Schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences with Zoom Video Conferencing?

This article is...

	This article is for Administrative assistants scheduling Parent Teacher Conferences.
	Intended for Employees and Students
	Categorized under Classroom Technology and Systems‏‎
	Maintained by Matt Ringh
	Up-to-date for the 2021-2022 school year.

Step 1 - Create a Google Calendar (if you don’t have one already)

Please create a Google Calendar to host the P/T Conferences you will create for Parents, Faculty, and Deans. Go to https://calendar.google.com/ and click the “+” next to “Other Calendars”.

Select “Create New Calendar”.

Name it, and click “Create Calendar”.

If prompted, click “Configure” calendar. You will now see this new calendar under “My Calendars” in the left-hand margin.

Step 2 - Open the Zoom.us Application on your computer, and make sure you’re signed in with your Licensed Riverdale Account. Things should look like the picture below.

Step 3 - Go to your Zoom Settings (https://riverdale.zoom.us/profile/setting) and toggle off "email notifications" for "When an alternative host is set or removed from a meeting".

This will prevent an unwanted email notification from going out to Teachers later.

Step 4 - Click the “Schedule” icon.

Step 5 - Schedule the Meeting in the Zoom App

Enter the Meeting Topic: “P/T for Mr. Johnny Appleseed with Mrs. Kate Appleseed and John Appleseed”, for example. Set the “Date & Time”, for the full duration of the Parent Teacher Conference. 8:30am to 10:30am, for example. Click “Advanced Options” at the bottom, and make every teacher who will be attending the meeting an “Alternative Host”. Make Sure everything else is set as it is in the picture on the next page. (i.e. Waiting Room enabled, Video is on for Host and Participants, Audio set to Telephone and Computer Audio, Calendar set to “Google Calendar”, all advanced options unchecked, and Alternative Hosts added.)

Click “Save”.

Step 6 - Schedule the Meeting in Google Calendar

When you clicked “Save”, it will open Google Calendar in your Browser

Choose your Riverdale Account.

“Allow” Zoom to access your Google Account.

You will now see your new Calendar Event containing a Zoom link. Refer to the picture below for the next 3 steps...

1. Select the Calendar you created in “Step 1” (“Parent Teacher Conferences”).
2. Copy the Zoom link from the “location” field.
3. Save the Event.

NOTE! Make sure you copied the text of the URL, and not the “Link Address”. It should look like this (when pasted): https://riverdale.zoom.us/j/82141478428?pwd=SjUxcCsxZEs2eTNDenVIY0ppd0ZiUT09 Not like this: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://riverdale.zoom.us/j/82141478428?pwd=SjUxcCsxZEs2eTNDenVIY0ppd0ZiUT09&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1603116092060000&usg=AOvVaw3CLh0EqYJRKqGtpv6mhCFf

Step 7 - Send individual invites to each of the teachers.

Now that you have the Zoom link, create individual calendar events in your “Parent Teacher Conferences” Calendar for each of the teachers, and paste the Zoom link as the “location” of the meeting. Note! As you invite Teachers to this meeting, you may get a message about the meeting having “two Zoom meetings”. If you do, click “OK”, and then make sure there’s no Zoom meeting link or button other than the ones you’ve pasted into the “location” field and the “description” field.

For the first teacher in the P/T Conference, add a note similar to this:

Hello Andrew, You are the first Faculty member to meet with the Appleseeds on the morning of the 16th. Please make one of the parents/guardians the Host of the Zoom meeting, before you leave the meeting, so they don't get kicked out when you leave at 8:50am. Here's how to make them the host: Open the participants list. Hover over the name of the parent you want to make the host and click More. Click Make Host. Click Yes to confirm that you want to make them the host.

Thank you! https://riverdale.zoom.us/pppppppp

Here’s what one finished teacher invite might look like (before saving):

Step 8 - Send an email to the parent(s), and include the schedule for the day, and the Zoom link. Here’s an example (from Margie):

RIVERDALE COUNTRY SCHOOL Parent/Teacher Virtual Conference

With: Kate and John Appleseed

Date: Friday, October 16th 2020

Re: Johnny

Link: https://riverdale.zoom.us/j/84232127506?pwd=Tzl5NGhORDFyS2Y1aE5qNHN1a1c2QT06

  M. Murakami		Sci.	8:25
  A.Kingsley &
  E. Baker		CA	8:45
  C. Crocker		Math	9:05
  S. Ettinger		Latin	9:25
  M. Marturano		Greek	9:45
  S. Polise		Dean	10:05

Meeting times with teachers run approximately 15 minutes as allowable by their schedules. Please remind the first teacher you meet with to make you the meeting “Host”, so you’ll remain in the Zoom meeting as teachers come and go.