Item: Zoom
Rating: 1
Author: Tara Brueske

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use it weekly to do training for two different groups. I help indie musicians grow their businesses by becoming better performers and booking gigs! I use it for trainings that are live with people. I also download the meetings for replays and I use it to record trainings that I upload elsewhere. It's a fabulous too for demonstrating different social media as well. I also have learned some of the new features where I can demonstrate from my smartphone and that makes it a wonderful tool to show others in their own business.

Pros and Cons

They let you have many users on at the same time.
You can share your screen with everyone.
You can record what you are doing.
You can utilize your smartphone for sharing through Zoom as well in Shared screen mode.

Zoom's sound has improved but still is hard to hear different instrument timbres.
When people are not wearing headphones, it's hard to hear them or you get feedback.
It would be great to have the webinar feature at a lower price. It seems high.

Most Important Features

The ability to record the LIVE sessions.
The ability to share the screen.
The ability to have many people on a meeting.

Return on Investment

It has allowed me to grow my online business probably threefold with being able to utilize Zoom meetings as part of my weekly and monthly offerings.
It has been a platform for recording that has allowed me to make money not through social media.
Webinars would help more but they are too pricey to help at this level.

Alternatives Considered

I don't like social media for recording pieces of training because they don't have a good share feature. Zoom is superior in the ways you can share your screen, video, and your phone. Plus being able to have filters and backgrounds makes things look more professional. I would choose Zoom again and again for all the ways that you can share your screen.

Key Insights

Do you think Zoom delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zoom's feature set?

Yes

Did Zoom live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zoom go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zoom again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Vimeo, Calendly, Restream

Likelihood to Recommend

It works great for meetings where there is talking and where you want to share your screen with others to show examples. Webinars are great to run as well because of the sharing screen and video options. But in the case of concerts, it's good but could be better for sound. Also, it would be nice to have the feature wherein the speaker mode, it stays on the main speaker and doesn't go to a random person who forgot to mute their sound.

Zoom is a fabulous way to start your business and keep it growing!

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Zoom