Best practices for Zoom Meeting Usage Reports

[JProgulske]

Does anyone have advice for the best practices for using the Zoom Meeting (not webinar) Usage Reports as a meeting sign-in for a large meeting (hundreds of people)? Registered Zoom users who are logged into Zoom will show the correct name, email address, etc., but what about participants who call in or who do not have a Zoom account? I am worried their screen name during the meeting will not reflect their actual name, and I think I understand from research that the Usage Report does not reflect names changed during a meeting. Any information and advice is welcome!

[jrmagno]

You're absolutely right to be cautious — using Zoom Meeting Usage Reports as an attendance or "sign-in" tool for large meetings (especially with hundreds of people) has limitations, particularly around name accuracy and identifying participants who:

Dial in by phone

Join without logging into Zoom

Change their screen name mid-meeting

Reports do include:

Name (as entered on joining)

Join/leave times

Duration

Email address (only if the user is logged in)

Join method (e.g., Zoom client, browser, phone)

Reports do NOT include:

Name changes made during the meeting

Email addresses for guests or phone users

Consistent identification for people who rejoin or switch devices

Best Practices for Using Zoom Usage Reports for Sign-In

Require Registration in Advance

Enable registration even for meetings (not just webinars).

You can collect real name, email, organization, etc.

Report will then show exactly who attended, tied to their registration.

Require Sign-in to Join

Set the meeting to allow only authenticated users to join.

You can allow sign-in via any Zoom account or restrict it to specific domains.

Use Unique Join Links

With registration enabled, each registrant gets a unique join link.

This is a strong way to track who joined (even if names change).

Avoid relying solely on Display Name

Many people join with nicknames, initials, or even "iPhone".

Usage Reports will reflect the name at the time of join only, not updates.

For Phone Dial-in Participants

Consider using Zoom’s "require phone number to register" setting.

Ask dial-in users to email or text the host with their name if they can't log in.

In-Meeting Backup Sign-In Options

Post a Google Form or Zoom poll early in the meeting as a “sign-in”

Include required fields: full name, email, org, etc.

This can help reconcile anonymous joiners or phone callers.

After the Meeting: Cross-Reference

Use both:

Zoom Usage Report

Poll results / Registration data / Google Form

This gives you the most complete and verifiable attendance list.

How to Access the Usage Report:

Go to your web portal account 

Click Usage under the Reports section

Find the meeting → Click Participants to export join/leave info

Cheers,

[JProgulske]

jrmagno

Thanks so much for this confirmation and useful details!

[meriment]

Additionally you can combine registration and attendance reports to get a more complete picture and ensure emails are included. You can do this by downloading the reports into excel and running pivot tables. If you want to automate this there is a Zoom app, Salepager, that can generate combined attendance and registration reports for you.

[JProgulske]

meriment

Thanks so much for this additional information! We were hoping to avoid Zoom registration for this use case but use it in plenty of other situations, so this info is gold.