Waiting room: Why am I in a waiting room?

The waiting room is a feature of Zoom. If the waiting room is turned on for a meeting, you will not enter a meeting directly when you go there, but you will have to wait for the host to let you in.

• You will be admitted to the meeting/lecture after a short time. If not, contact the host or the person who invited you. If you are in a waiting room and are unsure if it is because you are not properly logged in to UiO-Zoom, you can check it and log in correctly.

Using a witing room for a meeting is often a security measure, because it is very effective in preventing so-called Zoom bombing. Waiting rooms can also be used where a meeting has several parts, and some guests are only allowed to attend one part of the meeting. Then participants can be told to come to the meeting at an approximate time, and then be let in from the waiting room when their time comes.

In some cases, the waiting room is set up so that everyone who is logged in to UiO-Zoom enters directly, and those who are not logged in, have to wait in a waiting room. This prevents unwanted participants, such as someone who wants to post or display inappropriate content (zoom-bombing), while UiO students and staff who are logged in go straight into the meeting. If you are in a waiting room and are unsure whether you are logged in to UiO-Zoom, you can check it and log in correctly.

In any case, you should always use Zoom with UiO login, where privacy and security are better than in the free version of Zoom, and UiO has made key settings to further improve security.