Zoom Ideas + Solutions magazine
April 2021
Table of Contents
When You Don’t Want to Be a Cat: How to Use (and Remove) Meeting Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
How to Remove Your Cat Filter (A Quick Guide) . . . . . . . . . . 8 Zoom Rooms Updates for the Hybrid Workforce and Office Re-Entry. . . . . 10 Team Zoom’s Top 5 Zoom Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4 Ways to Team Build with Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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4 Tips to Secure the Hybrid Workforce in 2021. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 How to Conserve Cash While Raising the Bar with Technology. . . . . . . . 30 Fun with Filters in Zoom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 NDI®: The New Standard for Video Transport. . . . . . 38 How Zoom Phone Helps Schools Overcome 3 Big Telephony Challenges. . . 42
About this Magazine
Within these pages, you’ll find easy-toread, short articles to help introduce Zoom and its many features and benefits to our customers and their partners across the globe. Team Zoom can assist in answering product questions, design suggestions, or information on how to deliver the best Zoom Rooms experience overall. Contact TeamZoom@Starin.biz for any of your Zoom/UC needs.
Don’t lose your cool | 4
When You Don’t Want to Be a Cat: How to Use (and Remove) Meeting Filters by Jen Hill, Zoom Product Marketing Manager
An adorable cat filter is purr-fectly appropriate for a Zoom session with family and friends, but what happens when you join your next meeting as a furry feline and want to quickly regain your human form? We’re here to answer all your questions about using filters, whether you want to know how to become a cat in your next Zoom meeting, and perhaps more importantly, how to remove your filter when the situation calls for it.
How to use native Zoom filters Zoom has a bunch of free
filters to make meetings fun. You can wear a pizza hat or a crown of flowers, a pirate eye patch or bunny ears — and it’s easy to select and switch filters depending on your mood (and audience). In a meeting, simply click the up arrow next to the Stop Video icon and select Choose Video Filter. Click on different filters to try them on for size! You can also turn on video filters when you’re not in a meeting.
Maybe you’re arguing a case in virtual court or giving an important presentation, and you’d rather not do so as a cat.
fun with filters. Here’s how to get started (note that these instructions may Third-party integrations differ slightly depending like Snap Camera give you on the application you’re even more options to have using):
How to use thirdparty filters
1. Follow instructions to download and install the third-party software, and make sure you have the latest version of the Zoom desktop client, too. (Please note that by installing third-party software, you may have to agree to third-party terms.)
2. On the Zoom desktop client, click your profile picture at the top right corner of the screen and select Settings to open the Settings window. 3. Click Video in the left panel. 4. Under Camera, click the drop down menu and select the thirdparty app as your camera.
How to remove filters Maybe you’re arguing a case in virtual court or giving an important presentation, and you’d rather not do so as a cat. There are few different
If you can’t risk a meeting catastrophe, check your settings beforehand to make sure your video is filter-free | 6
ways to remove your filter: Removing third-party filters in a meeting 1. In a Zoom meeting, click the up arrow next to the Stop Video icon.
settings beforehand to make sure your video is filter-free. 1. On the Zoom desktop client, click your profile picture at the top right corner of the screen and select Settings to open the Settings window.
2. Select a different camera setting, or try selecting each camera listed until you return to normal. Check out 2. Click Background & the support article on Filters in the left panel. page 8 for more details. 3. Check your video Removing Zoom filters in preview to see if a meeting you have any filters 1. In a Zoom meeting, selected. This is click the up arrow next also a perfect time to your Stop Video to make sure your icon and select Choose virtual background is Video Filter to open the appropriate, too! Settings window. 4. If you have a video filter 2. Select the box labeled you want to turn off, None in the top left click the Video Filters corner of the filter tab below your video selections. You may preview window. need to scroll up until 5. Select the box labeled you see this option. None in the top left Removing your filter corner of the filter before a meeting selections. You may If you can’t risk a meeting need to scroll up until cat-astrophe, check your you see this option.
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How to Remove Your Cat Filter A Quick Guide by Zoom
We appreciate that video filters can make meetings fun. But when meetings turn serious, cat filters can turn them into a catastrophe.
cuddly filter from Zoom or a third party, such as SnapCamera or Live! Avatar Cam. But don’t lose your cool, we’re here to help!
It is very likely that your child, best friend, or significant other was the last person to use your laptop and they turned on a cute and
Removing your cat filter While in a Zoom meeting with your video on, click the Up Arrow next to the Stop Video icon.
Select a different camera setting, or try selecting each camera listed until you return to normal. For example, for mac-OS users, click FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in). The cat filter will now be removed and you can go back to your purrfessional meeting.
Cat filters can turn your meeting into a cat-astrophe
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The HuddleCamHD SimplTrack 2 has been designed to automate camera control and reliably track subjects at distances up to 50 feet away from the camera.
Zoom Rooms Updates for the Hybrid Workforce and Office Re-Entry by Cynthia Lee, Zoom Senior Product Manager
Many organizations will likely take a gradual, phased approach to bringing employees back to the office full time. When this happens, IT leaders and line-ofbusiness managers will then face the challenge of supporting in-office and remote workers simultaneously.
Here are the latest features that can empower your happy, enabled, and connected teams to do great work, no matter where they are.
Zoom Rooms for Touch device.
Safety first
join meetings in a Zoom Room, and your mobile client will automatically be placed in companion mode during the meeting. When you download the Zoom Rooms Controller app on your mobile, you’ll
Pair a Zoom Room with your mobile device Easily pair your iOS or Android mobile client to
Businesses can use technology to empower workers wherever they are, streamline collaboration between in-office and remote workers, and make the transition back into the office as seamless as possible. With video-enabled workspaces powered by Zoom, your teams can continue to work safely and effectively from anywhere. Our Zoom Rooms, Zoom Rooms Appliances, and Zoom for Home solutions are jam-packed with features designed to support hybrid workforces and help businesses re-enter the office safely. | 10
Virtual receptionist With Zoom Rooms Kiosk Mode, which is now generally available, a virtual receptionist can greet you or your building guests safely using a
Safety first
Enhanced sharing Share a whiteboard to Zoom Chat Users can now send a Zoom Rooms for Touch whiteboard to Zoom Chat or email. If it’s a personal Zoom Room, you can also send it to your chat groups. This helps streamline content sharing outside the meeting room, improving cohesiveness in the new hybrid workforce. have access to all room controls, including the ability to start or join a meeting and full audio, video, and participant controls, eliminating the need for users to share the in-room controller.
Easily pair your mobile client to join meetings, and it will automatically be placed in companion mode View real-time people count data With supported cameras, you can see how many people are in a room real time on the | 12
Zoom Dashboard and Scheduling Display to ensure social distancing mandates are met and meeting spaces aren’t overcrowded. Monitor a room’s environment and air quality Neat, a manufacturer of Zoom Rooms Appliances, has released Neat Sense, which enables you to continuously manage and monitor air quality, humidity, CO2 and Volatile Organic Compounds (organic chemicals, odors, scents, etc.), as well as the number of people in the room. All the data and statistics for these will be fully available in the Zoom dashboard on Feb. 11. This environmental data can also be viewed on all Neat devices for real-time feedback on the safety of your meeting rooms.
Use Gallery View when content is shared Zoom Rooms have the option to select Gallery View when content is being shared, which allows Zoom for Home users to share content from their laptop while using Gallery View on their Zoom for Home appliance. This gives the work-from-home crowd the same capabilities and flexibility to share content as in-office workers. Control a shared desktop from Zoom Rooms for Touch Zoom Rooms for Touch Users can control, right from their device, the desktop of the person currently sharing their laptop screen, streamlining collaboration. Support direct share via ultrasound on Zoom for Home Users can direct-share
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Zoom Rooms for Touch Users can control, right from their device via ultrasonic sound proximity detection on Zoom Rooms Appliances and Zoom for Home devices, so you can connect your desktop client and share content.
Expanded functionality Join and host OnZoom sessions Zoom for Home devices can now join and host OnZoom sessions scheduled on the user’s calendar, giving those who work from home a safe way to enjoy and host virtual activities. The event must also be scheduled on your device’s calendar. New in-meeting toolbar The in-meeting toolbar and controls on Zoom Rooms for Touch devices have been redesigned for ease of use to ensure a frictionless meeting experience for every user. Receive reactions Zoom Rooms Appliances and Zoom for Home Devices, in addition to Mac and Windows devices, can now receive | 14
and display meeting reactions right on the screen.
Admins can require those using Zoom Rooms Appliances and Zoom for Home devices to set up Real-time transcription a screen PIN to lock the Windows, Mac, and device to ensure a secure Zoom Rooms Appliance meeting environment devices can view real-time wherever people are transcriptions to ensure meeting from. participants don’t miss a thing, no matter where Upcoming they are working. enhancements
Device management Additional voice-activated Disable users from setting up self-managed devices, smart displays IT managers now have more controls to allow or restrict users from signing into Zoom on selfmanaged Zoom for Home devices like the DTEN ME, Portal by Facebook, and Amazon Echo Show, allowing your IT team to easily and safely manage work-from-home devices. Extend any laptop meeting to a Zoom Room If you don’t want to use a Zoom Room for a meeting but you still want to leverage the Zoom Room’s A/V technology, you can use the Logitech Swytch to take over the Zoom Room A/V on a third-party meeting running from your laptop. Available now on PCbased room systems, support for additional devices will be coming soon. Require PIN for Zoom for Home devices
functionality currently in beta: Enhanced Voice Commands Voice commands for Zoom Rooms will be supported on additional platforms with an expanded command set to provide a safe and effective hands-free experience.
Zoom Rooms Appliances with Alexa for Business Enable voice-activated controls for Zoom Rooms Appliances with Alexa for Business. For example, “Alexa, join my meeting” will join the Zoom meeting. You can enable Alexa for Business directly in your Zoom Admin Portal and control advanced settings through the AWS console to give users an intuitive meeting experience without the need to touch the Zoom Room Controller.
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Team Zoom’s Top 6 Zoom Apps By Starin Team Zoom
Meetings have continued during the pandemic with the use of Zoom, and now using Zoom Apps, you can improve productivity and create a more engaging experience within the Zoom platform. You can leverage these Zoom apps before, during, and after a meeting and enable the free flow of information. There are 37 Zoom Apps currently listed on Zoom App page. Some Zoom Apps are focused on collaborative productivity like Asana, Dropbox, Confluence, HubSpot,
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There are 37 Zoom Apps currently listed on Zoom App webpage Salesforce, Slack, and SurveyMonkey. Many users of those standalone applications should be familiar with and appreciate having access to those functions directly within the Zoom
application. If you know and use the stand-alone application, you probably could benefit from its Zoom App counterpart. Some of the Zoom Apps are designed to enhance virtual learning like Coursera and Kahoot. And finally, some are just for fun (by my way of thinking) like Unsplash and Cameo or for a particular company’s collaborative usage like Exer Studio and Weight Watchers. You can see in the picture below that installed Zoom
These helpful applications will keep us all more productive
Apps are accessed by clicking on the Zapp icon on the right side of a Zoom Meeting menu bar. Some of the Zoom Apps mentioned here have not yet been released but all Zoom App links are available on the Zoom Apps page mentioned earlier, but we’ve also listed them here, underlined, for your convenience! Each person’s needs and Zoom usage is unique. Here are the top 5 picks from Team Zoom to increase productivity.
Team Zoom Collaborative Content / File Storage Pick – Box
Team Zoom Captions and Transcripts Pick – Rev
Rev claims its “speechto-test AI is the most Box organizes content accurate and fastest of as it relates to meeting its kind.” In addition to topic which is particularly real time captions and useful for those standing editable transcripts, Rev weekly of daily meetings provides translation for that are intended to 15+ languages. Having consistently move the ball worked with a global forward incrementally. workforce for the last Start the meeting and 15 years including the content used in prior conducting meetings and meetings is immediately training sessions through available in the Box Zoom translators, this Zoom App App within that Zoom would have made those Meeting. This includes years more productive. content edited and added Team Zoom between meetings by individual team members. Collaborative Whiteboard Pick – No more searching for Miro that shared file while the rest of the team waits impatiently for you to find Zoom has whiteboarding functions but Miro’s it. collaborative whiteboard platform expands the | 18
capabilities including infinite canvas, digital sticky notes and templates. It also expands on typical whiteboard usage of diagramming and drawing tools (which it has) by adding timer and voting apps into its environment. Using the Miro Zoom App allows users with a free Miro account to continue to brainstorm and collaborate on projects outside of the Zoom Meeting.
Team Zoom Collaborative Scheduling / Calendar Pick – Woven Coordinating workday meetings can be “involved” when using multiple calendars for work and personal use. Woven provides tools
to coordinate all of your calendars. At the end of a Zoom Meeting, Woven seamlessly prompts you to schedule follow-up meetings and provides a “Join now” button to get you to your next meeting for those back-to-back Zoom sessions.
Team Zoom Education / Distance Learning Pick – Kahoot Because so many people are participating more than ever in the homeschooling process, we like the Kahoot Zapp! Let’s make learning and meeting fun with games! Kahoot can easily
be utilized in training programs in a business environment to transform any meeting to make virtual learning awesome.
Team Zoom Virtual Background Pick – LoomieLive
expressions and gestures. You can maintain your privacy (and hide all of your personal and household mess) with this animation tool.
We hope this brief glimpse at a few Zoom Apps motivates you visit And finally, for those of the webpage above and you WFH folks who want check a few of them to take the idea of a virtual out for yourself. One of background one step the primary tenets of further, with LoomieLive. the Zoom platform is Loom.ai claims this ease of use. Building Zoom App helps people integration of these to meet their desire for popular and helpful privacy and creative selfstandalone applications expression in their Zoom into the Zoom application Meetings. LoomieLive lets workflow keeps us all you present yourself as a moving to be more 3D avatar the follows your productive. Happy mouth movement, facial Zooming!
4 Ways to Team Build with Zoom By Melissa Emmons, Starin Creative Designer
When was the last time a fun event was shared with your friends or colleagues? With social gatherings being impossible recently, Zoom has filled that gap with its innovative technology. Groups can now connect easily from wherever they are. The frontier of hybrid gatherings is being crafted as we speak, let’s find out what kinds of fun can be had through Zoom outside of meetings. The possibilities are almost endless!
Zoom anniversary parties Improve everyone’s mood with recognition of a special day...and cake. Good for birthdays and other milestones too, recognize an employee’s day with a jubilant party!
anywhere can enjoy an hour of problem-solving, laugh-inducing gameplay! Here’s how it works. A game master walks the team through a physical room while reading and posting clues. Everyone can see both the room and each other. Users are able to look for clues, and players can interact as though they are faceto-face. The game master responds to the group’s physical cues and offers hints so they don’t run out of time. In order to win, all the clues must be found to “escape” before the hour is up.
Book a Zoom escape room online or get parties is a snap, too. Send creative by leading a the guests a fun, lively game for 4-10 people on background to enable your own. This format during the party. Everyone applies to murder mystery can try the various hats events too! and masks from Le Zoom Send everyone at home Costume Shoppe (aka, Zoom Tastings a cupcake from a bakery the background filters service, a far cry from Indulge friends and mentioned on page 34). the giant sheet cakes colleagues by offering a of recent past. No more Zoom Escape smorgasbord of virtual embarrassing misspellings Rooms tastings. Perishable foods or miles of leftover cake. and beverages work best By combining Zoom Cupcakes are here to stay! – like chocolate, wine, and with an escape room more! Decorating for Zoom experience, any group | 20
Decorating for Zoom parties is a snap
Invite an expert to lead the demonstration. Be sure to include recipes for the group, and don’t forget to include any hardware or extras needed to follow from home. Some events can ask for a short grocery list, if there are fresh items needed to prepare your tastings. These parties are very popular, a simple search will open a door to a tasty wonderland! Or do it DIY-style, or even mix-nmatch tastings. No limits.
Zoom Pictionary Pictionary is an oldie, but goodie! Everyone
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Indulge friends and colleagues by offering a smorgasbord of virtual tastings needs scrap paper and marker to play. Two teams compete for points by drawing clues for their teammates to guess correctly. 60 seconds on the clock for complex answers (2-3 words) or 30 seconds for 1 word.
incredible how fun this game still is, regardless of whether it’s in person or virtually. Simple rules and household items needed only! Get your hands on a Pictionary generator here.
With Zoom, engaging with remote workers is This fast-paced game easy. There are so many might be from the Before ways to utilize Zoom for Times, but this clever twist fun while team-building, is a riot over Zoom. It’s these are just a few.
Furniture Solutions to Suit Every Zoom Room
2021 is the year of the hybrid model | 24
4 Tips to Secure the Hybrid Workforce in 2021 by Jason Lee, Zoom Chief Information Security Officer
While last year was characterized by a collective, sudden shift to a remote workforce, 2021 is poised to become the year of the hybrid model. As some employees return to work safely, others may remain home, or a mix of both.
workforce operates in unique environments, employees need to carefully handle customer data to ensure user privacy is always a priority. This makes an effective endpoint data protection strategy crucial.
While this hybrid workforce creates flexibility and scalability, it presents a complex IT challenge that will require a more thoughtful approach to security — a strategy designed to secure employees no matter where they are or what they do.
Through multi-factor authentication, IT can use personal smartphones and other devices to verify a user
To secure this modern workforce, IT teams should follow these four steps: 1. Evolve data protection processes A distributed workforce results in disparate data. With employees sharing information around the globe, using both personal and corporate devices, it can be a challenge for IT to monitor all this activity. This is only compounded by the pressing issue of privacy. As this distributed
To secure all endpoints, IT should start by deploying comprehensive mobile device management (MDM). With MDM, they can manage and secure employees’ mobile devices — laptops, smartphones, and tablets — regardless of the mobile service provider or operating system in use.
Since these devices will live on both corporate and personal networks, IT teams need to reevaluate the way they approach networking security as well. To protect in-office employees, IT teams should deploy agile networking solutions that offer realtime monitoring and anomaly detection. When it comes to personal networks, IT should train employees on how to secure their home networks, encouraging them to follow simple best practices, such as changing default passwords and keeping firmware up-to-date. IT must also ensure a VPN option is readily available for all employees, but especially for those who jump back and forth between the office and home and are constantly on the go. 2. Strategically leverage personal devices For a hybrid workforce to be successful, companies must use current circumstances to their advantage. As Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
becomes the norm, IT teams can strategically leverage these personal devices to their advantage via multi-factor authentication.
they recognize all the devices on there.
Multi-factor authentication ladders into a zero-trust model, in which authentication and Through multi-factor validation are required authentication, IT can use before employees personal smartphones can access relevant and other devices to applications and the verify a user. It reduces correct data level. This the chance of data kind of approach is compromise while fundamental for securing making security part of an the hybrid workforce, employee’s daily routine. empowering employees To help keep devices to work from wherever secure from advanced while still safeguarding a threats, IT should also company’s assets. encourage employees to Zoom’s own IT team has routinely check which already implemented devices are registered this strategy. We offered under multi-factor employees a robust BYOD authentication, ensuring | 26
program last year that was designed to both enable collaboration via personal devices and safeguard company information via multifactor authentication. By leveraging BYOD to carry out a zero-trust approach, our IT team aims to strike the right balance between flexibility and security.
The hybrid workforce requires a hybrid approach to security
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3. Prioritize continuous training One of the most effective ways to increase an organization’s security is to arm its teams with upto-date training.
and security At Zoom, we’re enabling effective collaboration across the hybrid workforce with flexible and scalable solutions. Between Zoom Meetings, Zoom Video Webinars, a physical location. Training and continuous Zoom Phone, and Zoom learning help employees Rooms, we empower Zoom will continue to understand the role users to work from prioritize robust security end users play in the anywhere — the office, training for all our overall security posture home, or both — safely. employees, as it upskills of an organization. our talent and helps keep Our solutions are built This creates a culture with security top of our employees aware of of security, where all any advanced threats that mind, with each offering parties feel invested in including a set of features may impact them. the overall protection of designed to safeguard the an organization, even if 4. Adopt technology that Zoom experience. they’re disconnected from prioritizes both flexibility
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Solutions are built with security top of mind
Our robust 256-bit AESGCM encryption helps protect the crucial information shared across all our solutions. However, for Zoom Meetings specifically, we’ve created an end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature, which uses the same powerful 256bit AES-GCM encryption that supports standard Zoom Meetings, with the only difference being where the keys live. With E2EE, Zoom’s servers don’t generate and manage encryption keys. Instead, the meeting’s host creates the encryption key, distributing it to attendees’ devices. With decrypted information
never leaving that specific meeting, this feature helps increase privacy and security for our users. It makes sophisticated technology easily accessible to Zoom users everywhere — all they have to do is toggle the E2EE feature on before they start a meeting. The hybrid workforce requires a hybrid approach to security, one that leverages both technology and training to foster an agile strategy. By embracing the new needs of the hybrid workforce, organizations will create a realistic and scalable approach to security that will evolve as the business
Businesses can futureproof operations while empowering safe and effective collaboration does. Businesses can future-proof operations while empowering safe and effective collaboration.
How to Conserve Cash While Raising the Bar with Technology
Malissa Dillman, CTS-D, CTS-I, CQD, Starin Market Development Manager maintenance, and at the end of its life provides very little residual value.
As we all look to the future of bringing our company staff back together, there are some new challenges we all face. How do we restructure our meeting spaces to accommodate social distancing protocols? What once was a four-person meeting room may now only be a one-to-two-person room. What once was an eight-person meeting room is now going to be a four-person room. And what do we do about six to eight person rooms? Those are now going to utilize much larger spaces.
Today we offer HaaS for your conferencing needs! You can outfit your spaces with the latest technology, worry-free and on a low monthly payment schedule. Typically, HaaS terms are these new boundaries? In for three years. Should the technology significantly a lot of situations, a new change in that three-year hardware solution may period our provider will be needed to enhance be happy to adjust your your meeting spaces. We understand that given the agreement removing the economic uncertainty this outdated technology and may not be the time for a deploying the new. large cash expenditure. Starin is happy to assist with a new program that will keep your cash flow in consideration. Here’s what we can offer.
HaaS (Hardware as a Service)
Chances are that you haven’t “owned” a copier in over a decade. Most companies find that investing in copiers is a Does your conferencing costly expense that has room hardware work with the additional burden of | 30
You can outfit your spaces with the latest technology, worry-free and on a low monthly payment schedule
Chances are that you haven’t “owned” a copier in over a decade
Acts of God Coverage Our finance partner we work with to offer this service will provide you the latest technology on a simple monthly payment and should something go wrong, no worries, we will replace the faulty unit right away. One of the key benefits to working with us is our HaaS program which will assist, should your company facility face an | 32
Solution Replacement Guarantee
“Act of God” incident. This means in the case of your facility being impacted by a tornado, hurricane or even a fire, our provider will assist in paying a portion of your insurance deductible for the hardware in your agreement. At the end of the three years you will have options to update your hardware and begin a
new contract or simply have the outdated equipment retired. Easy. In addition to HaaS, Starin is proud to offer several solutions for financing, leasing, as a service and more to solve all of your technology needs while having minimal impact on your cash flow. Contact your Starin representative today for assistance.
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Fun with Filters in Zoom By Valerie Adams, Starin Customer Experience Associate
The last year of virtual There is a meetings, online classrooms, and virtual good chance gatherings have become essential for staying you are still connected. While it’s using that the next-best-thing to a physical gathering, virtual same old gatherings are convenient profile pic and comfortable (think meetings in your from three pajamas). The classroom, office space, church and years ago social gathering venue have been replaced by Zoom. There is a good your favorite room in the chance you are still using comfort of your home. that same old profile pic from three years ago; or Even with all its comforts, you have cycled through you still may experience the virtual background meeting fatigue and options and they just find yourself dreading don’t feel that special the next staff update on anymore.
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Just in time for spring — the time of year for getting a fresh new look — Zoom has released some fun filters and studio effects for you to use in Zoom meetings and gatherings. You can add and remove these features either before your meeting starts or during the meeting. Here’s how it works! Under your settings, choose Background & Filters. Choose Video Filters, where you will find three kinds of filter selections. The first row of filters alter the color temperature of your face
Just in time for spring
and background. The second row of filters add a fun frame around the window. The the rest of the filters are props — like masks and glasses — that add a fun flair to yourself. All of these can be used in combination with any of your virtual background images. There are seven color filter options from Boost to Gum to show you in a different light or aura. You can choose from a black and white effect, or sepia, if you want to be a bit nostalgic. There are also variations of light colors, such as blue, green, and pink. This is the perfect subtle way to enhance your look in a professional meeting or setting where using props and other effects may not be appropriate.
the tools, choose the television frame, the black and white color filter, then add a prop to be your favorite old time TV show personality. Another option is to use an outdoor landscape background photo and don your favorite cute, little critter face. You
Make
For those meetings or gatherings where you can sure to try be less formal — maybe the many even outright funny — make sure to try the many props and props and studio effects studio effects available. For instance, you might want to frame available yourself in a television set, dressing room lights or can affirm yourself by smiling emojis. Then add appearing on a stage, a prop like a hat, glasses, awarding yourself a firstanimal face or flowers. place ribbon, or placing For a great effect using a halo over your head. To a combination of add the finishing touches, | 36
there are also studio effects which include eyebrow and lip color enhancement along with various styles of facial hair. These new features are only available on Zoom’s latest version, from 5.2 or later, so make sure you have downloaded the most recent update. Then take some time to try on the different looks you can create using all these options. You will find a vast array of combinations that are sure to boost your meeting mood and possibly entertain you and your fellow meeting attendees. Who knows, maybe you will even be inspired to upgrade your wardrobe and come out from behind that profile pic.
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NDI®: The New Standard for Video Transport By Clay Stahlka, CTS-D, Starin Market Development Manager
NDI® is a term that is tossed around regularly in ProAV these days. What is NDI® and why is it so important to the movement of video signals? In the past few years, we’ve been using HDMI and SDI to move video signals around a facility. SDI can become costly because the cost of the bare cable is high, and it can be limiting for some applications because SDI does not support HDCP. When we use HDMI beyond fifty feet, we have to utilize an | 38
extender product. Lately, these extenders are primarily HDBaseT over CAT5/6 cable. HDBaseT was a nice interim step because unlike proprietary extender products that require the same brand and model
NDI is a term that is tossed around regularly in ProAV these days
transmitter and receiver, HDBaseT allows the use of anybody’s compliant HDBaseT endpoint. However, it still is a dedicated signal path that requires its own point-topoint cable run. Now that we’re in the age of AVoverIP, we can use existing network LAN infrastructure to transport our video and audio signals throughout a facility and across campuses. The key here is, “existing network LAN infrastructure.” This means not only the ethernet cable, but also off-the-
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shelf switches and routers. This means that you no longer have to budget for materials and labor to install long runs of copper or fiber. At most, you simply have the cost of running a network patch cable between your video device and the nearest network drop. When it comes to networking, configuration can be intimidating to the AV professional. Enter NDI®. NDI is simply a TCP layer code that supports auto device recognition and configuration via mDNS which is better known as zero-configuration networking. This makes setup pretty much plugand-play. Plus, no special ®
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NDI is simply a TCP layer code that supports auto device recognition and configuration ®
network management is required to make it work on any Gigabit network. Now, the use of AVoverIP clearly becomes the easiest and most costeffective choice for video distribution. NDI® is not just for video
cameras. NDI® encoders and decoders are available to move HDMI and SDI signals with audio over IP as well, so this allows you to integrate existing products into an NDI® network environment. This makes it practical for today, while being ready for the future of AVoverIP. Finally, NDI® has been embraced by many of the major manufacturers of video cameras so far. More NDI® partners are coming on-board every month. While none of us know what technologies the future holds, it certainly appears that NDI® is the standard that we have all been waiting for with AVoverIP.
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How Zoom Phone Helps Schools Overcome 3 Big Telephony Challenges By Lauren Reed, Zoom Content Marketer
Even as schools embrace digital methods of teaching, learning, and communicating, telephony remains an important part of campus communications. Teachers, administrators, and parents are more likely to pick up the phone than send an email when it comes to an urgent student issue or time-sensitive conversation.
The legacy phone system just wasn’t userfriendly But the legacy digital phone system posed a number of issues for Solano County Office of Education (SCOE), which provides services, support, and programs to districts throughout Solano County, California. Steven Ramos, director of information services | 42
and technology at SCOE, shares why switching to a modern cloud VoIP phone system like Zoom Phone solved their telephony challenges.
Challenge #1: An ‘antiquated, difficult to maintain’ phone system “Our old [on-premises] digital phone system was becoming obsolete,” Ramos said. “It was antiquated, costly, and difficult to maintain from a technical standpoint. We had to have a network engineer install new phones.” Not only that, the legacy phone system just wasn’t user-friendly. “People couldn’t figure out how to forward a phone call. People didn’t know how to check their voicemail unless they were in the office,” Ramos added. ‘It didn’t take a huge army of technicians’ After a trial with the technology department, Ramos’ team of three
deployed Zoom Phone to 250 users at SCOE’s headquarters and three school campuses. “It didn’t take a huge army of technicians,” Ramos said. “It went really smoothly. We don’t need an engineer to run our phone system now, which is great for schools.”
Challenge #2: ‘Mobility was a big issue’ When teachers moved to new classrooms and administrators moved offices, there was no easy way to reprogram phones so staff could keep their existing phone numbers. “The phone number didn’t follow the person,” Ramos said. “Mobility was a big issue. When a person moved to a different location, we had to change their phone number, reprint business cards and directories.” ‘One phone number does everything’ “With Zoom Phone, once an employee’s phone
One phone number does everything
number is issued, it’s their phone number,” Ramos said. Not only did this address logistical issues related to business cards and directories, it also allowed SCOE employees to easily reach each other while working remotely during the pandemic. “We don’t have to remember where people are or ask ‘What number should I use?’ There’s just one number to call,” Ramos said. “One phone number does everything. Any time, any place, any device.”
Challenge #3: No privacy for educators
Being able to convert a phone call into a meeting so I can do screen sharing is big. employees a solution to the issue of using a personal cellphone to conduct government business,” Ramos said. “It’s hugely important for schools and public entities. With Zoom Phone, your work number is your work number. It’s your office number, your SMS text number, and your mobile number.” More Zoom Phone features SCOE faculty and staff rely on
According to Ramos, these Zoom Phone Once SCOE switched features are particularly to remote instruction, valuable for helping educators no longer had faculty and staff access to their school communicate and do phones to contact parents their jobs remotely: and students. Call queues “That was a big issue in “We set up a support line schools [during COVID],” for parents that rings six Ramos said. “What phone people in a call queue to do they use? When make sure they reach a they’re not on campus, human being. We couldn’t they have to make calls have done that with our from a personal cell. This old phone system.” creates issues around accountability. You don’t Outbound caller ID always want students “You don’t need to and families to have their disclose your personal cell teacher’s private number.” to anyone.” ‘Your work number is your work number’ “[Zoom Phone] gives | 44
SMS messaging “When teachers use their personal cell for
SMS communication for work, that makes their entire collection of text messages potentially discoverable. We tell staff, all messaging to and from families and students should go through the Zoom channel.” Softphone “We can get by with having one-fourth as many desk phones. It makes more sense to have a phone conversation using the softphone on your computer.” Zoom directory “I don’t need to go looking for a directory. I pick up my phone and go to the Zoom directory, type in a name, and connect.” Call delegation “Before, we would need a network engineer to program our digital phone system. Call delegation is one of those under-the-hood features that works extraordinarily well.” Elevate to meeting “Being able to convert a phone call into a meeting so I can do screen sharing is big.”
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