Zoom has rapidly become a household name—chances are, you have attended a meeting, webinar, or virtual hangout using their industry-leading platform.
As per BusinessWire, over 300 million people now use Zoom daily in 2022. And when over 20+ friends, family, or colleagues assemble in a single meeting, it helps to have an extra pair of hands on deck to manage the technology and participants seamlessly.
This is where Zoom‘s co-host feature comes in really handy!
According to Lifewire‘s expert tech analysts, having meeting co-hosts empowers you to share admin privileges like screen sharing, removing attendees, and starting/stopping recording. As the host, you maintain overall ownership.
Let‘s explore exactly how to tap into the power of adding Zoom co-hosts with this definitive step-by-step guide. We‘ll cover:
- Prerequisites for using co-hosts
- Walkthrough of adding a co-host
- Confirming and revoking privileges
- Visual references, tips, and expert insights
- FAQs on advanced Zoom co-host use cases
So you can relax and have co-hosts handle meeting operations on your behalf!
Why Appoint Zoom Co-Hosts?
Before we dive into the step-by-step guide, let‘s briefly discuss common scenarios where utilizing co-hosts really pays dividends.
<table>
<tr>
<th>Use Case</th>
<th>Benefit of Co-Hosts</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Webinars & Workshops</td>
<td>Co-present content, manage Q&A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Training Sessions </td>
<td>Assist new hires with exercises </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hybrid Events</td>
<td>Manage virtual attendees questions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Company Meetings </td>
<td>IT support for screen shares </td>
</tr>
</table>Table 1: Common scenarios where meeting co-hosts provide value
As you can see, handing off admin rights helps optimize engagement and minimize disruptions in medium-to-large meetings.
Now let‘s get you set up with adding co-hosts!
Prerequisites for Enabling Zoom Co-Hosts
Before being able to add a co-host to your meetings, verify the following:
You Must be the Meeting Host
Only the original host who scheduled or started an instant meeting can enable co-host functionality.
Upgrade to a Paid Zoom Plan
<table>
<tr>
<th>Zoom Plan</th>
<th>Co-host Support?</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Free</td>
<td>❌ Not available</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pro ($149/year) </td>
<td>✅ Available</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Business</td>
<td>✅ Available </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Enterprise/Education</td>
<td>✅ Available</td>
</tr>
</table>Table 2: Only paid Zoom plans enable co-host capabilities
As you can see above, Zoom‘s free basic plan does not support designating co-hosts.
You‘ll need to upgrade to their Pro plan starting at $149 per year. Consider going annual if you frequently host large sessions to save 16% compared to monthly billing.
Enable Co-Host Setting in Your Zoom Account
Even with a paid account, the co-host setting needs to be manually enabled before you can start assigning the role during meetings.
Let‘s tackle that next.
Step 1: Turn on Co-Host Capability in Zoom
As the account owner, you‘ll need to flip on the co-host switch in your Zoom settings:
Sign into Zoom‘s web portal and access your account dashboard
Click on Settings in the left sidebar
Under the In Meeting (Basic) section, locate the Co-host option
Toggle the setting to enable it. The switch will turn blue:
The change is automatically saved—co-host toggling is now ready for your next meeting!
Time to start a session and add a helping hand.
Step 2: Start an Instant or Scheduled Meeting
Your co-host superpowers are now activated across all meetings you initiate as the host.
To start an instant Zoom meeting:
- Simply log into your Zoom account dashboard
- Click the orange New Meeting button to generate a fresh conference room!
To start a scheduled meeting:
- Go to the Meetings tab in your Zoom dashboard
- Under Upcoming Meetings, click Start beside the relevant meeting
Either way, you‘ll now have co-host designation access once participants join your meeting!
Step 3: Have Participants Join Your Meeting
For someone to become a co-host, they must first join your Zoom meeting from their device.
As host, you have a couple options to connect them:
A. Send them the meeting invite/link
- Copy and share the auto-generated invite or meeting URL by clicking Invite or Copy URL on the Zoom toolbar at the bottom
- Via email, chat or text, have your desired co-host(s) click the meeting link to join the session before it begins
B. Connect via Zoom Rooms
- If they are physically in the same conference room, have them join through a Zoom Rooms display connected to your meeting
Once joined, confirm you see them listed as participants before assigning them special privileges.
Step 4: Designate a Participant as Co-Host
This is the fun part—handing off admin superpowers to a co-host!
Identify the participant you wish to upgrade in the Manage Participants tab on the bottom toolbar.
Hover over their name, and click the More button
Select Make Co-Host from the dropdown menu
Confirm the prompt to assign privileges
And just like that—your participant is now a meeting co-host with abilities to manage attendees, start/stop recording, annotate screens, and more!
Step 5: Verify Co-Host Status
For visual confirmation, check that your newly-appointed co-host has (co-host) tagged next to their name in participants list.
A small crown icon will also appear next to their video feed once enabled.
With great power comes great responsibility! Your co-host can now lend a helpings hand.
Revoking Co-Host Permissions
As the original host, you maintain overall ownership. If needed, assigned privileges can be revoked.
- Hover over the co-host’s name in Participants list
- Select Revoke Co-Host from the menu
- Confirm the prompt to demote them back to attendee status
Recap and Key Takeaways
Let‘s do a quick high-level recap of what we covered:
- Zoom co-hosts help optimize larger meetings by sharing admin rights
- Upgrade to a paid Zoom plan, with the Pro plan providing basic co-host access
- Turn on co-host setting in account dashboard Settings
- Start an instant or scheduled meeting
- Have your co-host join the meeting
- Hover over participant name > Make Co-Host
- Verify "(co-host)" appears next to their name
Leaning on co-hosts allows you as host to focus on content delivery rather than mechanics during the session.
Now that you‘re a pro at configuring Zoom‘s co-host capabilities, may your next webinar, workshop or virtual event be a resounding success with engaged participants!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can Zoom co-hosts also share screens and annotate?
A: Absolutely! Your designated co-hosts have access to the same in-meeting controls, including screen share, annotate, manage participants, and more. Think of them as an extension of yourself as host.
Q: How many co-hosts can I appoint per meeting?
A: Technically Zoom does not enforce hard limits. But as best practice, appoint 1-2 trusted co-hosts maximum to prevent confusing attendees on who‘s running the show!
Q: Can mobile users become Zoom co-hosts too?
A: Yes! Zoom‘s iOS and Android apps fully support making mobile participants into meeting co-hosts. The steps are the same as outlined above.
Final Thoughts
Adding Zoom meeting co-hosts provides an extra set of helping hands when hosting large-scale events. As the popularity of hybrid workforces, workshops, and webinars increases, so too does the need for shared management.
We covered everything you need to get co-hosts configured in your Zoom account and conquer your next meeting!
Now you can put your feet up, relay the Zoom details to a co-host, and deliver content while they handle the digital dirty work in the background.
Here‘s to frictionless video conferencing and engaging experiences for all involved!
