I realize it has been a while since we have had a blog post added, and for that I apologize. This is why I keep asking for volunteers to assist with the newsletter and blog.

I want to simply provide you some insight into virtual therapy if you are using Zoom. Although the HIPAA rules have been relaxed due to COVID-19 for the time being, I thought that this might help if you chose to utilize Zoom for sessions.

Here are a few Key tips and hot keys with their references below.

When you are called on to speak, stop scrambling to click the microphone button. You can press and hold the spacebar to quickly mute and unmute your mic, right from your keyboard. If you are on the chat screen, however, you will need to return to the video screen and make sure you have clicked on that screen for the spacebar to work.

If you don't want to have client's seeing your "space", change your background. Virtually transport yourself to the beach, outer space or anywhere else you can imagine by customizing your background while on Zoom calls -- everyone's doing it these days. You can read our step-by-step guide to changing your Zoom background on the desktop and mobile app, but basically you go to Settings > Virtual Background and select or upload the image you want from there. However, you do have to make sure that your system meets all of the requirements to do so. 

Are you using this for a group training? Gallery view lets you see everyone in the meeting at once, instead of just the person speaking. To turn that on, click the tab that says "Gallery view" in the top right corner. If the meeting has 49 or fewer attendees, you'll see all of their screens displayed on one page. If there are more, you'll have the option to move between multiple pages. Change it back by clicking "Speaker view" in that same top right corner. 

This is a great tool if you are sharing a file with a client. Say you want to share a CBT task and you didn't email it to them before session. Share your screen for a Zoom meeting (or to watch a movie or play a game) with other participants by clicking the Share screen icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the meeting screen. You'll have the option to share your entire desktop, or just one of the windows you have open. Click the red Stop Share button at the top of the screen to go back to being a normal participant in the meeting. 

RECORDING! 

Both free and paid Zoom subscribers can record their meeting to their laptop or computer using the desktop app (you can't record on mobile at the moment, unless you have a paid account -- keep reading for more on that). Those recorded files can then be uploaded to a file storage service such as Google Drive or Dropbox, or a video streaming service such as YouTube or Vimeo. 

To enable local recording, go to Settings > Recording, and toggle it on. When you're hosting a Zoom meeting, click the Record icon on the bottom toolbar. 

REMEMBER: IF YOU ARE CHOOSING TO RECORD THE VIDEO, YOU MUST INFORM YOUR CLIENT AND HAVE YOUR APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTATION!  Just because HIPAA rules have been relaxed, does not give us a bonus to record without permission.

There are several Zoom shortcut keys as well. Click the link below for those. The following link is the reference for the above information.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205683899-Hot-Keys-and-Keyboard-Shortcuts-for-Zoom

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-use-zoom-like-a-pro-13-hidden-features-to-try-at-your-next-meeting/

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