Zoom Updates for Better Collaboration and More Impactful Meetings

Lisa Hirst Carnes | February 2023

Someone on a zoom video meeting call.

In today’s remote world, Zoom meetings are vital to getting our work done. If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time on Zoom. We must always improve our meetings and how we leverage Zoom and other technologies. 

Fortunately, Zoom continues to make updates and add functionality. First, if you want to leverage any new features, you must ensure that you have the latest version of Zoom. 

Follow these steps to see what version of Zoom you’re currently using. 

  1. Open and sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
  2. Click your profile picture in the upper right to view client options. 
  3. Click Help, and then select About Zoom. You will see the currently installed version of the Zoom desktop client.

Running an old version? No worries! Zoom is easy to update. 

  1. Sign in to Zoom desktop client.
  2. Click your profile picture again, and then click Check for Updates. If there is a newer version, Zoom will download and install it.

Now that you’re running the latest version of Zoom. Check out some new features that our team is excited about. 

Zoom Immersive View

Zoom’s new immersive view feature is a revolutionary way to experience video conferencing. This allows users to see up to 25 participants in the frame, making it easier for everyone to feel like they are in the same room. It also utilizes advanced facial recognition and voice quality, allowing you to clearly see and hear everyone.
 
If you’re tired of the traditional Zoom tiles, change it up with the immersive view. You can place all the meeting participants into a single virtual background. Choose from auditorium seating, boardroom, classroom, cafe, fireside chat, or even a chairlift. 
 
zoom immersive view

Blurred Background

Sometimes things aren’t as neat as you’d like them to be when working from home, at least at my house. If that’s the case for you, have no fear. The blurred background feature allows you to either blur or select a virtual background
 
zoom blurred background
 
To access it, click Video >> Blurred Background. This is especially useful for those who don’t want to show their physical background or for those who just want to be a bit creative.

Whiteboards

But Zoom isn’t stopping there. Zoom also unveiled a Whiteboard feature, allowing you to draw, erase and move objects. This feature is perfect for brainstorming sessions and meetings requiring visual collaboration. This also allows you to save and share the board, making Zoom an even more powerful collaboration tool. Create your own or use one of the many templates available. 

You can also export whiteboards to PDFs from the Zoom dashboard. 

Threaded Messages

Of course, chat is not new to Zoom, but the new update allows for message threads. This will help to keep our team’s conversations neat and organized. 

Live Close Captions

Make meetings more accessible by turning on live close captions. This is also handy for meeting attendees who don’t speak English as their first language. Zoom’s Live Close Captioning uses AI-powered speech recognition technology to generate captions in real-time. This feature is available to users with Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise accounts.
 
zoom closed captioning example
 
To turn on the Close Caption functionality, click on the Admin section of the browser version of Zoom. From there, scroll down to Account Management and click on Account Settings. Click In Meeting (Advanced), and toggle on Close Captioning. 

Suppress Background Noise

The Suppress Background Noise feature uses AI to reduce noise, such as typing, dog barking (this never happens at my house), and traffic. This makes it easier for participants to focus on the conversation rather than distracting background noise.
 
Find the Background Noise Suppression within the Audio section of the Desktop App.  
 
Zoom continually makes updates to fix bugs and offer new features. These are a few of the new Zoom updates we’re excited to use to take our meetings to the next level. 

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