New Features Announced for Zoom

In their latest update Zoom, our supported video conferencing software has announced several new features that may be of interest to our campus users. While the full list can be found in the announcement on their website, we'd like to highlight a few below. Note: there are separate announcements for macOS and Windows versions.

Meeting Reactions

Meeting participants can now react during a meeting by sending a thumbs up or clapping to communicate without interrupting the meeting. Reactions show up right in the video and will disappear after 5 seconds.

View Another Participant's Audio Status

Users can now more quickly view another participant’s audio status when they are joining a meeting. In both gallery view and speaker view, it will display “Connecting Audio” below a participant’s video until that participant has joined the audio, making it more clear when they connect and can hear you.

Virtual Background Selection within Video Preview

The video preview will now contain an option to select a virtual background in the client settings, so the user can choose a virtual background within video preview before joining the meeting.

Contact Me Option for Feedback

Users can now choose to include their email address when sharing feedback after a meeting if they would like to be contacted.


If you would like more information about getting connected with Zoom and to request a Zoom Pro license, please contact the IT Service Desk at itservice@lclark.edu.

Related:

• Zoom General Info Page
• Automatic Video Transcription with Zoom