How to Use Zoom to Securely Host a Virtual Board Meeting

By Kelly Steckelberg, Zoom Chief Financial Officer

A webinar attendee recently inquired on Zoom’s “Ask Eric Anything” session whether Zoom is safe to use for an organization’s virtual board meetings. The answer is yes! Zoom has various mechanisms in place to securely host your online events, including board meetings for public companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and other entities . The Zoom platform helps enable an interactive and secure meeting experience and supports industry and organizational compliance mandates being met . In fact, Zoom has successfully hosted its own board meetings with Zoom for years, so here are some best practices for anyone considering Zoom for their next board meeting . Here are some guidelines on how to meet securely, maintain compliance, and execute a productive, interactive board meeting over Zoom.

Best practices for securely hosting a Zoom board meeting

Require a password It’s always a good idea to secure any meeting with a password so that only invited guests with the password can join your virtual board meeting. Passwords can be set for individual meetings or can be enabled at the user, group, or account level for all meetings. Zoom recently updated the password settings and requirements . Require authentication When you allow only authenticated users to join, they must have a Zoom account and be signed in to join a meeting . Authentication helps to ensure only authorized attendees are able to join your Zoom board meeting . Require registration With Zoom, you can require guests to register in advance with their name, email, and additional information . This provides a layer

of security for your viewing and the video of ▶ Annotation allows board meeting without the person who is sharing participants to make mandating participants to their screen . notes or comments on have a Zoom account. Get step-by-step instructions for enabling meeting registration on our support site . Audio watermarks embed a user’s info as an inaudible mark in any offline recording of a meeting . If the audio ▶ a shared screen In-meeting chat allows participants to share additional links and files Enable Waiting Rooms The Waiting Room is a great way to protect any meeting because it’s a virtual holding area file is shared without permission, Zoom can help identify which participant recorded the meeting . ▶ Polling is great for asking group questions and capturing live feedback that prevents people from joining until they are admitted. Meeting hosts and co-hosts can admit everyone from the waiting room all at once or individually. For board members who Lock the meeting After everyone invited has joined and the meeting has started, don’t forget to lock the meeting to prevent anyone else from joining. You can find this within the Security icon in ▶ ▶ Raise Hand helps maintain order and ensure everyone gets a chance to speak Reactions allow quick nonverbal feedback right on the screen wish to dial in by phone, your meeting controls . And while some obtain the phone number they’ll be using ahead of In-meeting tips and tricks organizations have policies against recording time . Hosts and co-hosts can only view dial-in users by their phone numbers, and this way, you can let in from the Waiting Room only the dial-in users you were expecting . Add watermarks Hosts can enable two types of Zoom watermarks, to help protect the privacy of confidential information shared during your board meeting: Image watermarks on a shared screen superimpose an image, consisting of a portion of a meeting participant’s own email address, onto the Once you’ve confirmed the attendees, provided the meeting agenda, and designated someone to record board meeting minutes, it’s time to fully leverage your virtual board meeting software . Zoom provides great in-meeting features to make a board meeting more interactive and productive. Here are some capabilities that will help you make the most of the time with your board: ▶ Screen sharing ensures everyone can view content in real time and helps those taking minutes their board meetings, Zoom does have local and cloud recording capabilities if they’re needed . You also have additional participant management controls within the Security icon, just in case you need them . Learn More Looking for more features? shared content they are