimidating, no matter if it‘s your very first or fiftieth!
The step-by-step processes on web, desktop and mobile are nearly identical, so once you learn on one device it translates across the board.
Don‘t be afraid to poke around and play with the settings too – half the fun of Zoom is customizing to perfection!
You‘re also welcome to keep this post bookmarked as an easy visual reference whenever planning your next virtual get-together.
So now, go unleash those Zoom host superpowers! Wishing you seamless, stress-free meetings ahead 🙂
Let me know if any other questions come up!
