Joining from a Polycom Room
Several rooms on campus have built-in or cart-based Polycom video conferencing units. These allow you to easily join the room to a Zoom meeting with the benefits of one or more PTZ cameras, integrated mics and speakers, and easy content sharing.
When you first enter the room, make sure that the screens are on and on the correct input. For many rooms, this will be through a white panel on the wall - press the ON button, then press the button for VIDEO CONF.
Pick up the Polycom remote and press a button to wake up the Polycom. You should see the cameras rotate around, and then the Polycom Home menu will appear on the screen.
There are two ways to connect to Zoom using a Polycom room system.
1. If you have reserved this room through 25Live and requested the "Zoom - Video Conferencing" resource, you may receive a default link. You may send this link out to participants for use only during your reserved meeting time. This basic link won't have advanced features like breakout rooms available, but it provides a ready-made meeting that you don't have to schedule yourself. To join this meeting from the room, use the arrow pad on the Polycom remote to select the on-screen option that is the name of the room you are in ("Geneva" or "Glasser 109" for example) and press the center button to join.
2. If you (or someone else) have scheduled your own Zoom meeting, it is easy to join with the room. Use the Polycom remote to join the "Zoom Lobby". You will see a 5-letter pairing code (not case sensitive).
Using the web browser on your laptop, go to zoom.us/meeting/rooms and enter the meeting ID and pairing code. You may be asked to sign in to your Zoom account or enter the meeting passcode. Alternately, you may first join the meeting from your laptop (make sure to mute your mic and speakers!), then click on Participants and Invite. Select the Room System tab and enter the pairing code. Once the room has joined the meeting you no longer need to keep your laptop in the meeting.
Please note, if you are in a room that is joined to a Zoom meeting, you and anyone else in the room do not need to join that meeting from their own laptop. If you do join the meeting (to manage breakout rooms, for example) please make sure that both mic and speakers are muted on your laptop.
IMPORTANT: If your meeting has "Mute participants on entry" enabled, the room will join in a muted state. In order to unmute, using the Polycom remote press # (to bring up the keypad) then 1 (to bring up the menu) then 2 (to unmute). After you have unmuted the room this way, you may then mute and unmute normally using the remote.
During the Meeting
You may use the arrow and zoom buttons on the Polycom remote to control the camera. If you would like to share content, connect your laptop to the VGA cable that is provided in the room. Your content may appear automatically, if not press the "Content" button on the Polycom remote and use the arrows and center button to select "Laptop".
You will not be able to see chat or other Zoom features on the screen, just participants and shared content. If you need access to these additional features, join the meeting on your laptop (preferably as the host), and make sure to mute both your microphone and audio output.