Best Practices for Zoom Meetings Justin Schmid

BEST PRACTICES FOR Zoom Meetings

By Justin Schmid

Many organizations

were forced to move online

due to the pandemic,

and for many,

Zoom became the

default online platform.

However, Zoom presents

some technical challenges

to meet the parliamentary

demands for proper

deliberative assemblies.

This article provides advice on best practices for running meetings on the Zoom platform in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, (12th ed.) (RONR). Note that Zoom constantly updates their software, so new features may have been added or changed since this article was written. Always make sure to update your Zoom application before a meeting.

Authorization in Bylaws

Before moving your meeting over to Zoom, check your bylaws or governing documents to see if they permit electronic meetings. RONR (12th ed.) 9:30. In some cases, legislation or emergency measures may permit electronic meetings.

Robert’s Rules of Order provides sample bylaw provisions and rules in the Appendix. The sample provided for Scenario A: Use of Full-Featured Internet Meeting Services would be appropriate for Zoom meetings.

Chairing Versus Hosting a Zoom Meeting

While it might seem to make sense that the chair, as presiding officer, will also be the host of the Zoom meeting, it is better that someone else take on those responsibilities.

Just as the chair of a meeting wouldn’t be responsible for signing in members and handling other administrative matters during the

meeting, someone else should take on the responsibility of hosting the Zoom meeting and handling the technical duties required during the meeting.

The chair should instead be made a co-host. Zoom allows any number of co-hosts. A co-host has all the same controls as the host, except that the host alone can start and end the meeting, open a waiting room, make another participant a co-host, and control breakout rooms.

The tasks handled by a host or co-host on a Zoom call would typically fall to a membership secretary or sergeant-at-arms, but the role might be filled by anyone who possesses necessary technical skills. Depending on the size of the meeting and confidentiality issues, this might be a member or an outsider, paid or volunteer.

General Tips Rehearsal:

Running a rehearsal of the meeting with only the chair, hosts, co-hosts, and other key participants involved in running or organizing the meeting provides a safe and private opportunity to practice using the various tools. Problems or challenges can be identified in advance of the actual meeting.

Practice Session:

Depending on the size, experience level of the participants, and complexity of the meeting, a practice session scheduled a day or two in advance of the actual meeting will allow participants to test out their equipment, troubleshoot any problems, and gain experience with the Zoom platform and its features and tools.

Proper Identifier:

Participants must all be identified by their proper name. If not, they can be renamed by the host or co-host in the meeting so that everyone knows the participant’s true identity. Participants who cannot be identified properly may be Removed by the host or a co-host, as they cannot be identified as members. RONR (12th ed.) 61:7.

Participant Panel:

When you click on Participants at the bottom of the main Zoom page in the meeting controls, it will bring up a panel that shows a list of the participants in the meeting, as well as the number of participants. This is the participant panel. The chair and anyone assisting the chair should keep this panel visible throughout the meeting. It displays critical information relevant to the meeting, such as Raised Hands.

Breaks:

Online meetings can be very tiring, both mentally and physically. Breaks should be scheduled at the end of every hour, or at most, every hour, and a half. A five or ten-minute break after every hour will go a long way toward helping participants focus on the meeting. When a break is taken, the chair should suggest that all participants turn off their video feed. They should not log off or sign out of the meeting. A host or co-host can also Mute All participants at a break.

Recordings:

The minutes should contain a record of what was done at a meeting, not what was said by the members, RONR (12th ed.) 48:2, therefore meetings should not be recorded.

Screen Sharing:

During the meeting, content can be shared with participants. This might be the agenda, current motion, a report, or other important document that participants should see. Generally, it is recommended that outside of small meetings, screen sharing be disabled except for hosts and co-hosts. Someone other than the chair should be responsible for screen sharing documents during the meeting.

Recognition, Speaker’s Lists, and Raise Hand

To seek recognition in a Zoom meeting, participants can use the Raise Hand tool. A small hand will appear next to their name in the participant panel and their name will move to the top of the list. If multiple participants use the Raise Hand tool, their names will appear in the order in which they pressed the Raise Hand tool in the participant screen, which makes it easy for the chair to call on speakers in order.

The Raise Hand tool can be found when you press the Reactions button on the bottom toolbar. Participants who phone in to a Zoom meeting can also access this tool by pressing *9 on their dial pad. Clicking the icon, or pressing *9 again lowers the hand, making it disappear from the participant panel screen.

Points of Order and Interrupting Motions

Interrupting motions such as points of order, requests for information, and parliamentary inquiries can be made in small and medium-sized meetings by participants simply unmuting themselves and making their interrupting motion. But, in large meetings, where participants cannot unmute themselves, one option is to enable chat with host only, or to provide a phone number that participants can text, allowing participants to send a message to the host or co-host.

Another option is to advise all participants and adopt in special rules, that if they wish to make an interrupting motion, they should use No Reaction in the participant window (or the Faster or Slower reaction if you are using yes/no for voting). Someone will then need to be monitoring the Participant Pane for this symbol and unmute that participant so they can make their interrupting motion.

Voting

There are three tools that can be used to conduct votes on the Zoom platform: Raise Hand, Yes/No, and Polls.

None of these tools are considered secure though. For secure voting, you will need to seek out an external online voting platform to be used in conjunction with your Zoom meeting.

Routine business and minor issues should be approached using the procedure of unanimous consent. RONR (12th ed.) 4:58. If anyone wants to object to a particular motion, they should be advised that they can use the Raise Hand tool.

If there are some participants present who are not eligible to vote, you can move them into a Breakout Room while votes take place, to prevent them from voting.

Raise Hand Tool

All participants can use the Raise Hand tool, much as they would physically raise their hand. The results are immediately visible to all participants in the participant panel. The chair can use the Lower All Hands tool after each vote. This tool is best used in small and medium-sized meetings, and is accessible even to participants who dial in.

Yes/No Buttons

The Reaction button on the bottom toolbar also has Yes/No buttons, which can be used to quickly conduct a vote. Like the Raise Hand tool, when a vote is required, the chair simply asks participants to click yes if they are in favor or no if they are opposed.

The host and co-host can see a summary count of the votes for both yes and no in the Participant Panel and can use the Clear All Feedback option to remove all votes. The downside to this tool is that it cannot be used by phone-in participants. So long as everyone can use it, this is one of the fastest tools for conducting votes.

Polls

Zoom’s polling feature allows a host to create a poll for participants that can be answered by either a single choice or with multiple choices. Polls can be conducted anonymously by checking the Anonymous box when creating it but are not considered secure.

You can launch a poll at any time during the meeting, and all participants in the meeting can vote in it, except the host and cohosts.

The results are displayed as both total number of votes cast for each selection and as a percentage. The results can be displayed to all participants and you can download a report of the vote results.

If you are going to use polls during your meeting, you should create in advance a generic, “Are you in favor of the motion?” poll that can be used throughout the meeting. Polls can then be reused as needed by relaunching them.

Aside from taking some effort to set up, polls have two problems: phone-in participants cannot access polls and hosts and co-hosts cannot vote in polls.

Debate and Public Chat

On Zoom calls, the public chat is often used by participants to make comments or make motions. This results in participants circumventing their having to wait to speak and can create confusion in the meeting. On

the positive side, it helps people feel a bit more connected.

In small and medium-sized meetings, so long as it is clear to all participants that they cannot use the public chat to make motions, conduct debate, or enact any official business, the practice generally can be managed. But in large meetings, it can become extremely unwieldy, and you may wish to turn off this function, or at least ensure it is closely moderated.

Security for Meetings

Zoom has improved the default security options for meetings, so you generally don’t need to worry about these settings. During a meeting, hosts and co-hosts can use the Security icon on the bottom toolbar to adjust security settings, such as what participants are able to do (i.e.: unmute themselves, screen share, etc.) and can remove unruly participants, if necessary. NP

TIPS FOR THE CHAIR IN ZOOM MEETINGS

• Get familiar with the participant pane and the key tools prior to the meeting. For example, turning on and off participants’ videos, muting and unmuting, and the Lower All Hands button. Keep the participant pane open throughout the meeting. • While participants should remain muted when not speaking, the chair should generally stay unmuted so that they can speak when necessary.

TIPS FOR PARTICIPANTS IN ZOOM MEETINGS

• Turn off notifications on your computer and remove distractions. • Check your sound and video prior to joining or join early to check them online. • In small meetings, keep your video on unless you are away from the computer or otherwise occupied. In large meetings, only turn on your video when speaking. • Keep yourself muted, and only unmute when you are recognized by the chair to speak or are making an interrupting motion. • Try to keep your comments brief. • Focus on what’s happening in the meeting while on camera.

Justin Schmid is the Legislative Coordinator for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in British Columbia, Canada. He has acted as an in-house advisor and educator on parliamentary procedure for CUPE for over twelve years. Since the pandemic, he regularly runs a range of digital meetings and facilitates trainings online.