Running Better Zoom Meetings Starts with One Move: Add a Co-Host

Running a smooth Zoom, especially for larger meetings, panels, or live events, often means juggling participant management, chat moderation, recordings, and more. That’s where the co-host feature becomes a powerful ally. It enables you to delegate administrative tasks without giving away full control.

Here’s how to use Zoom’s co-host capability, step by step.

✅ Before the Meeting: Enable Co-host

Before you can appoint anyone as a co-host, make sure the feature is turned on for your Zoom account or group.

• Sign into the Zoom web portal.
• Navigate to Settings → Meeting → In Meeting (Basic).
• Scroll to the Co-host setting and toggle it On. If you see a confirmation prompt, click Enable.
• (If you’re an admin managing a group or account, you can enable or lock this setting for all users in your organization.)

Once this is done, the co-host option will be available in your upcoming meetings.

🛠️ During the Meeting: Assigning a Co-host

Only the host (the person who started the meeting) can promote a participant to co-host, and this must be done while the meeting is live.

On Desktop (Windows / macOS / Linux):

1. Begin the meeting as the host.
2. Click the Participants icon in the meeting controls.
3. In the participants panel, hover over the participant you want to promote. Click More → Make Co-host.
4. Confirm the promotion. The new co-host’s role will be labeled next to their name.

On Mobile (Android / iOS):

1. Start the meeting.
2. Tap Participants in the toolbar.
3. Tap the participant’s name, then choose Make Co-host. Confirm when prompted.

There is no hard cap on how many co-hosts you can have in a meeting or webinar — you can assign as many as needed.

⚠️ What Co-hosts Can — and Can’t — Do

The co-host role grants access to many of the host’s administrative tools, but not all. Useful capabilities include managing participants (muting, removing, admitting from waiting rooms), managing chat, and starting/stopping recordings.

However, some controls remain exclusive to the original host. Notably, co-hosts cannot:

• Start the meeting (the host must initiate meetings)
• End the meeting for all participants
• Assign another co-host or change host roles
• Start closed captioning or live streaming on behalf of the host

If your workflow requires someone other than you to start the meeting, consider assigning an alternative host. (Alternative hosts have more privileges, including starting the meeting.)

🎧 Why Co-hosts Are Worth It — Especially if You Produce Live Events

• Distribute workload: One person manages chat and participant controls, another handles recordings, another monitors Q&A — no single person is overwhelmed.
• Flexibility: Co-hosts can be non-licensed or external participants, so you can give temporary control to guests or collaborators.
• Redundancy: If you're presenting or narrating, a co-host can handle administrative tasks quietly in the background, so you stay focused.

✅ Pro Tips Before You Click “Make Co-Host”

• Plan ahead: decide who will handle what (chat moderation, recording, participant management) and communicate it before the meeting starts.
• Use alternative host when scheduling if someone else may need to start the meeting.
• After promoting co-hosts, verify in the Participants panel that the roles are correctly assigned.
• Limit the number of co-hosts to only those needed — too many can cause confusion over who’s controlling what.

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Feel free to share this newsletter with a friend struggling with virtual events.

My company is Calm, Clear, Media. I produce purpose-driven virtual events for nonprofits and member organizations. I don’t just manage Zoom calls; I create experiences that reflect your mission and engage your audience. My job is to make sure everything runs smoothly so my clients can focus on impact.