selectively permanently muting some attendees but not others

[jncumbo]

Is it possible to have a standard zoom meeting where some attendees are left unmuted ("full" participants who can speak and turn camera on) and some attendees can be set to be "permanently" muted for the duration of the meeting (i.e., they cannot unmute or turn camera on)?

[TSENick]

While it is possible to do so, webinars may be what you are looking for. Here is our article with a Meeting and webinar comparison.

You could do this in a regular meeting by starting a meeting, going into the Security options using the bottom ribbon, then disabling Unmute Themselves and Start Video under the Allow participants to: header. This will disable all participants from speaking or turning on their video, you can then selectively choose others within the meeting to elevate to co-host in the participants page; co-hosts are able to bypass these restrictions and use their camera and unmute.

This also comes with the downside of giving a wide range of controls to many users in your meeting by giving them co-host privileges. I'd recommend checking out Roles in a meeting to see if you are alright with giving these users co-host before doing this.