Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.106 2020.11.01 Takahashi Minoru

Even with monthly 7-hour outages, you can still claim 99% uptime

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


This is a story from when I participated in a system meeting as an in-house IT engineer for a certain company.


The meeting was held online via Zoom.


We received an invitation email from the systems sales representative beforehand, so everyone accessed the provided URL
to join the meeting room.
However, this didn’t go quite as planned, and the meeting ended up being postponed.


──


"Online meetings are easy to set up," the sales rep says,
this is just a sales pitch; in reality, there are several hurdles to overcome.
Whether we have the IT literacy to overcome those hurdles,
salespeople say, “Online is easy,”
to gauge your level of IT literacy.


To avoid being underestimated by salespeople,
I recommend reviewing the following points and testing them internally beforehand.
I’ll describe the process using Zoom, but the steps are similar for other meeting software.


① You need to install the software on your computer
If you’re using Zoom, you’ll need to install the Zoom software in advance.
Since the software installs almost automatically once you access the invitation link (URL),
you can complete this step simply by inviting each other within your company.
If you try to do this on the spot without preparation, you’ll end up keeping the other person waiting.


② On a Mac, you need to grant permissions for the Zoom software
Macs are a bit tricky. This process is smooth on Windows.
After installing the Zoom software, go to the Mac Settings screen
you must configure the privacy settings (for the microphone and camera)
in the Mac System Preferences.
Unless you’re very familiar with Macs, you probably won’t be able to figure this out on the fly.


③ The baffling phrase “Join with Computer Audio”
"Computer audio" refers to
refers to the speakers and microphone built into your computer.
This means,
　　• Is it okay to play sound from my computer?
　　• Is it okay for me to record my voice on my computer and send it to the other person?
.
You need to navigate Zoom and grant the software permission for both of the above.
If you do not turn on "Join with Computer Audio,"
you won’t be able to hear the other person, and they won’t be able to hear you.


④ Responding to a request to "Share your screen"
"Screen sharing" refers to
a feature that displays the screen of your computer (such as an Excel file you have open)
displayed on the other person’s computer in real time.
The other person will be able to see your screen, but they cannot control it.
Only you can control your own screen.


⑤ Measures to Prevent Echoes
If two computers next to each other join the same meeting,
your voices will be picked up simultaneously, making it difficult for the other person to hear you clearly.
Mute yourself (turn off your microphone) when you are not speaking,
and you’ll need to remember to unmute only when you’re speaking.


⑥ Meeting Recording (Optional)
If the host allows it, you can record the meeting as a video and review it later.
If you want to record, ask the host to "allow recording,"
and start recording only after they say, "Recording is allowed."
After the meeting ends, a video file will be generated (this may take some time).
*The host must select "Allow Recording" in the participant list details


⑦ Your name as it appears to others (optional)
Your name will appear at the bottom of the camera feed on the other person’s screen.
You can edit this display name at any time.


⑧ Time limit (optional)
In the free version of Zoom, meetings with three or more participants are automatically ended after a certain duration.
If this applies, the host must restart the meeting after it ends,
and participants must rejoin the reconvened meeting.


If you conduct internal training for items ① through ⑤ above, dividing participants into host and attendee groups until everyone is comfortable with the process,
you won’t panic during the actual event.
Please give it a try.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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