Zoom video conferencing

• Download Zoom (Zoom.com)
• Getting Started with Zoom Meetings (Zoom.com)
• Getting Started with Zoom Webinars (Zoom.com)

• Securing your meetings (Zoom.com)
• 7 Tips to Help Secure Your Webinars (Zoom.com)

 Access your recordings

To access your recordings, sign in to your Zoom account and choose the Recordings tab.

Schedule a recording

When scheduling your meeting, always choose Record the meeting automatically in the cloud.  You should always let your attendees know at the start of the meeting that you will be recording.

How long are recordings kept for?

• Your own recordings are kept in the cloud for three months and then automatically deleted. If you want to keep your recordings, you’ll need to download and save them to a different file storage service.
• For automatically scheduled recordings of teaching events, recordings are kept in the cloud for 24 hours and then automatically deleted without warning. However, the recording will be automatically imported into and made available in Panopto (Listen Again).
• If the recording is a learning resource, you can manually import it into Panopto for later use in Moodle.

Learn more about recording.

Looking for an official Essex background for your Zoom meetings?

See University of Essex Zoom backgrounds (Box.com login required)

Zoom AI Companion leverages advanced AI technologies to understand and process spoken language, enabling it to transcribe meetings, summarise discussions, and provide actionable insights. It integrates seamlessly with the Zoom interface, making it easy to access during and after meetings.

The main features include:

• real-time transcription: converts spoken language into text during meetings
• meeting summaries: provides concise summaries of meeting discussions
• action items: identifies and highlights key action points from meetings
• smart reminders: sends reminders based on action items and meeting schedules
• searchable transcripts: allows users to search through transcripts for specific information.

To use Zoom AI Companion, you need to have it activated in your Zoom account settings. This has been done for all University staff users. Once enabled, you can access it during meetings via the Zoom interface. Look for the AI Companion icon and click on it to utilise its features.

Mobile devices

Zoom AI Companion is available on both desktop and mobile devices, providing flexibility and convenience for users on the go.

Accuracy of transcripts and summaries

While Zoom AI Companion strives for high accuracy, the quality of transcriptions and summaries can depend on factors such as audio quality, clarity of speech, and background noise.

It continuously improves through machine learning and user feedback. We suggest you always check the transcript for any errors before sharing. Please note, the default setting currently is that transcriptions are not automatic – you will need to turn this on in your settings.

Data safety

All data processed by Zoom AI Companion is encrypted and handled according to strict security protocols to ensure confidentiality and integrity. In line with Zoom’s commitment to responsible AI, Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communications-like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom’s or third-party artificial intelligence models. The University has a license with Zoom, and Zoom AI Companion usage is covered by this.

Control the access to data

Users can manage their privacy settings within Zoom to control what information Zoom AI Companion can access. You can choose to enable or disable certain features based on your privacy preferences.

If you encounter issues with Zoom AI Companion, try the following steps:

1. ensure that your Zoom application is up to date
2. check your internet connection
3. verify that the AI Companion feature is enabled in your Zoom settings
4. restart your device and reopen Zoom
5. if problems persist, contact the IT Helpdesk for further assistance.

Inform attendees Zoom AI Companion is in use

It is recommended that you let attendees know in advance that you will be using Zoom AI Companion – this could be a message within the calendar invite, or a note on the agenda, if applicable. You should also remind attendees that you are using Zoom AI Companion at the beginning of the meeting, although a pop-up box will appear when attendees join a meeting that is being summarised.

Attendee concerns and opting out

Zoom AI Companion is being used to help produce minutes/a summary of the meeting, saving time of a member of staff doing this, and only requiring that member of staff to review and edit. The output of the meeting is therefore exactly the same, and we do not offer the option to opt out of other meetings that are being minuted by a member of staff.

The Chair should explore with the individual why they have concerns, ahead of the meeting.

Chairs can reassure attendees of the following:

• Zoom doesn’t use any call content, attachments or screen sharing in order to train Zoom’s, or any other companies’, AI models
• the output of the meeting – i.e. a summary or minutes – is the same whether written by a member of staff or provided by Zoom AI Companion and finalised by a member off staff. The same principles apply regarding restricting access to the summary or minutes as applicable, parts of the minutes which may be anonymised etc.

Attendance recording

When compiling the minutes, Zoom AI Companion won't know exactly who has attended the meeting. It will match individuals to their contributions, but it will not provide a list of attendees and would not recognise if someone attended a meeting but did not say anything. If you wish to have Zoom AI Companion record who is present, the simplest way is to ask attendees to do a quick introduction at the beginning.

Sharing the meeting summary

Zoom will automatically send the meeting organiser the meeting summary. You should then review and edit the summary, in the spirit of this being a co-production. You can then share the summary with attendees as you usually would – the recommended way would be to save to Box, and provide the link to the relevant colleagues, to maintain access control.

Being in a meeting using Zoom AI Companion

Zoom AI Companion is being used to support meeting administration to save time of a member of staff who would usually take notes. As an attendee, you do not need to do anything.

Zoom uses advanced AI technologies to understand and process spoken language, so your contributions will be recorded, and the summary will be checked before being shared so any inaccuracies or points which need clarifying will be picked up in that process.

Concerns and opting out

Zoom AI Companion is being used to help produce minutes/a summary of the meeting, saving time of a member of staff doing this, and only requiring that member of staff to review and edit. The output of the meeting is therefore exactly the same, and we do not offer the option to opt out of other meetings that are being minuted by a member of staff.

You will be notified in advance if a meeting is to use Zoom AI Companion, and if you have concerns you should contact the Chair in advance for the meeting. You can be reassured of the following:

• all data processed by Zoom AI Companion is encrypted and handled according to strict security protocols to ensure confidentiality and integrity
• in line with Zoom’s commitment to responsible AI, Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communications-like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom’s or third-party artificial intelligence models. The University has a license with Zoom, and Zoom AI Companion usage is covered by this
• the output of the meeting – i.e. a summary or minutes – is the same whether written by a member of staff or provided by Zoom AI Companion and finalised by a member off staff. The same principles apply regarding restricting access to the summary or minutes as applicable, parts of the minutes which may be anonymised etc.