Zoom

In general

Zoom is an important part of GitLab's strategy for communication between team members. As such, extra care needs to be given to ensure the safety and integrity of data.

A note on privacy and security

There have been a number of security researchers looking at Zoom, which has resulted in numerous articles (some quite sensational) regarding the privacy and security of the product. Here are a few important things to keep in mind, especially as you read through the Zoom tips below:

Always ensure your operating system as well as the Zoom application are up-to-date with the latest patches.
Ensure you've followed the laptop configuration guidelines.
Make a customized Personal link.
Enable the "Waiting Room" for your meetings.
You can set a password for your meetings, but remember if your meetings are in your calendar, anyone who can view your calendar will see the password if you include it in the meeting invite. Calendars should only be made available to other GitLab team members. See this tip for more details. Use caution when sharing calendar events with customers and trusted third parties. Public meetings such as webinars can use a password if you prefer, but use this in conjunction with the Waiting Room so the meeting host can approve each attendee.
It is possible to include an embedded password in the URL, so if you're using this option do not share this URL publicly.
Zoom supports end-to-end encryption if no Zoom connectors are in use. More details can be found here. GitLab makes use of Zoom connectors for telephones, whenever we do webinars, and the vast majority of group meetings that end up on YouTube. Any time we are livestreaming via YouTube, we are using a connector. Any time we are recording a meeting, we are using a connector. If you need to ensure end-to-end encryption in a Zoom meeting either because of a customer request or some possible compliance reason, only use Zoom clients, do not use telephony, and do not record the meeting.
During a meeting, the host has a "Security" button at the bottom of the screen. This can be used to turn off and on the Waiting Room and to "lock" a meeting to prevent others from attending. Use these as needed to secure your meeting.

Also note there has been an increase in what is know as "Zoombombing" which involves an uninvited party trying to brute force their way into an existing Zoom meeting.

At the time of this update, a global pandemic is occurring which has dramatically increased both the usage of Zoom for legitimate users, and the number of individuals doing Zoombombing.
Zoombombing parties are occuring where individuals are sharing tips and information online regarding meetings to access.
Tools are being written to automate some of the steps in finding open and unprotected meetings.
Simple steps such as a Waiting Room or a password can easily prevent such activity.
Most of the recommendations given here are defaults as set by IT Ops, but always double-check to ensure a safe Zoom meeting.

GitLab's Zoom account has End-to-End Encryption enabled. This may impact performance, so if you run into any issues, let People Ops know.

If there is a meeting active, a new meeting cannot start until the host ends the meeting or all participants leave, so you can only be in one meeting at a time. The People Ops or IT Ops teams can force end a meeting by logging into Zoom with the credentials in 1Password, going to My Meetings, finding the meeting they would like to end, then selecting "End." This will allow the next meeting to begin.

Zoom Setup

Sign up for your default Zoom Pro account in Okta. All team members should have a Zoom Pro account by default.

How to test audio and video in Zoom

Before using Zoom for the first time, it is recommended to test your audio as well as test your video. Zoom even has its own test that you can utilize to ensure everything is set up correctly.

Making a customized Personal link

Please make sure that you customize your Personal link under Profile > Personal Link. The default is gitlab.firstnamelastname. Enable the Waiting Room so unauthorized attendees cannot join your zoom room. The personal link is used by recruiting to schedule interviews so it is important the default naming convention is used and there is no password set.

Adding your title to your name

Since Zoom doesn't display the job title field during meetings, it is recommended that you add your job title as part of your last name in the last name field. For example, if your name is Art VanDelay and your role is Engineer, you can write first name: Art and last name: VanDelay - Engineer.

Set up a shortcut for muting in Zoom

Sometimes you need a hot key to mute/unmute, even when Zoom is not the selected window. Follow these steps to set it up:

Navigate to Zoom > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
Tick the box for Enable Global Shortcut to Mute/Unmute My Audio
You can map it to any keyboard shortcut such as F1 (Cmd 1)

Enabling the "Waiting Room" for your Personal Meeting Room

It's recommended you enable the Waiting Room feature for your personal meeting room to prevent others from joining (in the event of back-to-back meetings, for example). There are a few steps to get this enabled for personal meetings:

Open up "Zoom Settings" in the app, then click the "General" page in the top left navigation on the Settings dialog.
Then click the link "View More Settings" at the bottom left of the page, which will open in the browser.
Find the option "Waiting room" under "In Meeting (Advanced)" and enable it for all participants. Note: This will enable the waiting room but NOT for the personal meeting

For Personal Meetings

Scroll up to the top of the web browser settings in the left navigation area sidebar click the "Meetings" link and select the top tab "Personal Meeting Room".
Towards the bottom of the page click "Edit this meeting" and check the "Enable waiting room" box.
Click "Save"

Now all meetings that use your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) will require you to "admit" anyone who joins the meeting.

Setting up a Zoom Meeting

To set up a Zoom meeting, sign in via Okta and share the link for your "personal meeting room" with your participants.

Using your personal link versus a unique/random link

Your personal link is a great way to provide a consistent, easy-to-read-and-remember meeting room for colleagues and customers. However, there are some drawbacks to reusing the same meeting, such as participants joining an ongoing meeting when two are scheduled back to back. In some cases it may be better to use a unique meeting link.

Here are some good use cases for the personal link:

Recurring or standing meetings, especially those with a large or frequently changing attendee list.
First meeting with a customer, where a simple and readable link is helpful for ease of participation and branding.
Webinar or training session where your Zoom link may be shared in a display (non-clickable) format, and will need to be typed in manually by attendees.
Interviews so the candidate can see your name for the meeting link, not a random number. Keep in mind candidates may be scheduled for 3-5 interviews all at once and we don't want to create confusion.

Here are some good use cases for a unique link:

Meetings scheduled in rapid succession or back-to-back, to ensure only the invitees for each meeting arrive to the right session.
A meeting where privacy is a principal concern (this dovetails with the first bullet point)
A meeting where most attendees will be joining via a shared link or calendar invite, and will not need to type the link manually.

Use your best judgement on when to use each type of link. Not all situations will fit cleanly into any of the given scenarios, and your needs may vary.

Allow for browsers

Not everyone has a Zoom client, so you can allow for invitees to choose to use Zoom from the browser. Go to Settings > In Meeting (Advanced) and click next to "Show a 'Join from your browser' link" to make this option available in your meeting invites. The browser version of Zoom is not as full-featured as the regular client, but it doesn't force an invitee to download the Zoom client. This also mitigates the issue of potential weak communication encryption since the browser uses HTTPS instead of Zoom's proprietary encryption scheme.

During your Zoom Meeting

Zoom can be minimized during a meeting (cmd-m on macOS) to a small window staying on top of all applications. This tip is very handy when using a small screen: it allows to see the participant(s) and use other applications at the same time without worrying about the screen layout.

Recording in Zoom

In order to be able to record your Zoom meetings you must first enable recordings in your Zoom profile. You can access this page at https://zoom.us/profile/setting?tab=recording. You need to be signed in to have the ability to record.

To auto-record meetings set up cloud recording. You can also configure Zoom to save to the cloud automatically. Go to "My Meeting Settings" and find the "Recording" section, then click on "Cloud Recording". Setting the topic of the meeting is important, otherwise all meetings will be recorded with a generic name. Once recording is complete, your videos will not appear in the “Recordings” section of your Zoom account. Your recordings will automatically be saved to a folder on Google Drive under "GitLab Videos". This functionality is currently not working since we enabled passwords in Zoom. ITOps is working to fix this

Consider setting your default recording view to "Gallery view". To do this:

Login to zoom.us.
Click the Settings tab on the left side bar, then the Recording tab on the top horizontal options.
Make sure you have Record gallery view with shared screen selected
Unselect Record active speaker with shared screen and Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately. Remember to save.

You can also read through General information on recording on the zoom support here

How to identify the meeting host with the permission to record

You can use one of the below methods to find this information after joining the meeting.

Via participants sidebar.
1. Navigate to the participants icon on the bottom of the window.
2. You will be presented with the list of participants on the right panel of the window.
3. The host will be listed in parentheses at the end of their name. (A resize of the participants window may be needed).
Via meeting info pop-up.
1. Navigate to the upper left corner, where you will be presented with an i icon.
2. Select the icon to locate the meeting host who will have the ability to record the call.

How to allow recording when the host is not present

This usually happens on recurring meetings where the host can't always attend.

The meeting creator should add colleagues as "Alternative Hosts" in case they can't attend so that others can still start the recording.

Using the website:

Navigate to https://gitlab.zoom.us/meeting/<meeting id>/edit.
Scroll to the bottom to find "Alternative Hosts".
Add the email address for one or more colleagues separated by a comma.
Click Save.

Using the Zoom app:

Click "Meetings".
Find your meeting on the left-hand side of the app.
Click "Edit" on the right-hand side of the app.
Expand the "Advanced Options" drop-down on the bottom of the window.
Find the "Alternative Hosts" box at the bottom.
Add the email address for one or more colleagues separated by a semi-comma.
Click Save.

At some point, you may need to give a slide presentation using Zoom. Ideally, you should be able to see your speaker notes while participants see your slide show. This is fairly easy to do with two monitors by using presenter view and sharing the monitor which contains the slides. If you have only one monitor, it is still possible using the following steps:

Open your slide deck in Google Slides. Make sure to close any other tabs you may have open. Participants will be able to see these tabs when it comes time to present.
Select Presenter view. This will make your presentation take up the entire window for participants, but not your entire monitor. If you want to switch to this view from the standard Present view you can simply press the a key.
Hover near the bottom of your presentation and you will see a pop up menu. From this menu, select the Toggle Full Screen option, third button from the right, next to settings. This will end full screen mode without leaving the presenter view.
To see your speaker notes, hover at the bottom of your presentation window again and select Presenter View from the menu.
You will now have a presenter view pop-up window which allows you to see your speaker notes as well as advance the slides.
In another browser window enter the Zoom meeting room.
Once in the meeting, select Share Screen from the options at the bottom of the screen.
Do not share your desktop. From the options, select the browser window containing your Google Slides deck. This will allow you to share just the browser window containing your slides.
If you would also like to see the Zoom chat, hover your cursor at the top of the screen containing your Zoom meeting. A menu will appear, from this menu select More > Chat.
Position the windows any way you need to see the presentation and speaker notes.
Make sure to change slides using the presenter view pop up window. This will advance the presentation for your viewers as well as advancing your speaker notes.

If you would like to practice presenting, you can do so using your own private Zoom room.

Open the Zoom app and click Start with video.
Click Record.
Repeat the steps above.
Stop and watch the recording. You'll see what the participants would see.

Using a phone to connect to audio

Especially when talking with customers, it's good to make a good impression! One way is to use a phone to dial in, which can increase reliability of your audio connection and reduce latency. In general, a landline has the lowest latency, a mobile phone is next, and internet audio is variable. Here are some tips for quick and effective telephone connections to Zoom meetings.

Some meeting rooms have the "Call me" option; others don't. To make it easier to dial in, keep Zoom as a contact so you can dial it quickly.
If you dial in, Zoom will ask for the Meeting ID. If the meeting hasn't started yet, the Meeting ID won't appear in the Zoom client. But it's in the URL, and you can still connect to the audio with the phone. Then when the meeting starts, your audio and video will both connect instantly.
If the meeting URL has a name rather than an ID, just click the URL and get the ID from the browser URL bar (might not work in Safari?); the name is just a redirect, and with the Meeting ID you can connect on the phone quickly.
The phone will also ask for your Participant ID. If you don't give it when you first connect, your audio and video might appear in separate boxes in the Zoom window, as if you're in the meeting twice. That's confusing to others, as your video won't be highlighted when you talk. To merge the two connections, on your phone, press the #, followed by your Participant ID, followed by # again. Zoom will merge the two connections without annoying others on the call.
Even if you're using the phone for audio, use the mute button in the Zoom client for muting. That tells others on the call that you're muted.

Considerations when presenting on Zoom

Maintaining audience engagement

Check in with your Audience: There are multiple stages throughout your Zoom presentation or video conference which are prime points to engage the audience with a simple check-in.

At the beginning of the presentation: You could check in with your audience as soon as you have explained the upcoming meeting/presentation agenda, this will help to make sure that everyone understands the journey you’re about to take them on.
After delivering the initial value prop: You should most certainly check in after delivering GitLab’s value proposition or key message. It’s generally best to use people’s names e.g. John, Ryan, please let me know if there is anything you would like me to clarify in more detail? By using names in this way will force a response, show that you are engaged with them directly and keep the audience tuned in.

Involve the remote audience when presenting

There are a number of simple methods presenters can use to involve the participants throughout your presentation.

Direct Reference: ‘As most of you will be aware…’ or ‘Some of you might be wondering…’ and good phrases to grab your participants' attention and make them feel involved as well as reinforce your own position as a subject matter expert.
Rhetorical Questions: Rhetorical questions generally encourage the participant to formulate answers to your question for discussion at a later point in the presentation. This method can be good to highlight a point that you want the participant to recall later during the presentation.
Acknowledge Challenges: Acknowledging the impact of your message upon the audience to help enforce you as a trusted GitLab representative of their interests.

Keeping a Remote Audience on Track

Always have an agenda: Having a clear agenda will help set expectations. With longer presentations, you may wish to summarize where you’ve been and where you are up to within your agenda.
Put emphasis on your key message: Because of the constant barrage of emails, texts, calls, and social media updates, participants joining via Zoom (or any video conferencing tool) can easily get distracted and quickly tune out. Bring their attention back to you and your presentation by making sure you really emphasize your key message. You will sound much more focused, and thereby, help remote attendees relate points and examples back to the core of your presentation or meeting.
Refer Directly to Your Slides: Refer directly to your presentation or meeting slides, particularly those that are more complex and which you should spend more time explaining (e.g. with graphs graphics or flow diagrams). It’s important to verbally indicated to the audience where you are on the slide by using the mouse cursor or virtual laser dot.

Remember to Breathe

Harness the power of pausing to help people keep up and absorb what you’re sharing is even more important in a removed presenting environment. That’s because, without an audience in front of us, we tend to speed up and truncate our pauses even more. So be extra mindful of this and of your audience. At the end of the day, listeners lost means a missed opportunity to get your message across.

Make the participant experience an enjoyable one

Video calling via Zoom and other technologies is incredibly useful and convenient but can make presentations dull and boring for both the audience and the presenter. For this reason, it’s even more important to find ways to build rapport and to have fun and inject some humor into the meeting (if possible). It’s important that you give yourself, and the audience, the permission to have some banter and moments of ‘lightness’ during the presentation. Don’t take the entire experience too seriously or you’ll bleed the presentation dry of any interactivity.

Therefore it is good to allow your natural personality to shine through. This will refresh the presentation with an air of genuine spirit, much needed when your audience is remote and cannot interact with you in person. Remember, if you sound like you’re enjoying hosting the meeting, the audience is more likely to enjoy listening to it.

Additional Zoom tips

Zoom on Linux using FOSS (Firejail)

While Zoom works on Linux, the application is not free software. As a result, some might be wary of running this directly on their computer. One way of running Zoom without worrying about what it does is to use firejail.

To use Zoom with Firejail, first install Zoom or download the archive. Zoom offers standalone binaries that you can download should your distribution not have a package for Zoom. Once installed, install firejail.

Once both firejail and Zoom are installed we need two things:

A firejail profile for Zoom
A directory we can use as the home directory for Zoom, preventing it from messing with your home directory

You can use the following firejail profile and store it in ~/.config/firejail/zoom.profile:

noblacklist ~/.config/zoomus.conf

include /etc/firejail/zoom.local
include /etc/firejail/disable-common.inc
include /etc/firejail/disable-programs.inc
include /etc/firejail/disable-devel.inc

whitelist ~/.zoom

caps.drop all
netfilter
nonewprivs
noroot
protocol unix,inet,inet6,netlink
seccomp

private-tmp

Next we need a home directory for Zoom. For this example we'll use /opt/zoom/home:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/zoom/home
sudo chown -R $USER /opt/zoom

firejail --quiet --profile=~/.config/firejail/zoom.profile --private=/opt/zoom/home /path/to/zoom/ZoomLauncher

Note that you must start the ZoomLauncher binary and not the shell script wrapper called zoom.

Virtual background

Using a green screen, you can create virtual backgrounds so that you don't have to worry about what's behind you while on a video call and you can use a nice background

In your Zoom In Meeting (Advanced) settings, enable Virtual background
In your Zoom application on your computer, open settings and click on the Virtual Background setting
Select a background you want to use, or click the [+] to add a picture from your computer.
A video on how to set up a Virtual Background with Zoom is available here

External webcams and DSLRs

It is possible to achieve high quality video output with a professional bokeh effect by using a DSLR or external webcam. External webcams are generally a good alternative to your built in Macbook webcam as they allow for more control such as advanced color and light correction including white balance and contrast adjustments. External webcams also allow you to crop your live image concentrating on a certain part of your video i.e. your face.

An up to date list of Mac compatible external webcams can be found here.
Setting up a DSLR to work as a webcam with your Mac can be quite complicated and will generally require additional hardware such as adapters. A simple video tutorial of how to set up your DSLR as a webcam with your Mac can be found here.

Video calling with Zoom and Chrome often has the annoying popup before every call where you have to click the popup "Open Zoom Meetings". There used to be a checkbox in Chrome that you could select in order to tell Chrome to Always open thse types of links in the assocated app - Zoom. The checkbox option was removed in Chrome in September 2019 according to this Chrome support thread, this meant that every time you started a Zoom meeting from Chrome, you would have to click the popup and 'Open Zoom Meetings' a second time for the meeting to actually start the meeting.

In the above Chrome support thread, the following macOS solution is listed:

For macOS:

Open Terminal and enter:

defaults write com.google.Chrome ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox -bool true

Quit and restart Chrome to see the checkbox

Once you do this, when you start your next Zoom meeting, just check the box to always trust Zoom and you'll never see it again.

Google Calendar Add-on for Zoom

To make it easy to set up Zoom sessions for your calendar events, enable the Google Calendar add-on for Zoom. This adds a dropdown option right inside of Google Calendar to add Zoom to the event. When users view the event, they will see specially formatted Zoom details that includes the link to the meeting, and a clickable phone number if they are dialing in. The add-on will also follow your preferences in your Zoom account for using your personal link or a unique link.

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