Becoming the 'owner' of a meeting so I can run it in the owner's absence

[EJDinPhilly]

First of all, Good Morning, and thank you for any attention here.  Briefly, our neighborhood association is running its monthly meeting this evening.  I am the VP of the association.  I am (listed) our paid Zoom account.  But the regular leader of these meetings, and the originator of the link that everyone has (100 attendees is typical), was called away on very short notice.   I need to be able to 'run' the meeting in a way that allows me to hand off Screen Share to the several presenters we'll have.  I am loathe to create a new link and scramble to get it out to everyone.  Ownership of the meeting, that is my goal here. 

[Bort]

Hi @EJDinPhilly 

You say you are on the same account as the owner, but are you an admin on that account? 

[EJDinPhilly]

Thank you, Bort.  I believe that is correct.  Dennis is the lead, and the person who pays, but I am the VP of the organization and listed as the only other person connected to 'managing' the account (which, as you can see, I am not doing the best job of ...).  

[Bort]

Well, if you are an official Admin on the account, you should be able to access the User Management page. This would allow you to access the owner's list of meetings, find and edit the meeting you need to host, and can assign yourself as an Alternative Host for that meeting. 

First, let's check if you are an Admin on the account. Do you see a User Management option on the left side of your web portal view? 

[EJDinPhilly]

Yes, I am in it, and, Yes, I am one of two users listed.  Dennis is the Owner, I am the Admin ... 

[Bort]

Great!

1. Click on his email address to access his meetings and settings. 
2. Click the Meetings tab and select Upcoming Meetings. 
3. Find and click on the meeting you need to host. 
4. Click Edit. 
5. Add yourself under the Alternative Host section. 
6. Save. 

That should send you an email with a unique link that you can use to start the meeting as the host in Dennis' place. 

Let me know if you have any issues 

[EJDinPhilly]

Bort, if I am not seeing the Alternative Host pane, is that telling me something? 

[Bort]

It should be at the bottom of the list of options when you are editing the meeting. Are you a licensed user on your account, or is it just Dennis that is licensed? 

[EJDinPhilly]

Dennis is the licensed user but wrapped me in to that a few days back, possibly anticipating this moment.  Strangely however (to me anyway), his is listed as a Basic account capped at 100 users whereas my name has the 'license' assignation and is capped at 500 users.   

[Bort]

So, he is the account owner of the Pro account, but it sounds like his profile on the account is just a basic user. If that is the case, this won't work, as both users need to be licensed. 

I'd suggest checking the Billing page to see how many licenses are available on the account. If just one, we'll go a different route. If there are 2 or more licenses, we just need to assign Dennis a license on the Users page. 

[EJDinPhilly]

Gotcha.  Checking now.  

[EJDinPhilly]

We have a Zoom Meetings Pro (toggled at 1 license), and a Large Meeting 500 Participants (also toggled at 1 license). 

[EJDinPhilly]

Bort, is the most simplified approach for the juncture we're at to simply add a license (in Billing) so that both myself and Dennis have that designation?  

[Bort · Accepted solution]

Well, there are 2 options: 

• Upgrade the account so that you have 2 licenses, assign both yourself and Dennis a license, then follow the previous steps to add yourself as an Alt-Host. 
• Access Dennis' account through User Management, but instead of going to his meetings, looking at his profile page for his Host Key. This would allow you to join the meeting and use the Claim Host option (in the Participants panel) to claim his host role via his Host Key.  (Depending on the meeting settings, you may have to disable the Waiting Room and allow Join Before Host so that you can get in, claim host, then from within the meeting you can re-enable Waiting Room, if needed)

Let me know if you need further assistance with either option. 

[EJDinPhilly]

Bort, I am stunned at how thoroughly you owned this and hard you have worked to help me here.  I am very appreciative, and you've given me a solid roadmap to follow here.  On it.  And Thank You! 

[EJDinPhilly]

Bort, it appears to have worked.  I appear to be the Host! Shame is avoided.  The enterprise lives to see another day!  Thank you so much! ~ Ed Dougherty 

[Bort]

Great to hear! Glad I could help get you there in time!