Business Account

[AlvinFerry]

I have a business account and I want to host a meeting, but my colleague will be hosting a meeting at the same time also.
Can we use the username and password of my business account on 2 different laptops to host 2 different meetings in 2 different places at the same time?

Or should I make my colleague as an alternative host first to do it? If yes, can my colleague use any type of account like Basic or Pro account to become an alternative host or should he have a Business account also before he became my alternative host?

[Ray_Harwood]

Hi, @AlvinFerry,

First, I'll refer you to this Zoom Support article that covers concurrent meetings; it should have most of the answers to your main question, but can be a little technical:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206122046-Hosting-concurrent-meetings

When you say you have a "business" account, I'm assuming you mean a "Zoom Business account", which generally means you have 10 or more users on one organizational account.  If by "business account" you mean a "Zoom Pro" account (typically with less than 10 users) that you use for business, you need to read carefully the difference between Pro and Business users here and in the document referenced above.  (Or ask here for clarification.)

Next, just a note that sharing usernames and passwords in order to access and host each other's meetings is against the Zoom Terms of Service.  As with most other accounts with other companies, the user account is assigned to you personally, and shouldn't be shared in that manner.  Note that there are workarounds which do let other host meetings that you have scheduled, which I'll cover briefly below.

Zoom does not prevent you from scheduling two or more meetings for the same time frame.  Zoom does prevent Basic and Pro account users from having more than one meeting active at a time, and Business, Education, or Enterprise account holders can have one or two meetings active at a time, but no more than two active concurrently.

The Alternate Host approach can work for you, but see this Zoom Support article for reference:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/208220166-Designating-an-alternative-host

Note that both users must be paid accounts and on the same organizational account (under the same owner).  If your associate has a Basic account, or if your associate has a paid account with another organization (or on his own, which is technically as separate organization, as he'd be the owner of the 1-person account), then Alternate Host won't work for you.

If you are both on paid accounts (Pro or higher) and both in the same organizational account, and also frequently share meeting setup and hosting duties, look into Scheduling Privilege, which allows each of you to see each other's meetings, schedule meetings for each other, and host each other's  meetings -- subject to the concurrent meeting limitations of each account.

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

One more possibility: using the Host Key.  This allows you to schedule a meeting, but give another person the ability to join the meeting without your attendance and "claim the host role".  This is done frequently by teachers who schedule their classes online, but need to skip a class for personal reasons and have another instructor take over the helm.  The scheduling host sends the substitute host the meeting link and the Host Key (accessible from the account profile page on Zoom.us near the bottom), and sets the meeting to NOT have a Waiting Room and enables the Join Before Host for 15, 10, or 5 minutes.  The substitute host joins the meeting (might be the first person there, or maybe not), but being in possession of the Host Key, opens the Participant window and clicks the Claim Host button, enters the Host Key, and assumes the Host role in the absence of the person that scheduled the meeting.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205172555-Using-your-host-key 

Zoom has many options and feature!  This full set of ways to (legally) get access to someone else's meetings comes up a lot.  Let me know if you have any questions or need some additional guidance.  Good luck!

[Ray_Harwood]

And I see that @Bort has answered your other question about Pro vs Business accounts, so now I'm assuming you currently have a Zoom Pro account (that you use for business purposes).  Welcome to the crowd!  I too am a small business person -- a solo Zoom event producer and frequent customer/volunteer contributor here in the Zoom Community. 

What having a Pro account means in terms of your question in this thread is that you are limited to only one meeting actively in progress at any one time.  If you (or any alternate hosts or those with Scheduling Privilege) attempt to start another one of your meetings at the same time as a meeting you are actively hosting, they'll be prompted to shut down your meeting to continue starting theirs or can cancel the new meeting startup.