Zoom Class

[TheronRogers]

As a host and a  participant in a class I would like to know how to hold a meeting showing the instructor or maybe 2 or 3 instructors to all the other participants at home. Could I use a camera and mic on my laptop showing not me but the instructors? 

[srbh41413]

It's roughly possible to include 3 people sitting side by side in front of a laptop within about 2 meters. If you need the instructors to have more space that than, yes - you need an external camera and a mic for each one or a mic capable of catching them all. It would be easier to suggest if you can give more details of your situation.

[TheronRogers]

It is a classroom setting. The instructor is behind a podium and sometimes has 1 or 2 people stand by for a short  discussion. I would like to setup a camera/mic on a tripod connected to my laptop while setting in the front row hosting the meeting. Speaker would be about 10 ft in front of the camera.  People at home would be joining by Zoom. The room PA system would feed the microphone. How does Zoom handle the camara/mic? Is it a share of a screen? Is there a camera app that you share? Thanks.

[srbh41413 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for adding more description.

In that setting, the simplest way of doing the camera is to use a good quality webcam. This would have some zoom capability and also the fitting for attaching to the tripod.  You would need to get an extra-long USB cable to connect the webcam to the computer, which would need to be within 10ft or so. The webcam is plugged into the USB port of the computer with Zoom and Zoom gets the image from that. There's no separate app.

As for getting the sound from the room's  PA, that really depends on what's available from that PA system. The best way is if you can get a direct feed from it, and then that is connected to a "USB audio interface" which converts the sound from the PA into a signal the computer and Zoom can understand. This probably needs some outside help in your case.

I hope you can get some advice from knowledgeable person near you as there might be several new items and concepts here. But, once you do it once, you'll be able to carry on.

The likely basic pieces are:

good quality webcam

10ft. USB cable (suitable for the webcam and computer)

tripod

audio cable from PA to computer table

USB audio interface