Roles in a Zoom Meeting

Overview

There are multiple roles available for a meeting: host, co-host, alternative hosts, and participants. The role that you have in a meeting is designated by the host.

  • Host: The user that scheduled the meeting. They have full permissions to manage the meeting. There can only be one host of a meeting.
  • Co-hosts: Shares most of the controls that hosts have, allowing the co-host to manage the administrative side of the meeting, such as managing attendees. The host must assign a co-host during the meeting. Co-hosts cannot start a meeting. If a host needs someone else to start the meeting, they can assign an alternative host.
  • Alternative hosts: Shares the same controls as co-hosts, but can also start the meeting. Hosts can assign alternative hosts when they schedule a meeting.

Note: If you need to schedule a meeting on behalf of another user, use scheduling privilege

This article covers:

Comparison

The following table compares the meeting controls available to the host, co-hosts, alternative hosts, and participants. 

Features with an asterisk (*) can be enable or disable by the host during the meeting.

Feature      Host      

Co-host / alternative host

Participants

Participating in the meeting

Start the meeting see note
Mute/unmute themselves*
Start/stop their own video ✔*
View participants list
Share screen ✔*
Request or give remote control
Chat with participants (in-meeting chat)
Save in-meeting chat  
Create or edit polls    
Start polling  
Answer polls    
Assign someone to enter closed captions    
Enter closed captions ✔* ✔*
End meeting
Reactions and nonverbal feedback

Managing participants

Mute or unmute participants
Stop participant's video
Ask participant to start video
Spotlight a video
Promote participant to host or co-host
Change who attendees can chat with
Remove attendees
Put participants on hold
Rename participants
Invite others to join
Assign participants to breakout rooms
Mute controls for participants (ask to mute, mute all, mute on entry)

Recording 

Start cloud recording
Start local recording ✔*
Allow or forbid a participant to start local recording

Live streaming

Live stream on Facebook
Live stream on Workplace  
Live stream on YouTube  
Custom live stream  

 

Note:

  • Alternative hosts can start the meeting by using the meeting ID or meeting link the invitation email. The meeting will not display in the upcoming meetings list in the desktop client or mobile app for alternative hosts.
  • Co-hosts cannot start meetings scheduled by the host. Co-hosts cannot be assigned ahead of time. The host has to promote a participant to co-host. Alternatively, the host can assign a user as an alternative host.