Note: This is an FYI post aside from the Tips for Hosting Virtual Meetups by @TraciC especially for early users of virtual meet-ups especially for work. They are tips I never knew about and have impacted how I now do virtual meet-ups.
I’ve been using Zoom for Virtual Teleconferencing (VTC) for the last few years for work while working for an international and distributed organisation. We tried out a variety of apps (except for Google Meet which I’m trying out right now during @Sagir 's Virtual meet-up.) Hangouts has a limit of 25 users while Meet with the advantage of being able to host multiple users, There’s more features that I’m discovering right now such as free users can only join but not create a meeting 
.
For anyone planning to use Zoom for meet-ups, I thought I’d share an awareness post on a few things I’ve come across:
- Although it’s not possible to initiate a virtual meet-up using your free @gmaill account, try loading Google Chrome using your school or work profile. Most likely the GSuite Administrator has activated it though no proper official communication was made.
- Zoombombing is when an uninvited person joins your Virtual Teleconference Call (VTC) whether it’s Zoom, Hangouts or meet call without permission with mischievous intent. This has been featured a number of times in the news. Recently it has been classified as an illegal activity by the FBI (Hi, Feds.
) … so if you know someone who’s thinking of joining random meet-ups with ill intent, please advise them against it. - No more general updates other than security critical updates - Given the security issues and several companies including banning its use, Zoom has prioritised security updates during the COVID-19 period. For non-critical bugs they’ve been set to a low priority. My guess is same goes for other VTC services.
- Updates - If you are a “Remind me tomorrow” person for updates, tomorrow has come. If you’re using desktop or mobile VTC apps, set it to auto-update to keep your security always up to date. Be safe today by updating any VTC.
All the best as you do your virtual meet-ups.