Waiting Rooms

Waiting Rooms

Enable the Waiting Room

Host and Co-hosts can turn the Waiting Room feature on and off by using the Security Button or the Participant Panel.

  • Click on Security Button in the bottom toolbar, click on Enable Waiting Room. If there is a checkmark next to the Waiting Room option, it is enabled.

  • Click on the Participant button to open the Participant panel. Click on the More button and click on Enable Waiting Room. If there is a checkmark next to the Waiting Room option, it is enabled.

  • Watch the Zoom How to Use Waiting Rooms video to learn more.

Overview

The Waiting Room is a virtual space in Zoom where participants are essentially on hold. Each participant is placed in their own private space. They cannot interact with each other through Zoom. However, the meeting Host and Co-hosts can send them messages.

Hosts and Co-hosts have several options for using the Waiting Room:

  • The Waiting Room feature can be enabled before the meeting during the scheduling process. For more information, see the page on Scheduling a Meeting.
  • Host and Co-hosts can enable/disable the Waiting Room during a meeting.
  • Hosts and Co-hosts can place individual participants in the Waiting Room, whether or not the Waiting Room feature has been enabled for the entire meeting.

When participants are in the Waiting Room, a notification will appear in the Host’s and Co-host’s Participant Panel. The Host and Co-hosts can then admit the participant or deny their request to join. Participants can be admitted individually or all at once.

Options for personalizing your Waiting Room, including who can bypass it, are available in your Zoom settings.

Enabling/Disabling the Waiting Room During Meetings

During a meeting, hosts and co-hosts can turn the waiting room feature on and off in two ways.

Option 1 – From the Security Button

Click on the Security button in the bottom toolbar and click on Enable Waiting Room. If there is a checkmark next to the Waiting Room option, it is enabled.

Enabling the waiting room from the Security menu

Option 2 – From the Participant Panel

Click on the Participant button to open the Participant panel. Click on the More button and click on Enable Waiting Room. If there is a checkmark next to the Waiting Room option, it is enabled.

Enabling the waiting room from the Participant Panel

Sending an Individual Participant to the Waiting Room

At any point during a meeting, Hosts and Co-hosts can move participants to the Waiting Room. The Waiting Room feature does NOT need to be on for the entire meeting to do this. Go to the Participant Panel, click the More button next to someone’s name, and select Put in Waiting Room.

Sending an individual participant in the Waiting Room

Managing the Waiting Room

When participants are in the Waiting Room, Hosts and Co-hosts can admit or remove them on an individual basis. Alternatively, they can admit everyone at once by clicking Admit all.

Admitting participants from Waiting Room

They can also send messages to participants in the Waiting Room by clicking on Message. The Chat panel will open and messages can be broadcast to all “Waiting Room Participants” at once.

Note: If enabled in the meeting scheduler's Zoom settings, Hosts and Co-hosts can also send messages to individual participants in the Waiting Room and participants can also reply to these messages. For more information, see the next section on "Personalizing the Waiting Room".

Sending message to Waiting Room

 

In your Tufts Zoom settings, you can control who goes into your Waiting Room when the feature is turned on and enable two-way messaging. You can also add custom messaging and a logo. These settings will only apply to meetings that you schedule.

  1. Log in to tufts.zoom.us with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password.
  2. Select Settings in the left-hand navigation menu.
  3. Find the set of Waiting Room-related settings toward the top of the page.Waiting Room Settings
    • Use the “Waiting Room” slider to determine whether or not the Waiting Room is automatically enabled for meetings that you schedule. You can always disable the Waiting Room for individual meetings via the scheduling form.
    • Click Edit Options to determine who goes into your Waiting Room, the order that Waiting Room participants are listed in, and what happens to meeting participants if the Host/Co-hosts accidentally drop from the meeting. You can also enable two-way messaging between Hosts/Co-hosts and Waiting Room participants.Editing Waiting Room options
    • Click Customize Waiting Room to add a custom message and logo to your Waiting Room.Customizing Waiting Room appearance