Garrett Strommen

How to make a permanent video meeting link in Google Meet or Zoom – which is better?

If you want an easy way to run your meetings, you may need a permanent video meeting link, or a personal meeting ID.

At Strommen we ask that all tutors create one. If we don’t have this link, our nice confirmation emails will say something like this:

Meeting Location: “Your teacher will contact you.”

This adds an extra step and the potential for students to frantically contact our office at the last minute, saying they don’t have a link (it happens a lot).

Here are the best options for permanent video meeting links:

1st Choice: Google Meet

Free to set up and free for one on one sessions. Free for 1 hour group sessions up to 100 people. If you are doing group classes over 1 hour, you will need a paid account ($6 / month)

Why we like it:

Students don’t have to download any software, and generating your link is easy.

What we need:

After installing, start a new meeting. Copy the URL. Send the URL via email or update it as your link on the dashboard. You can use this URL for all meetings.

2nd Choice: Zoom

Free Zoom only allows 40-minute meetings. If you have a paid account ($13/month) please send us your Personal Meeting ID (with the waiting room turned on for security). Help Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2XUejg3iv0

You can send the URL for your Personal Meeting ID that starts with https:// and use this for all your meetings.

Why we don’t like it:

It only works with a paid account. Students have to download software. Creating a personal meeting ID and setting up the waiting room can be challenging. A paid account costs more than Google Meet.

3rd Choice: Teams (Skype is shutting down!)

Yes you can make a permanent link in Teams.

Teams (Skype is shutting down)

To create a permanent link:

Open Outlook and create a new meeting
Select the Teams Meeting button
Scroll to the bottom of the appointment and click the Meeting Options link
Update the meeting options
Copy the meeting link

More info here

To create a personal meeting link in the Teams app:

Open the Teams app
Select the Calendar icon
Click Meet Now
Name the meeting
Click Get a link to share
Copy the meeting link

To configure meeting options:

To restrict who can start instant private meetings, toggle Meet now in private meetings to Off
To ensure that participants wait in the lobby and are admitted one at a time, change the meeting options