VIDEO: Zoom Review: Features, Pros,Cons, and Alternatives

Zoom is a video conferencing Software System that you can use to make audio and video calls schedule meetings host webinars and more if you're in the market for a video conferencing system you'll want to consider Zoom but if you're just starting your search we can help use our product selection tool at technologyadvice.com to get a free list of video conferencing software recommendations click the link in the description below to get started zoom's popularity surged in the early days of the covid-19 pandemic as offices and schools Clos to slow the spread of the virus with many people working and learning from home Zoom proved to be a reliable effective and affordable alternative to many other options on the market like Cisco WebEx and blue jeans despite some early security concerns due to zoom bombing Zoom is now widely recognized as a market leader in the video conferencing space Zoom comes in three paid plans in addition to a free plan for up to 100 participants more services are available as paid add-ons the system does not offer a free trial but you can create a free plan for unlimited one-on-one meetings and group meetings up to 40 minutes long you can access Zoom through the desktop application for Windows Mac OS and Linux or through the mobile application for IOS and Android devices Zoom comes with a number of features for video conferencing the most well-known feature of Zoom is the ability to make audio and video calls once you've downloaded the software client you can start a new meeting join an existing meeting or schedule a meeting for a later time during meetings you can toggle your camera and microphone phone on and off send instant messages to the attendees or to a specific person using the chat feature record the meeting and share your screen zoom comes with a breakout rooms feature that lets you split up meeting participants into small groups meeting hosts have access to security features which let you lock a meeting to prevent others from joining enable a waiting room so attendees can only join the meeting after you admit them and perform other privacy related functions such as hiding profile pictures you can also use zoom to host webinars if you're hosting a webinar as a legion generation tool you can require attendees to register for the event to gain access you can designate co-hosts and panelists from the zoom portal and the practice session feature gives you the opportunity to check your audio and video settings before beginning the webinar attendees can participate in polls or ask questions using the Q&A feature webinar hosts can share their presentation slides by sharing their screen or by sharing the presentation as their background this feature lets you upload your presentation file as a virtual background with the host's video appearing superimposed over the slides if you want to save meetings for later you can record them using the record button for scheduled meetings the meeting host can choose to start recording the meeting when it starts but you can also start recording a meeting after it's already started attendees will see a dialogue window appear before joining a recorded meeting to let them know that they'll be recorded and to receive consent once the meeting is over Zoom will save the meeting locally with the option to save it to zoom Cloud as well if you run out of storage space you can purchase additional cloud storage Zoom is a top rated product but it still comes with its pros and cons reliability might be the biggest Pro of Zoom compared to some of its competitors Zoom offers a stable and high-quality video conferencing experience Beyond this the system is easy to use and improved security features can help drastically reduce the risk of Zoom bombing if used properly that being said you do have to download an application to use zoom some video conferencing Solutions like Google meet only require a web browser to join a meeting but Zoom currently does not support this ability the user interface design could benefit from an update and the chat feature is not very robust compared to systems like Microsoft teams it's a good idea to get multiple quotes before choosing a video conferencing solution if you're interested in Zoom you might also want to consider Cisco webx Microsoft teams Google meet and go to meeting still not sure if Zoom is right for you use our product selection tool at technologyadvice.com to get a free list of video conferencing software recommendations click the button on the left to get started

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