Multiple spotlight video ( picture in picture)

When I host a meeting it sometimes becomes necessary for there to be more than one person who I like to be in a spotlight video.

I would like to know if there is a feature that would allow one speaker to have a spotlight video and other necessary speaker in a picture in picture format for everyone in the meeting.(not the host)

There is always the option of muting everyone and with no spotlight video enable the screen to switch between the two,but it becomes irritating after a while.

Basically how can I show more than one person on a participant screen (picture in picture) as a spotlight video

2 Likes

Hey @arya.96.raj,

Currently you can do this with gallery view if everyone else has their video turned off.

For the ability to actually spotlight multiple participants, please submit that feature request directly: zoom.us/feed

Thanks,
Tommy

2 Likes

We have a common use case where two people are presenting at the same time (co-presenters) and need to both be spotlighted. It would be great if Zoom supported two (or more!) spotlighted participants. Thanks!

1 Like

Do zoom have the ability to actually spotlight multiple participants, yet?

Not yet…the only viable solution I have received is that everyone else but the co presenters turn off their videos and set the participant videos into gallery view…

1 Like

Just adding my voice to the folks who’d like this feature. Group presentations: would like to spotlight the group (of 3 - 4).

1 Like

Yes! For instance, a reception to honor someone retiring, or an awards ceremony. IRL, you’d call the person up to the front and they stand there smiling awkwardly while you summarize their career or read out their accomplishment. During that time, I as presenter shouldn’t be the only focus, but you also don’t want to spotlight only the honoree who is listening to things being said about them but not actually talking (yet). Side-by-side spotlight would be excellent in these situations

1 Like

Thanks for this suggestion! But doesn’t that just leave the same amount of squares in the gallery view window with the participants’ names placed where their videos would be?

Yes they will be the same amount of squares in the gallery view window with the participant’s names in place of their video, and have served none of the intended purpose, But it’s the closest solution I’ve received so far and I thought it was worth sharing incase someone can contribute further…

1 Like

I am officiating my niece’s virtual wedding next weekend and there should be about 50 people logging in to watch. I was hoping to have my niece & her partner in one spotlight screen and myself in the other. How can I accomplish this?

1 Like

Just a +1 to being able to create multiple spotlights, at least two, from Zoom meetings.

Another +1. This is critical in using Zoom for teaching where you are having two students engage in a debate in front of the class.

+1000 to this. Having group presentations in class necessitates being able to Spotlight multiple students. Ideally, we would be able to spotlight assigned breakout groups so we could bring each group “in front” of the class easily.

I am a Toastmaster and Toastmasters International has thousands of clubs around the world using Zoom which is costing them a fortune. However, in Toastmasters every speech is timed and the timer uses coloured backgrounds to indicate how far along the speech is, when time is nearly up and when time is up. Frequently the speaker cannot see the timer as we cannot highlight both - is giving the timers a video background the only way around this issue?

I have used a workaround that won’t work for just anyone, but it produced decent results. You will need a fairly strong PC. I am running Windows 10 Pro, 32 gigs of RAM, Samsung 860 QVO 1TB SSD, GTX 1080 Ti.

Using VirtualBox, I installed two virtual Windows 10 machines. I logged into Zoom on my host computer and each of my virtual machines, each under a different Zoom account. I made sure all of my accounts were host or co-host. On the two virtual machines, I pinned the people that I wanted to spotlight. I then used OBS to grab those parts of my screen and stack them one on top of the other. I enabled OBS VirtualCam and used that as a virtual camera on my host machine, then spotlighted that connection.

Obviously, this is complicated and comes with slight audio delay. A built-in feature for this would be much appreciated. If the API had the option to get participant video data, I would just build the function myself.

This is also necessary for ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation, which makes it difficult for the viewer(s) to focus on the speaker and the interpreter, unless everyone’s video is off. It’s so critical in situations when the group is mixed with hearing and non-hearing participants.

1 Like

This feature is now available folks with the latest update. Thanks Zoom!

1 Like

Could you please show me how are attach directions/video. I am a teacher and need to have at least 2 or multiple speakers on spotlight. It would also be great if co-host could also have controls at the same time as host- not separately. Thanks so much for your help!

In the newest client ver 5.2.2, there’s new feature called multiple spotlight up to 9 person. But after I tried it, it only affect the host or co-host. In others, the spotlight is still showing 1 person, also if host or co-host use dual / second monitor, it still show 1 person.

Like permission-to-unmute, EVERYONE needs 5.2.2. installed to enable the feature. Those with older versions won’t get it.