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Zoom Webinars Guide

This guide contains ICERM's general guidelines and tips for formal ICERM virtual talks delivered via Zoom Webinar. We ask that all participants, speakers, and session chairs read and follow these guidelines to ensure the best experience for all participants.

Zoom has apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux available for download on the Zoom.us website (https://zoom.us/download/). iOS and Android apps are also available on the App Store/Google Play Store. Once you have the app installed on your device, you can join the virtual talk session by clicking the Zoom link in the email you received from ICERM staff.

For All Participants

  • Please join the Zoom sessions with your full name. (Reimbursements and payments for workshop participants/speakers are limited to funded individuals that participate/speak in this virtual event.)
  • Please keep your microphone muted. If you have a question, please use the “raise hand” feature or chat to notify the presenter. The presenter or co-host will un-mute your mic when they are ready for your question.
  • Zoom can be bandwidth and resource-intensive for your computer. For best performance, we recommend a wired connection, if possible, and running as few other concurrent applications as possible while participating.
  • We encourage users to add a profile photo to their Zoom account so that it will show up when you are speaking.
  • Zoom has a great user guide and knowledgebase available at https://support.zoom.us/.
  • Most Zoom sessions will be published after the end of the conference on our video archive.

For Speakers

  • Speakers will be made a panelist after joining the Zoom webinar. This will allow video and screen sharing.
  • We strongly recommend using headphones to reduce the chance of echo, feedback, or other audio issues.
  • You can use Zoom's Screen Sharing to share slides or other materials during your presentation. To start screen sharing, click the green “Share Screen” button in the bottom toolbar of the meeting room, then follow the prompts to get it started.
  • Zoom's guide on Screen Sharing is available here for more info. We encourage you to review this document before your presentation. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362153-How-Do-I-Share-My-Screen-
  • When sharing full-screen slides, make sure to select your entire desktop in Zoom’s screen sharing window. If you select just the slides window, Zoom will get confused when you go to full screen.
  • Some operating systems, including macOS Catalina, require specifically allowing Screen Sharing in System Preferences.
  • We need your permission in order to publish your talk on our video archive. Please contact ICERM’s program staff for any questions with speaker release forms.
  • If you’d like to do a trial run before your talk, please email support@icerm.brown.edu and we can schedule a test session.

For Session Chairs

  • Session chairs for the virtual talks will introduce the speaker at the beginning of their talk and assist with moderating questions from the audience.
  • Chairs will be made a panelist and co-host upon joining the Zoom webinar. This will allow you to control the microphones of the audience.
  • At the beginning of each session, please wait for ICERM IT staff to give the go-ahead before introducing the speaker to start their talk. This will ensure we have started recording and live-streaming.
  • Participants will use Zoom’s “raise hand” feature to signal when they have a question or would like to speak. When the speaker is ready for the question, the chair can enable the “Allow Talking” for the participant, allowing them to un-mute their microphone to ask their question. When the discussion has finished, please re-mute the participant’s microphone. These controls are available from the Participants tab in Zoom.
  • We encourage session chairs to review Zoom's user guide on managing participants in a webinar before your session. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004834466-Managing-Participants-in-Webinar
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