Multiple participants on one screen

[JoBro]

I never used Zoom before

I want to set up a meeting with overseas relatives using my laptop with a speaker instead of headphones.

There will be three of us sitting side by side acting as one participant (not separate participants) so we will have to shift the laptop some distance away so all three of us will be visible on overseas party's screen.

Will laptop mic be able to pick up our voices from some distance away?

We will be unable to reach the laptop to mute our mic when overseas party is talking. Can we just leave our mic un-muted all the time? Won't our mic pick up other party's voice on our speaker and transmit it back to him, and then back to us even louder, and then back to him even louder still, in other words setting up a vicious circle?

[srbh41413 · Accepted solution]

Basically, it could work to have 3 people sitting in front of the PC and be heard by its mic, but saying the laptop will be some distance away, that could be a problem for the sound. You should be able to see 3 people with a distance of 2 meters or so. If you can keep within 2 meters, it should work OK - though not as good as close up.  If it's noisy AND you're farther away, then it would get worse and worse sound quality.

The issue of leaving the mic open is not a problem. It's designed to work like that and Zoom is very clever about not sending back the sound that's coming in.

Hope you can enjoy your family visit using Zoom across the globe.

[JoBro]

Thank you very much - that answers my question 100%