Zoom Best Practices for Publicly Accessible Events

Environment

Zoom

Issue

I am hosting an event using Zoom that is open to the public (posted on a public website, social media, etc) or a large audience. How can I prevent potential disruptors ("Zoombombers") from joining my event while still allowing it to be open to the public?

Resolution

The primary way that disruptors ("Zoombombers") operate is by finding publicly posted Zoom Meeting or Webinar links and/or joining information. It is very tricky to allow anyone from the public to join, or even allow a large audience, without also allowing these potential disruptors. As such, we recommend avoiding posting direct Zoom Meeting or Webinar join information publicly whenever possible, and instead using methods such as registration forms and other tools to review participants prior to giving them the information to join.

The below instructions are intended for the person who is the host of the Meeting or Webinar.

• Meeting vs Webinar: Whenever possible, make the event a Zoom Webinar instead of a Zoom Meeting.
  • It is strongly discouraged to post Zoom Meeting URLs publicly. If you feel you must do this, you must be prepared for disruption by learning about all of the ways to manage participants to prevent disruption and respond to disruption. Make sure to refer to the Quick Start Guide: Secure Meetings in Zoom.
  • Webinars give the host more control over attendees. For example, attendees cannot be seen (video) or heard (audio) or share their screens unless the host permits it. Learn more about the differences between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars.
  • You will need a Zoom Webinar license in order to host your event as a Webinar. Get a license if you don't already have one.
  • If the event is already created as a Zoom Meeting, you can convert it to a Zoom Webinar without changing the link or sending a new invitation.
• Control Who Can Join: Whenever possible, limit the meeting to U-M participants only and/or add a Waiting Room.
• Require Registration: for either Meetings or Webinars, consider requiring registration. This means that anyone who attempts to join the Meeting or Webinar will be directed to a registration form, and cannot join until their registration is approved and they are emailed a unique link to join.
  • Learn how to use registration for Meetings or Webinars
  • You can set registration to auto-approve, or be approved manually by the host
  • Consider turning off Allow attendees to join from multiple devices. When this setting is off, the registration link can only be used once. When this setting is on, the registration link can be used over and over, meaning a registrant could share the link with others or even post it publicly, allowing unlimited people to access the Meeting/Webinar with the same registration. Everyone who uses that link will show up in the Participants list as the registered person. For example, if John Doe registers and shares the link with Jane Doe and Jane Doe uses the link to join, Jane Doe will show in the Participants list as John Doe.
• Follow Security Best Practices: refer to the Quick Start Guide: Secure Meetings in Zoom and follow as many of the best practices for securing your Meeting or Webinar as possible.

Additional Information

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.