WHICH ISSUE SHOULD WE START OUR SPELL-BREAKING MAGIC ON?

See a box like this? Great news! This is the same number after the / in the URL for your meeting room. For example, if you were in zoom.us/j/333444555, then your meeting ID is 333 444 555

If you already have the Zoom plugin installed, it might look more like this box, yet your solution is the same. You can get your meeting ID from the URL of your training room. It's the 9-11 digit number at the end of the URL.

This one can be tough. Often is it your company network or firewall is blocking the access. It might be the Great Firewall Of China. Sometimes it is a browser setting. Sometimes wifi is down. Here are the typical fixes:

Step 1: Double check your network connection to be sure you didn't lose wifi.

Step 2: Check your browser settings. For the sake of getting you into the session quickly (because you're probably reading this while the training is getting started), adjust your Privacy and Security to allow popups. This will likely be in the Advanced Preferences or Advanced Settings section with something like:

This is where you can allow access to Microphone, Camera, Images, and PopUps.

If you're on a VPN: and you can access the training site directly instead (outside of the VPN or on the Zoom Mobile App for phones and tablets), it often resolves the blockage.

If you live in Mainland China: you might be experiencing The Great Firewall. Many of our participants have a US (or other country) proxy they can join to access the training. Here's an example of how that works:

Click the Settings button (the three dots) or go to Chrome --> Preferences. Select Settings.

Go to the Advanced Settings

pen proxy settings

Then click on LAN Settings

Un-check "Automatically detect settings" and see next step before clicking OK.

Use a different proxy setting from your company. Often it is a US proxy that works like you see on screen. You'll have to get this information from your company, yet usually, this is what we see. For example, if your company name is ACME and you live in Australia, it might say Proxy.au.acme.com. If you want to try the US proxy server for your company, it is usually Proxy.us.acme.com.

Usually, you are here because it says a download should start, and it didn't. Your next step would be to click the Download Here link (not on this screen shot, but in your actual browser tab where the link will be active).

You may notice there's an easy "join from your browser" option, yet don't use that as your first solution because we won't be able to talk to you in the chat window during the session. Try the "Download Here" link first.

In most browsers, the next step is to click "Run" to allow the plugin. This is usually what it looks like in Explorer or Edge:

This is usually what it looks like in Chrome:

Sometimes, people think this is a username, so they write things like EscalanteFlower22. Actually, it's a screen name that we will use to chat amongst participants. And, the facilitator will use that name to reference your comments that you write in the chat box. So if you would prefer the facilitator to say, "Ooh, that's an important point John," then type "John" in the blank. Otherwise, she will say "Ooh, that's an important point EscalanteFlower22."

With some browsers and plugins, the screen will look more like this. You can tell it to remember you in the future so that you don't have to type it every time. Don't worry, if you want to rename yourself later, you can.

Of course, this could be on our side or yours. Be sure to tell us by writing a quick note in the chat box if you're in the live event. Something like "audio breaking up" or "video in and out" will prompt the facilitator to see if it's an isolated issue.

Here are some other tips that help:

• Connect via hard wire rather than wifi. Remember that you're streaming a large video, and upload speeds are often way slower than download speeds. A wired connection often helps.
• Go in airplane mode. If you're working from home and you can shut down all other connections, you'll be sure you're able to be the bandwidth hog for this event!
• Shut down other applications on your system. Sometimes they are the resource causing the issue.
• Pause all background syncing. These are things like cloud backup services or even software updates that automatically checks for (and downloads during our session). This happens a lot with mobile devices pushing updated apps or doing a background refresh.

Common Culprit: "Join By Browser"

Zoom is happiest when it is running off of a plugin. That gives you the fullest feature set. Note that if you "joined by browser" rather than plugin or mobile app,  you will have limited audio and video features.

For example, when you use the "join by browser" option, you will not have access to join audio by VOIP (it will force you to dial in to hear the audio). And although you can see our camera, we will never be able to see yours.

Other Issues: Sometimes you simply need to grant audio and video access in your browser (camera and microphone permissions). Usually, you'll do this right in the browser bar by clicking on the camera icon. It usually looks like one of the two images below if you use Chrome as your browser.

Sometimes, it's on the left of your browser bar, if you click the lock or security icon, then click Allow.

If you use Firefox, you still grant access right from your browser bar. It looks more like this:

Note: sometimes your access is blocked because pop-up windows are blocked.

Next Step: If you have done the steps above and you are not up and running yet, try clearing the cache and cookies in your browser.

Go into Google Chrome --> Preferences --> Clear Browsing Data

Be sure to check both the "Cache" and "Cookie" boxes

Next Step: if you're still not up and running, be sure you have updated to the latest browser version. Then close the window and relaunch.

For example, go to Chrome --> About Chrome in your browser menu. You can also click the "three dots" icon, usually at the top-right of your browser. From there go to Help --> About Google Chrome

Give it time to finish updating and to display the Relaunch button. If you are already on the latest version, you'll get a check mark like you see on the next screenshot.

If you're good to go, you'll get a check. High fives to you!

Although most of our Zoom sessions do not require advanced registration, a few do. We see three common culprits for this credentials-issue:

Culprit 1 - Wrong Website: You might be trying to log into a different system - one that is not your meeting space. For example, if you're taking the StrengthsFinder Virtual Training class, often, people will be trying to use their Gallup Strengths Center login rather than the meeting room for the training center. Note: The Gallup Strengths Center is where you get your CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) reports.

Culprit 2 - Wrong Email: Does your company have two email addresses that people commonly use, like [email protected] and [email protected]? If yes, see if you're registered under the other one. Sometimes people forget whether they used the dot or the underscore or the short version, like co.com versus company.com.

Culprit 3 - Not Registered: If your colleague forwarded the training class URL to you, but you didn't personally register in advance, the system thinks you are the same person as your colleague because the long URL to the meeting room is customized to each attendee. Solution: If you're trying to get in as a "late add" be sure to get our "virtual training producer contact info" from your colleague. We usually have a Producer on standby with a few extra logins to save the day in this situation. The producer contact information is sent to registrants in the reminder before the session begins. If you email that person on the Lead Through Strengths team, we'll usually be able to help.