What is Zoom?
Don’t worry, Zoom is not social media like Facebook or WhatsApp. It is not something you have to sign up for or belong to. It is just virtual meeting technology I use for my online courses, webinars or other interactive live streamed sessions (like Zoom-at-Noon Drawing Boards, Portrait Conversations, PainterLabs and iPadArtJams) here on PaintboxTV. Though you may hear Zoom described as a video conferencing tool, you do not need to show your video or have or use a web cam when joining a Zoom meeting. You don’t even have to have a microphone (mic), or use your mic, to join a Zoom session. Zoom is a free app you download and install onto your computer, laptop or mobile device and that you then use to join these virtual meetings. You can even join a Zoom meeting totally via a web browser and not download the app, however the experience is more limited on a browser and I recommend always joining through the app. Other tools that do some similar things to Zoom (or have overlapping capabilities) are things you may have heard of or used like GoToMeeting, Webex, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Groups, Blackboard, Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, etc.
You will need the latest version of Zoom on your computer or device to join any Zoom meeting after May 30th, 2020. Please visit the Zoom download page to update your Zoom app or find “Check for Updates” under a zoom.us menu in top left corner of the app. If you’re downloading, then download the Zoom Client for Meetings for Mac or PC or Zoom Mobile Apps for iOS or Android devices.