Frequently Asked Question

Best Practices for Conferencing Recordings

Video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and WebEx have made it much easier to work remotely. However, their use comes with additional risk. One concern about video conferencing applications comes from the ability to record meetings and events. Consider the following issues and solutions before you decide to record a meeting:

• Digital recordings are public records that may be released according to the Washington State Public Records Act and the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
• Like any other record, meeting recordings must be retained for the legally approved retention period, which, depending on content, can be as long as six years.
• Content in video conferencing platforms is not easily accessible. These recordings are often difficult to search. When faced with the need to retrieve information, this lack of searchability adds to the burden on departments and creates additional liability for the college.
• Zoom and other video conferencing programs are not record repositories and do not adhere to legal retention requirements. It is your responsibility to ensure that any recordings with requirements for retention are saved to another location (like Google Drive) where they can be found, opened, and viewed for their full retention period.
• The retention period also applies to any chat or private messages.

Before recording a meeting, consider the purpose of the meeting, whether it needs to be recorded, and the reasons for recording (or not recording) it. Do not record meetings just because they can be recorded. Recording without a specific reason is not worth the extra liability and risk, which includes the possibility of public interpretation or misinterpretation of anything said during the meeting.

Notice and Consent

• When recording a meeting, remember the laws that may relate to recordings (e.g., RCW 9.73.030 – Washington’s two-party consent requirements for private conversations).
• LCC recommends NOT recording meetings with staff or one-on-one conversations.
• When meetings include students or members of the public, LCC recommends that you obtain consent from all participants or, at a minimum, notify all attendees that the meeting is being recorded.

Applying Retention Schedules to Recordings

• The function and content of recordings determines how long the recording must be retained.
• For more information, read LCC's Guidelines for Records Retention Periods and Disposition Methods

Recommendations for Saving and Safely Deleting Recordings

• Download the recording and save it in a shared location such as a Google Drive.
• Organize recordings into folders by their content or type of meeting. This will determine the retention period and make it easier to delete recordings after the retention schedule has expired.
• Include the date in the name of the recording (in an easily searchable format such as 2023-02-22).
• Schedule a time to review the folders each year and delete recordings whose retention schedules have expired.

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