Use a waiting room in a Zoom meeting

Use a waiting room in a Zoom meeting to control how participants are admitted into a meeting session. A meeting host can turn the waiting room on and off and configure it such that everyone or only guests (e.g., participants who have not signed in using their StarID credentials) are sent to the waiting room. Hosts and co-hosts can admit participants queued in the waiting room one by one or all at once. They can also move participants from the main session into the waiting room.

Enable your meeting's waiting room

Before the meeting

Before starting your meeting, you can edit the meeting's options and enable the waiting room. This needs to be done for every meeting separately. To edit your meeting options, sign in to the Zoom host web portal at https://minnstate.zoom.us and select Meetings. The remaining steps differ depending on whether you are editing the settings of your Personal Meeting or another meeting session:

Your Personal Meeting

1. Select the Personal Meeting Room tab to open your Personal Meeting's information page
2. Select the Edit this Meeting button at the bottom of the page
3. Under Meeting Options, check Enable waiting room
4. Select Save

A scheduled meeting

1. Select the meeting's topic from your list of meetings to open the meeting information window
2. Select the Edit this Meeting button at the bottom of the page
3. Under Meeting Options, check Enable waiting room
4. Select Save

During the meeting

Even if you didn't enable the waiting room when you scheduled the meeting, you can turn it on and off as needed during the meeting:

1. Select the Security icon at the bottom of the meeting window.
2. Select Enable waiting room.

Configuring waiting room global settings

Global settings determining how your waiting room works across all meeting sessions when it's enabled. By default, anyone trying to join a session who is not signed in to Zoom using StarID credentials will be placed in the waiting room if it's enabled. If you would like everyone to be placed in the waiting room regardless of their authentication status, follow these directions:

1. Sign in to the Zoom host web portal at https://minnstate.zoom.us and select Settings.
2. Under Seucrity...Waiting Room, select Edit Options.
3. Under Who should go into the waiting room?, select Everyone
4. Select Continue

The waiting room experience

Once you enable the waiting room meeting option, your participants will not enter the meeting when they use the meeting link or ID. Instead, they will see an information screen indicating that they are in your meeting's waiting room and to wait for you to let them in to the meeting. The waiting room information screen can be customized to to include your own logo, title, and description.

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  Fig 1. The waiting room information screen.

Manage the waiting room during a meeting

Turn waiting room on and off

After starting and joining the meeting as a host, turn the meeting's waiting room on and off by following the steps below:

1. Select Manage Participants from the meeting toolbar
2. Select More at the bottom of the Participants window and then select or deselect Put attendee in waiting room. A check will appear indicating that the waiting room is on.

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  Fig 1. Open your waiting room.

Admit participants

1. As the meeting host, click Manage Participants.
2. As participants enter the waiting room, click Admit to have the participant join the meeting.

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  Fig 3. Admit participant.

Send a participant to the waiting room

1. As the meeting host, click Manage Participants.
2. Click More next to the participant's name and choose Put in Waiting Room.

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  Fig 4. Select put in waiting room.

Customize your waiting room screen

1. Sign in to your Zoom web portal at https://minnstate.zoom.us.
2. In the navigation menu on the left, select Settings and then select In Meeting (Advanced).
3. Scroll down to the Waiting Room option and move the slider to the right, turning customization on.
4. Click the pencil icon below the Waiting Room option.
5. Customize your waiting room screen and select Close.

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  Fig 5. Select the pencil to customize your waiting room screen.

More wiki articles

• Activate your Minnesota State Zoom Pro account
• Scheduling a Zoom meeting
• Keep Teaching Manual

Zoom training

• Zoom Help Center
• Zoom training from Linkedin Learning
• From the Zoom Help Center:
  • How do I invite others to join a meeting?
  • My Account (account configuration, password reset, meeting-link creation, meeting, scheduling, ...)
  • Managing Video Breakout Rooms

Related Wiki Topics

• Protect your participants' identities in Zoom meetings
• Protect your identity in Zoom meetings
• Update your Zoom client
• Zoom Webinars
• Create recurring Zoom sessions
• Test Zoom
• Sign in to Zoom using guest credentials
• Sign in to Zoom using your StarID
• Install Zoom
• Using a document camera in a Zoom meeting

For a complete listing of topics, select from the category list below.