How Do You Zoom?: A Survey Study of How Users Configure Video-Conference Tools for Online Meetings

Many knowledge workers now spend prolonged hours on video calls each day. However, it is unclear how people set up their video-conferencing tools now that they are highly accustomed to this communication medium. To investigate this, we distributed an online questionnaire that explored 115 users' videoconferencing setup preferences, asking them about their typical video and camera setup for meetings. We structure the reporting of results around four themes: (1) video layout preferences, (2) camera preferences, (3) self-view window preferences, and (4) multitasking behaviour during meetings. Results show that participants preferred using the active speaker view when joining large meetings with a single key presenter, and the grid view when on social calls and meetings requiring collaboration. Regarding the self-view window - most of the survey respondents reported that they have the self-view window enabled during meetings so that they could check on their own appearance throughout meetings. That said, many left this feature on because they were unaware that the self-view window could be disabled while still sharing their video with others. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving our understanding of how people use and configure their online video meeting tools.

Automated summary

In online video meetings, users tend to choose different view layouts based on the type of meeting, and enable the self-view window to observe their appearance. However, many users are not aware of how to set up video conferencing tools properly.