Alternative/Co-Host access to the Host's Webinar Schedule

[cheriecamp]

We have weekly Zoom Council meetings, every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.

We always use the Co-host option for two additional participants.

We are considering moving from "meetings" to "webinars".

If we do so, the person chosen to be the "Host" will be responsible for all scheduling and inviting of staff and/or special guests for these weekly, Tuesday webinars.

We would like to know, should the person who has been assigned as Host (and has scheduled multiple months of webinars out), for whatever reason, not be present for an upcoming webinar, is there a way to provide access to an Alternate or Co-Host to the Host's webinar schedule, should changes need to be made, i.e., time-date-subject?  Meaning, the actual Host might be on vacation or out of the office, what-have-you, therefore one of the Alternative/Co-Hosts would need to be able to access the upcoming webinar's schedule if change were needed to be made ahead of a previously scheduled webinar. 

Is this possible?

[Rupert]

Hi @cheriecamp,

When setting up the meeting you can assign "Alternative Hosts" in Zoom.

An Alternative Host can start and Host the meeting in the Host's absence. They could also assign Co-Hosts once the meeting is started. 

Alternative Hosts do need to be users on your same Zoom account.

Co-Hosts cannot be set in advance.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/208220166-Alternative-host

For scheduling adjustments, you could look at "Scheduling privilege":

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362803-Scheduling-privilege

Hope this helps.

Rupert

[DeniseLahat]

Another option is to provide the host username\password to the co-host when the the host is OOO.    I also suggest using the "recurring meeting - no fixed time". That way you can just schedule meetings in Outlook\Google Calendar with the webinar link (same link each time).  No need to reschedule anything in zoom.  

[Rupert]

@cheriecamp  

I must disagree with @DeniseLahat 

I would highly discourage you from sharing your username\password with anyone, for any reason. Especially if you use a password that you use elsewhere, or if you are part of an organization, or if you have SSO, or if your Zoom account contains sensitive Report data. There are many more reasons it is not a good idea. 

Sharing a single account between users may also be against Zoom's Terms of Service, and if you are part of an organization, sharing passwords will almost certainly be against your internal policies.  

In actual fact, it is usually advisable to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account - specifically to protect your account from login attempts from anyone who isn't you.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360038247071-Setting-up-and-using-two-factor-authenticatio...

In today's world of phishing and cyberattacks, these general principles are incredibly important.

Any professional should give you the same advice.

Rupert

--

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupertmcrae/

https://community.zoom.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3591

[DeniseLahat]

@Rupert  Many organizatitons including Zoom themselves create "service" accounts which a few employees in a team can use.   I'm not suggesting to give out your user name and password to many different people on a regular basis.  But if you have a small team of people who are host and co-host I don't see the problem.   Ofcourse you need to be discrete and 2FA is a good suggestion.  Zoom events will allow hosts to assign alternative hosts not in their domain so that will make things more simple.

[Rupert]

@DeniseLahat 

It should be noted that some of the organizations that use, what they choose to call, "service accounts” (on some system) often do so illegitimately. Quite often they are doing this to get-around licensing limitations. Not all systems or services support service accounts as a feature, either by license, terms or conditions, or implementation.

Systems and software-licensing that do support the use of true “Service” accounts typically have a dedicated schema for that scenario. Zoom does not appear to have this for their product-platform, as far as I can see. Zoom user-accounts seem strictly based on a First Name, Second Name schema and nomenclature.

I can find no Zoom documentation regarding the use of “Service Accounts” to access Zoom Services. “Service Accounts” are mentioned in Zoom documentation for IT administration purposes – but even these must follow a documented process and be restricted.

A Zoom user-account is indented to be used by an “End User”

The Zoom Terms Of Service define an “End User” as a single Host or Participant.

The Zoom End-User License Agreement specifically says that a subscription may not be shared or used by anyone other than the individual assigned.

If an otherwise named account is shared between users, it also compromises any reporting or audibility (accountability or repudiation) for that account - not knowing who truly did what in the account and when. This can be a governance problem.

If users sharing passwords are unknowingly sharing them from a SSO system, they are potentially compromising access to other systems on the same SSO.

No matter how “discretely” this could be done (which is should not) and no matter how small the team, it is likely a security risk and in violation of Zoom-licensing, policy, and your/external company policy.

Maybe I am wrong, but based on over 20 years in the industry, it think it is unlikely.

Maybe someone else will provide a different informed opinion.

My professional advice is still never to share passwords – and to use 2FA.

As you say, Zoom Events will make things easier with external alternative hosts.

Rupert