4 Reasons to Not Use Zoom and the Solution

4 Reasons to Not Use Zoom

We at VSE take security very seriously, and when we found out that the most popular video conference service (Zoom) is bad for your (and our) security we’ve decided to not use zoom, in fact we avoid zoom altogether, in our search we have found some amazing alternatives.

4 Reasons to Not Use Zoom?

1. Force download

You are forced to download and install a client. Even if it’s a small client that’s super easy to download and install on your computer, you are still forced to install it. This opens up ample room for hackers and pretenders to send you a fake zoom setup file with a virus embedded in it. And don’t get me started with their mobile apps (look at the poor android app reviews) with over 20 intrusive permissions that includes: your identity, your phones storage with all your personal photos on it, your contacts list and so on.

2. Zoombombing Trolls and security issues

Zoomboming is an actual term coined by TechCrunch and mentioned in the New York Times. They explain how easy it is for trolls and creeps to join your Zoom event, whether it’s a private family party or an official office meeting. This is unacceptable, and won’t look good to your event’s attendees or your sponsors. Here are the articles from both publications:

Techcrunch: Beware of ‘ZoomBombing’: screensharing filth to video calls

The New York Times: ‘Zoombombing’: When Video Conferences Go Wrong

There are evidence that Zoom has been feeding it’s users data to Facebook without users permission. And some legal concerns from the New York Attorney General as well regarding it’s data practices.

3. Easy to Hack

Over half a million Zoom accounts were hacked and the hacked accounts were given out for free on the dark web. Even though the hack was exposed in a Forbes article, Zoom continue to get hacked easily, due in part to their effort to make the platform easy to use. If this is a school that’s using Zoom for children’s education, hacking children information and putting up for sale on the dark web is unethical and dangerous. The same goes for event attendees who trusted you with their information.

Forbes: 500,000 Hacked Zoom Accounts Given Away For Free On The Dark Web

4. Freezes and slow

This is a simple math, and to be expected. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started. For some reason, everyone forgot about google hangouts, skype, gotomeeting, and many trusted and mature brands. Everyone flocked to use Zoom. And just like any service that depends on a server (or multi servers). It will eventually get congested and sluggish (remember the Twitter fail whale). This is why so many Zoom users experience freezes and/or skipping even if it was a small 2 people meeting.

The Alternative Solution to Avoid Zoom

These are our 4 Reasons to Not Use Zoom and worry not, we have the solution and it’s super simple. Before we share the solution, we should explain how Zoom (or Google hangout, or Skype) works.

When you download Zoom and install it. The software captures your video (image and voice) and send it to their servers. Then the server will act as a streaming platform (like youtube live or twitch). The other side of your zoom attendees will see your video which was downloaded from the server. This is a 2 way (or more depending on how many people are joined) mechanism.

The Solution: WebRTC

WebRTC is a mature project started in 2011 check out the WIkipedia page. And it’s very simple. It is a web based RTC (Real Time Communication) Therefore, it is server-less and peer-to-peer powered with an end-to-end encryption enabled by default.

1- By being web based. As a result, it immediately eliminates the need to download a software to install or a plugin to add to your browser.

2- Can’t be trolled because it generates a token only available to the invited participants.

3- Can’t be hacked since it’s end-to-end encrypted (often with PGP encryption).

4- Most likely will not freeze. Due to the fact that it depends on your own computer (or smart phone) power combined with your internet speed (for each participant). And it’s a fraction of the bandwidth used with zoom or skype thanks to it’s brilliant encoding without loosing any voice or video quality.

Final Thoughts

We’re not against using Zoom for events or meetings. We just ask our clients to do so at their own risk if they are OK using these services. However, we’ve implemented a powerful, WebRTC based solution to be used within our virtual event platform. With a ton of options not available within Zoom. And for the pre-recorded sessions we use our HLS secure fast video CDN platform. As for our internal company meetings we use jitsi meet (part of the privacy conscious Disroot organization). And we simply love it.

How to White Label Your Virtual Conference for Complete Branding Control?

white label virtual conference

In Person Event Venues Respect your Brand

Before we talk about how to white label your virtual conference, let’s talk about in-person events. I remember going to many conferences at the Javits Center in NYC. Not once have I seen the building branding inside in any of these conferences or expos. Instead, you always see the main event name and their sponsors banners. And whether it’s the Javits Center or any other event venue, you would never see a mention of the venue during the event or on the floors. The only time I’ve seen such thing is when there is food or beverage provided, there is normally a small mention, something like “Coffee provided by Sheraton”.

White Label your Virtual conferences

Now, let’s flip the situation to a virtual event. Instead of the venue, you’ll have webpages, instead of stages with screens and A/V, you’ll have videos. Your virtual event sponsors will love how their logos, links, and pdfs are in the spotlight. Why should you settle for your virtual event producer to have a “powered by” mention, or their logo blasted all over your event page. It’s simply unacceptable.

Not only it comes off as how desperate they are to promote their service, but also looks very unprofessional to your attendees and more importantly your sponsors. It reflects very poorly to them especially after they had paid you a sponsorship fee just to realize some other company with no relation to the industry has a bigger logo there for free. That’s why you should not be restricted to white label your virtual conference.

All we ask for is a small mention

Now don’t get me wrong, every one loves some attention. For example, when people go to a conference, they will often check in on their social media or at least tweet about it. Something like (I’m at #javitscenter for the #cars #show #CSNY2018). So, we’ve decided to adapt the same strategy at VSE. All of our clients will get complete branding control over your event (see below). All we ask for is a tweet, a blog post mention, or a short facebook post before we start working on your event. (You can even remove the post after a while, we won’t force you to keep it up because we’re nice this way) 😉. And you will get full control to white label your virtual conference or event as outlined below.

Here is an example we randomly found (no relation):

What branding control will you get with VSE?

To white label your virtual conference or event, we ask that you do the mention we ask for and you will get all the following at the great price of “Zero”:

1. Your event or company logo everywhere, even as a favicon.

2. Your event or company original domain name pointing on every page (CNAME customization).

3. Every email or email sequence sent (tickets, reminders, announcements) will come from your domain (custom SMTP).

4. Speaking of emails, your logos and your sponsor’s logo/info can be added as well.

5. Your color scheme with the light design of the event pages and with the advanced site design package (Our full services package).

6. No links will point back to VSE, not even a tiny link in the footer.

VSE gives you complete control to white label your virtual conference or event.

So much branding control awesomeness!

Your Revenue Your Profit 100%

Your Revenue Your Profit

You created a conference, you reached out to speakers and sponsors, you created your event’s schedule, in addition, you hired a service and got a platform to deliver your event. Why would you have to pay a fee out of your revenue on top of all of this? In short, it makes no sense.

Your Revenue, Your Profit 100%

Similarly, we feel the same exact way. At VSE collectively within our team we’ve used membership services. In addition, we’ve used course delivery services. For example, one of our team members even consulted for a restaurant. They had to pay a hefty fee for a booking service. It just doesn’t make sense.

As a result, we’ve decided that if you have a revenue driven event with ticket sales, no matter if you have 50 ticket sales or 10,000, we will never ask you for a cut. We implement our ticketing system with Stripe (your own Stripe account). Whatever you sell is all yours. You would only pay whatever Stripe charges as a transaction fee the same as any other merchant provider would charge out of your revenue. That’s it plain and simple. Try our cost calculator here.

To Clarify, we do not charge your attendees. You (the event host) will be able to add your Stripe account in a very easy way within your event admin area. Whenever attendees purchase tickets, it will show up directly on your Stripe account.

BONUS: No Stripe fees on your first $10,000 in payments

We are working behind the scenes with a partner company to offer a way to our clients to pay no fees for the first $10,000 payments processed in ticket sales through your Stripe account. Therefore, you can keep 100% of your revenue. We will update this article when we secure the deal.