Inspired by those around you during lockdown you’ve begun using Zoom for your meetings, online classes and family get-togethers.
All is going well until suddenly an unknown person enters your Zoom meeting and starts posting obscenities in the chat, sharing their screen and worse, shouting slurs you didn’t know existed over the mics. This is called Zoombombing and it is the newest trend for people with nothing better to do apart from troll.
In this blog I’m going to tell you how to get through a Zoombomb and I’ll be following up in a separate blog with how to stop it from happening again.
What do you do when someone Zoombombs you?
Stay calm. Quick thinking and communication are vital if someone unexpected joins your meeting. Inform the participants that you have been Zoombombed but that the meeting will resume shortly. If you feel able ask them to take a comfort break, grab a cuppa and bear with you.
Now it's time to take the following steps.
1. Lock the meeting. The most recent Zoom update has a security button on the task bar. You’ll find the lock meeting function in there. Once locked no one else can enter the meeting.
2. Mute everyone. Using the participant control at the bottom of your screen untick the button which allows people to unmute themselves.
3. Stop screen sharing. Sometimes the spammer will try to share their screen showing additional unwanted content. Using the screen sharing controls at the top of the screen you can stop the share right away.
4. Disable the chat function. Often the spammers will fill the chat with curse words, dodgy links and as much noise as possible. Muting all in the chat function shuts off the noise.
5. Remove the culprits from the chat. Again, under the participant control at the bottom of your screen you’ll find the option to remove someone from the meeting. You can remove them completely and they will not be able to join again. Or if you are unsure if the person should be in the meeting you can put them in the waiting room where you will be able to ask them questions before allowing them back in or booting them out completely.
6. Take some deep breaths and carry on with your meeting. You did it, you controlled and dealt with the situation swiftly and quickly.
It’s a pain in the ass. You might feel embarrassed but it’s how you deal with it that will make sure your team, clients and stakeholders understand that you know how to keep your cool in potentially stressful situations.
This blog will shortly be followed by my top tips for securing your Zoom meetings.