Zoom: Waiting Rooms

The Waiting Room feature in Zoom allows the meeting host to control when a participant joins the meeting. Waiting rooms have additional customization features available in the Zoom Portal. Waiting rooms can also be enabled, disabled, and applied during a meeting to put participants on hold.

In this Article:

• Enabling the Waiting Room Before a Meeting
• Customizing the Waiting Room Before a Meeting
• Using the Waiting Room During a Meeting

Enabling the Waiting Room Before a Meeting

1. Sign in to the Zoom Web Portal (umn.zoom.us).
2. Go to Settings.
3. In the Security section, make sure the Waiting Room is toggled On.
   • Note: If the setting is disabled, toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, choose Turn On.
4. Select Edit Options to customize who you want to add to the Waiting Room when they join the meeting. The Waiting Room options open in a pop-up-window.
   • Everyone: All participants joining your meeting will be put into the Waiting Room. 
   • Users not in your account: Only participants who are not logged in and are not in the same UMN Zoom instance as you will be put into the Waiting Room. 
     • If not logged in, they will receive an option to log in. 
     • HCC vs Non-HCC Zoom instance:
       • Ex: If you are in the HCC Zoom instance and choose this option, then only those who are both logged in and also a member of the HCC Zoom instance will bypass the Waiting Room. Everyone else (including all members of the Non-HCC Zoom instance) will be put into the Waiting Room. The same concept applies if you are in the Non-HCC Zoom Instance.
   • Users who are not in your account and not part of the allowed domains: For more information on this advanced feature, please contact Technology Help. 
     • If not logged in, they will receive an option to log in.
     • If you want all members of the UMN Zoom instances (both HCC and Non-HCC) to automatically bypass the Waiting Room, then choose this option and in the text box put umn.edu This will allow members of both HCC Zoom and Non-HCC Zoom who are logged in to automatically bypass the Waiting Room, and will put anyone else in the Waiting Room.

Customizing the Waiting Room Before a Meeting

Once the Waiting Room feature is enabled, you can customize its title, logo, and description.

Note: The Waiting Room customization will display to Participants for all meetings and webinars you schedule as a host. It is not possible to customize individual meeting Waiting Room displays at this time.

1. In the Zoom Web Portal, go Settings.
2. In the Security section, find the Waiting Room feature.
3. Select the Edit pencil icon next to Customize the title, logo, and description. The Waiting Room customization options open in a pop-up window.
   • Title: Select the Edit pencil next to Please wait, the meeting host will let you in soon to update the meeting title.
     • Note: Titles are limited to 64 characters.
   • Logo: Select the Plus icon to upload a logo.
     • Note: Logos can be in GIF, JPG or PNG format. They cannot exceed 1MB. The minimum height and width is 60px and the maximum is 400px.
   • Description: Select Add waiting room description to add a description to the Waiting Room.
     • Note: The description is limited to 400 characters.
4. Click Close when you are done. Participants will see your custom Waiting Room branding when they join the meeting.

Using the Waiting Room During a Meeting

You can Enable or Disable the Waiting Room any time during a meeting. You can also move participants from the meeting into a waiting room.

Enabling or Disabling Waiting Room During a Meeting

1. As the meeting host, open Security.
2. Check or Uncheck the Waiting Room option.
   

Admitting Individual Participants to a Meeting

1. As the meeting host, select Participants.
2. Select Admit to have the participant join the meeting.
   

Admitting All Participants from the Waiting Room

1. As the meeting host, select Participants.
2. Choose Admit all.
   

Sending Participants to the Waiting Room During a Meeting

1. As the meeting host, select Participants.
2. Select More next to the participant's name and choose Put in Waiting Room.
   

Sending Messages to Participants in the Waiting Room

There may be situations where you would like to send messages to Participants who are in a waiting room.

Note: Participants in a Waiting Room cannot send messages back to the host.

1. As the meeting host, select Chat.
2. In the Chat section, select the drop down menu next to To:
3. Choose Everyone (in Waiting Room).
4. Type and send your chat message to the Waiting Room. 
   • Once the message has been sent, the participants in the Waiting Room will view the message in their Meeting Messages.