A - Yes! Please do use Teams! Teams capabilities are continuously improving and Teams is the preferred meetings tool in most cases. However, there are still a couple of use-cases that might steer you to use Zoom instead. For example, if you are hosting a large meeting where the "Hollywood Squares" display of participants video feeds is important to you, Zoom might still the better option. But, we do expect that Teams will be coming out with multiple video display (over four) for meeting participants soon.

A - You can request a free Zoom account at any time by submitting a support request via the IT Service Desk Portal.  Once the account is set up, you'll get an activation email to finish setting up your account.

A - The type of account you have is displayed at the top of the Zoom window, when you log into Zoom via a Mac or PC.

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A - You'll need a Zoom account if you want to host meetings.  A Zoom account isn't needed if you just want to attend a meeting.  You will; however, need to download and install the Zoom client.  There are clients for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

If you will be hosting or attending meetings regularly where audio quality is critical, we strongly recommend that you use a tabletop speakerphone or a good headset, as opposed to the microphone and speakers on your computer.  Here's a good one from Jabra: Jabra Speak 410 USB Speakerphone.  This will give you considerably better quality than shouting into your computer.  

A - Zoom Basic accounts are completely free, but have a few important limitations.  With a Zoom Basic account, you can host meetings for as long as you like with up to one other person (1 on 1 meetings).  Meetings you host with 2 or more people (up to 100) are limited to 40 minutes.  While you are able to record your meetings with a Zoom Basic account, you can only save your recorded meetings locally, as a video file on your computer.

Zoom Pro accounts can host unlimited meetings with up to 100 attendees for as long as you like.  There is no time limit.  With a Zoom Pro account, you can also save recorded meetings directly to the cloud to easily share and manage recordings.

A - You can invite anyone, anywhere to join a Zoom meeting regardless of whether they're a PATH employee or not.  As long as someone has your meeting link, they can join your meeting from a PC, Mac, iOS or Android device. Only the meeting host needs a Zoom account; all participants can join as guests.

A - If you are in an area with limited internet bandwidth, you can also join a meeting by telephone using a local or toll-free phone number.  These numbers appear at the bottom of every Zoom meeting invite. However, Zoom's built-in audio via computer is quite good if you are using an external mic/speaker or headphones. A full list of dial-in numbers is available here: https://path.box.com/s/l6egsdja7wx3st4w19iu6y9cf0q3z3vi

A - Each Zoom account must be associated with a PATH employee. If someone in your department with a Zoom account leaves, we can reassign the license to someone else.

Zoom does allow you to set one static meeting URL per account (called a "Personal Meeting ID", or PMI) and therefore that link can be used in multiple (non-overlapping) meetings. So, it is possible for a department or group to have only one person in the group with a Zoom pro account, so long as you aren't planning on having simultaneous meetings using Zoom.

A - You can use the Zoom plugin to schedule meetings.  This lets you schedule meetings right from a meeting invite.  See this support video for more details: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/200881399-Microsoft-Outlook-Plugin

A - You can log into zoom.us and start a meeting from there.  You can also start a meeting (with or without video) from within the Zoom app itself.  Once you've started the meeting, send the meeting URL to anyone needs to join.  

A - Yes, you can; however you and the person you're scheduling on behalf of must have Pro accounts and you have to be given explicit permission to do so.  See the Scheduling Privilege how-to guide for details.  There's also a handy PDF you can download: Outlook for Executive Assistants.

A - The best way to learn about Zoom is by going through the guides and videos.  If you are having a problem with Zoom, please submit a helpdesk support request.