N400

Our main large meeting room N400 is equipped as a “Zoom room”. You can launch a meeting in the room from the touch screen that you will find on the credenza at the back of the room. The audio in comes from the ceiling mic, and the video comes from the camera at the back of the room. You can control the camera on the touch screen, and also control other aspects of the meeting from there. Here is a user guide:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204772869-Zoom-Rooms-User-Guide

You can add N400 as an “alternative host” under “options” when you set up a meeting using the web-based interface (https://umass-amherst.zoom.us). The meeting then appears on the touch screen, and can be launched with one click (you also need to turn the system on in the front of the room).

You can also share content on the screen without launching a meeting. Open Zoom on your computer, go to Home, and click share screen. Then enter the “Sharing Key” that you will see in the corner of the N400 screen when you turn the system on.

The audio from the ceiling mic is not of the highest quality, but people should be able to be heard if they speak up a bit. If you want higher quality audio, you can run a Zoom meeting from your computer using higher quality external mics. We have a pair of wireless mics at the front of the room that can be used in this way. If only a single person is speaking, as in a presentation, a computer’s own mic may also be better than the ceiling mic.

Remember to mute your audio on your computer if you open Zoom on it and you are using the ceiling mic.

Meeting Owl

We have a Meeting Owl for meetings in our smaller conference rooms. To reserve it, use this Google doc. It is stored in the equipment room in a filing cabinet drawer labeled Owl + Fish. You will need to download the Meeting Owl App before you use it (e.g. from the Apple App Store). Otherwise it is straightforward. Plug in the power, attach the USB-C cable to it and the computer, and you should find it as an option in Zoom for the mic and the video (click the small arrows beside the Mute and Video buttons).