Hey, Zoom… Thanks for wasting my morning. I have a few meetings set up for a client. They have a list of people they want to invite. They don’t want these people to have to self-register and they don’t want to send out a generic meeting attendance link that could get forwarded and shared. Each person should have their own login link that will allow us to track participation.
So far, so good. Zoom is set up for that. I simply check the box in the meeting setup to require registration. And now I can load in the names and emails of the participants who should get their login information…
Aha! The shoe drops. If this were a Zoom webinar, there would be no problem – I can import a CSV file with all the names and emails of my participants. But for a meeting, I can’t do that. I have to bring up the interactive registration page and type or paste in the first name, last name, email address, and email address again for confirmation. Then click the register button. Then go through I’m Not A Robot validation, which can currently take up to twenty selection clicks, multiple attempts, and delays while waiting for replacement images to get displayed. Over and over and over, for each and every person in each and every meeting session. It’s maddening.
It’s also so easy to avoid. Zoom could allow bulk upload of a CSV file for meetings… We know the code and the design is already in place. Or they could allow a bulk input screen for account administrators to use while logged into their account, with slots for multiple records of first/last/email and no robot verification required. Or they could build a group registration page that offers the ability for a group coordinator to enter multiple participants with a single human validation check.
I’m perfectly willing to accept that most meeting participants self-register, one at a time. But that’s no reason to make it the ONLY way to get people registered.
