Zoom is a video app that has gained massive popularity during the Covid-19 Lockdown. Anyone can get Zoom for free and it’s available to use on your Phone & Tablet plus Desktop & Laptop providing you have a webcam attached which makes it absolutely ideal for a Video Date.

The main benefit of using Zoom for video dating over other video apps is that you don’t have to give out any personal information at all. No emails, no mobile numbers, no Facebook info, nothing. You set up the video date and then invite others to join you.

So how do you use Zoom for video dating?
Firstly you need to sign up for a free account, you can do this via their website https://zoom.us or by downloading the Zoom app for you mobile device from the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.

Video dating is not for everyone that’s why it’s always advisable to let someone know that you are up for video dating as they may not be. In reality you will already be chatting via Plentymorefish and be ready to ‘Video Meet’ to take the next step.

NB: Do not send video invites as an introduction! Don’t let your very first message be “Hey, join me for a video date” as the recipient will most likely just ignore you.

Once you’ve established that your date is willing to chat on video it’s time to set a time for your video date. Hit ‘Schedule

1. Set the topic as something like “Hey, Wendy would you like to join me for a video date?” providing it’s Wendy you’re inviting obviously!
2. Select a time and duration. We’d suggest an hour at most
3. Set meeting ID to generate automatically
4. Set the host & participants video to ‘ON’
5. Set Audio to Telephone & Computer Audio
6. Set calendar to other calendars

Starting May 9, 2020, all meetings for Free or Basic accounts, including previously scheduled meetings, new meetings, and meetings started or scheduled using Personal Meeting IDs will require a password. If your participants join by clicking a meeting link with a password embedded, there will be no change to their joining experience. For participants who join by manually entering a Meeting ID, they will need to enter a password to access the meeting, including participants who join via telephone.

Don’t worry about advanced options. They will be set to ‘Allow waiting room’ and ‘Allow join before host’ this means that if your date gets there before that’s OK. They will be placed in a virtual waiting room and you will see on your display, as the host, that you then have to click ‘Accept’ to allow them into your video date.

Once your Video Date is scheduled it will appear in your meeting diary in the app as above and by clicking on the three dots you will have the option to copy the invitation and paste that into  your chat with the person you want to video date.

After you have pasted the invite into your chat it’s probably best to delete everything in the very business-like invite except the URL and write a much more personalised message.

It will start life like this:

Tom Single is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Hey, Wendy would you like to join me for a video date?

Time: May 1, 2020 20:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83090026835

You could turn it into something like:

Hi it’s Tom, I’ve arranged a Video Date for us via Zoom at 8pm tonight as discussed.

Look forward to video meeting you, click this link to join the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83090026835

See you later x

Your prospective date will not have to download and install Zoom to join your meeting; however it makes it so much easier if they do. They can do this in advance and this is an ideal opportunity to offer some assistance if they need it.

Once it’s all arranged you both simply join the meeting at the arranged time.

For more detail on how you can use ZOOM visit their quick start section click here.

See our blog on Tips for Video Dating to learn more.