Closing a Meeting

For information on how to start and control a meeting, see Best Practices: Hosting a Zoom Meeting. At any point, participants have the option to LEAVE MEETING.  A confirmation dialogue box appears and the person can drop off of the Zoom session. Things are different when the Host leaves a meeting:

When the HOST presses the END button at the bottom right of the Zoom menu bar, a different dialog box appears.

Here is the dialog box that then appears

IT IS CRITICAL THAT THE HOST SELECT ‘END MEETING FOR ALL”.  This will close down the Zoom session, allowing others to use that link to open another session.

Special Circumstances

In the process of closing a meeting, things do not always go according to plan. One of these things could happen:

• HOST selects “Leave meeting”   (instead of “End Meeting for All”)
• HOST closes their Zoom window  or 
• HOST’s internet connection drops

If this happens, one of the CO-HOSTS becomes the host.  If there are no CO-HOSTS, then one of the participants becomes the HOST.   Sometimes, that person is asleep, does not realize that they are HOST, or they are not trained, or are simply not paying attention.  If the waiting room is enabled and no one is there to admit new arrivals, the room behaves as if it is locked to the next meeting.

To resolve the issue, one of the four Zoom administrators needs to sign on and take action.  If this occurs, call one of our Zoom administrators.  Please be aware of their time zones – you can use WhatsApp to call them without phone charges.  Click here to see details.

Alan P. +44 7770 754466 (UK.  ET+5 hrs)

Claire H.+44 7783 831902 (UK  ET+5 hrs)

Renee +1 714 227 5799 (PT ET-3 hrs)

LJ +1 914 413 9772 (ET)

It is important to notice when the host disappears and ensure that the new HOST realizes their new role. Anytime you see the option to “End Meeting for All” unexpectedly, you should select this option or cancel and make someone else the HOST of the meeting before leaving.

These courtesies are important so that we all can enjoy Foot Steps meetings as scheduled.

In Addition

Each meeting SHOULD have 2 or more security trained co-hosts (or even more depending on the size of meeting). Whenever possible, make sure that the host and co-hosts are familiar with the security features that we are about to review. If you haven’t taken a recent security training workshop, please contact the security committee at security@oafootsteps.com