Joining a Zoom Service or Meeting

While we are unable to gather in person during the Covid crisis, many activities at St. Michael are being held via the Zoom video conferencing system. If you have not previously installed Zoom or set up an account, see the “Setting up Zoom” page.

When a Zoom event has been scheduled you will receive an invitation via email that looks something like this:

Zoom invitation email

When you click the link (or enter the URL in your web browser’s address bar), you may see a window that asks you to confirm that you want to allow the web site to open Zoom. Click on “Open” (or “Yes” or whatever the affirmative choice is). You can also check the “Always allow…” box so that you don’t have to do this in the future:

Confirm that Zoom can open

Next, you may see a window indicating that you need to log in with your (free) Zoom account. If you haven’t set up a Zoom account before, see the notes starting at step 4 on the “Setting up Zoom” page. Otherwise, click the “Sign in to Join” button:

Sign in to join

If you haven’t signed in on this computer before, you will next see a window asking for your email and Zoom password. Enter these, then check the “Keep me signed in” box (if this is your personal computer) and then click “Sign In”:

Signing in to your Zoom account

Make sure that you use your Zoom password here. If you don’t have one, see step 4 on the “Setting up Zoom” page to set one up.

If you check “Keep me signed in” on this window then the next time you join a meeting you will not have to enter this information again. Only check that box if this is your own personal machine.

In the next step you may be asked for a meeting passcode. This is a six-digit number provided in the invitation email. Enter that code in the box, then click “Join Meeting”:

Enter meeting passcode

If you are early, you’ll be added to the meeting’s “waiting room”. Until the host starts the meeting, you’ll see a window that looks like this:

In the Zoom waiting room

If you aren’t near a computer or have problems getting the Zoom software to connect, most Zoom conferences allow you to dial in from your phone. A few things to keep in mind:

  • This is not a local call, so you will want to avoid dialing in from a landline that charges for long distance calls.
  • The quality of the audio is usually worse than what you would get if you were using the Zoom software on your computer or the Zoom app on your smartphone or tablet.
  • You will probably not be able to participate in the conversation. That is, other people in the conference may not be able to hear you.

With those things in mind, the steps for connecting via phone are simple:

  1. Dial the phone number listed in the invitation email (e.g., 1-929-555-9999 in the example email above).
  2. When prompted, use the phone keypad to enter the meeting ID (“95723456781” in the example).
  3. If prompted for a participant ID, press the “#” key to skip this step.
  4. When prompted for a passcode, enter the 6-digit number from the invitation email. (“123456” in the example).