Virtual Meeting Tips and Tricks

Be Mindful of Your Environment

Review your surroundings:

• Remove items with personally identifiable information (PII) from sight

• Keep in mind your camera view may change, so be aware of all your surroundings

Know of All Laws That May Be Applicable

• Make sure that your public video meeting complies with any legal requirements • Be cognizant of any sort of notification and instructions you wish to share with participants

Security Is Key!

To reduce the risk of disruptive elements:

If possible ... • Require attendees to register for the meeting • Require them to authenticate before attending

• Password-protect your meeting

Double-check all your settings before hosting the meeting:

• Do not allow others to join a meeting before the host, in order to easily account for everyone participating • Lock your meeting, if you can, after it has started so that people cannot join midstream and disrupt

• Unless needed, make sure participant screensharing is disabled • Disable file-sharing to prohibit people from sharing inappropriate materials

• Have a moderator present who is responsible for maintaining order and removing disorderly attendees from the meeting

Privacy Concerns

• If you are going to record meetings, make sure you announce this fact to participants and remind everyone prior to the meeting start so they can opt out

Source: Maricopa County

Me, hosting a meeting from Mt. Everest, so that meeting attendees can’t see any sensitive information in the background — or my pile of laundry.

How to: On Zoom or similar platforms, hit the arrow within the “Start Video” button. Select “Choose Virtual Background,” and either pick a preselected image, or add your own!