One of the key features that Zoom makes use of when users make video calls, is the automatic focus shifting based on which user is talking. In the default “Active Speaker” view, as many participants as possible are shown across the top of the window while the currently speaking user is placed in the foreground and takes up the majority of the screen space. This is designed to draw attention to the person currently talking and is mostly effective. The feature can, however, run into issues when multiple people are speaking or when another user has a background noise picked up by their microphone.
By default, Zoom only shows your webcam feed in the row of smaller webcam videos at the top of the screen, even when you’re the active speaker. This is generally not too much of an issue, as you don’t really need to see yourself when you’re talking. Zoom does allow you to change this behaviour if you want to though. One of the reasons you may want to change this setting is that you can see when you have taken the active speaker role for everyone else, it also acts as a confirmation that you’re not talking into a muted microphone.
If you want to change the setting to be able to see your webcam when you’re the active speaker, you’ll need to go into the settings. To access the settings, click on your user icon in the top-right corner, then click on “Settings”.
Once in the settings, switch to the “Video” tab and tick the checkbox labelled “See myself as the active speaker while speaking”.
Tip: This setting is only effective when you’re using the “Active Speaker” view. It will not have any effect if you use the “Gallery” view.
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