[SOLVED] Zoom presentations freeze, chat stops working, remote control won't work, and other snags

[pasdetrois]

I teach a class that requires participant interaction, such as group discussions, use of chat, and polls. There is a Zoom moderator/choreographer who hosts, two home-based trainers, and 35 participants. The trainers are meant to share their Powerpoint presentations back and forth so they can advance the slides while they present.

We can't find answers via Zoom, the Internet or Youtube. We understand that the trainers have to use their desktops correctly to present, and the moderator has to make function selections to set up the rooms, chats and polls. We know that VPNs, cell phones, browsers, and memory can hinder Zoom performance. We have tried to correct all of these.

The first two training sessions went fairly well, with a few expected new-user problems, although I could not use the remote control function (long delays in control switching, could not advance the slides after about a half hour).

The most recent training session was the worst; all students worked for one federal agency but in many locations. I was able to share my screen and page through a PowerPoint until that capability froze. Chat worked until the students were in rooms, when it stopped working for the students for the rest of the training session, but not for the two trainers and the Zoom moderator.

Could this be an issue of users having varying versions of Zoom, including paid subscriptions and free or trial versions?

Are there known performance problems that occur based on certain conditions?

Despite its claims, does Zoom not work well with so many users in a training session?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ralston18]

Likely quite a number of potential issues.....

That the first couple of sessions went well is promising. It could simply be that that one Federal Agency was more problematic for whatever reasons.

Some issues may not be in your control at all. Bandwidth and traffic for example over the multiple networks involved....

The four of you: you, the moderator, and the two home-based trainers will need to set up some additional "practice" sessions of your own without trainees to work out any production glitches.

Try to duplicate or force situations that caused past problems then figure out some workarounds if possible.

Methodically determine what works, what stumbles, and what does not work.

Disabling or limiting chat, for example, may help. If the students are all having side conversations then that is more traffic and bandwidth being taken up in the training session. Maybe too much. Especially with a geographically dispersed audience - actually participants. Correct?

Document SOPs, configurations, connectivity, software and hardware requirements. First for the four of you (and for other future trainers) and secondly for future students.

Then repeat the process with a selected control group of student participants. Not a full session per se.

Just enough to again determine what is working and what is not working. Very likely that students do have quite a range of hardware and networking capabilities. Some may indeed be marginal - is there a recommended/minimal) requirements list for the participating students?

All in all things may be better than you realize. Thousands of educators have had to work through (and still are) many, many remote learning problems and issues.

And that you have been able successfully resolve past issues is also a plus.

Keep going and delve into the details. More than likely you will discover some root causes that can be addressed.

That said, do keep in mind that Mr. Murphy and his gremlin friends are still running about....