how to set up a zoom meeting with registration

(Tip: When people register in advance, Zoom creates a unique link for each participant, so when they enter the meeting, the name they typed into the registration form will show up in their Zoom window.

If you have participants register in advance (always recommended), NEVER send them a link to the meeting separately!

I wanted to share with you my painful experience, so you won’t have to suffer the same stress in a Zoom meeting of your own. Thankfully, the group was remarkably forgiving of my mess-up, and we all ended up having a wonderful time, albeit short about twenty minutes of the play I’d planned… I spent a good thirty minutes responding to a flurry of panicked texts and emails, and trying to figure out how to get everyone into the meeting! (This is what they mean when they say “The road to hell is paved with good intentions…” ?) Rather than ease their Saturday retreat experience, I inadvertently created a huge ball of stress - both for them, and for me. Naturally, several of the participants clicked on the link in the email I’d sent… which took them NOT into the meeting, but to the registration page, and from there into an endless loop, asking them to register for the meeting again. The email had all sorts of last-minute information, and I figured, instead of making them hunt for the confirmation email from their Zoom registration, why not include the meeting link right there? I thought I was making things more convenient for my participants.

The problem came when I included a link to the Zoom meeting in my final reminder email the day before the call. Then, to be extra secure, under Registration Options, I set Approval to “Manually Approve.” Requiring registration keeps Zoombombers out. I hosted a creativity retreat-my Virtual Creative Sandbox Retreat-on Saturday, and when I set up the Zoom meeting, I checked the box to require registration. Īll good so far. If you lead Zoom meetings, DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE!

How to set up a zoom meeting with registration