Quick Steps To Start Using Your Web Conference Room
This article with guide through the basic steps to tailor and start using your web conference room.
Quick Steps to Get Started.
Attempting anything new for the first time can be a little intimidating. Hopefully these instructions will ease those fears and get you started using technology quickly.
After your room was created an email was sent advising you your web conference room is available. What do you do next? The email included URL links and passwords to log into the room, to perform room administration and to access the Online User Manual. The assumption in this guide is for you to have received the email mentioned. There are other ways, such as links on web pages, to log in to a room. If alternative methods are used you would need to follow the instructions for that approach.
This article does not provide detailed information. Its purpose is to take you through the basic steps to log
into and use the web conference room. More information is provided in other tutorials.
Online User Manual (movies and tutorials}:
The Steps:
Step 1: Start the browser. (note 1)
Step 2: Copy the room URL provided in the email and paste it into the address field of the browser. (note 2)
Step 3: Press the Enter key. A form will appear with a link to download and install a plug-in and a link to enter the room.
Step 4: Click on the link to download and install the plug-in. (note 3)
Step 5: When the dialogue appears asking you to "Run", "Save" or "Cancel" click Run. (note 4) If your firewall software prompts asks if you should or should not block traffic, select the option to "Always Allow" (or similar wording).
Step 6: When the dialogue appears asking you to "Run" or "Not Run" click Run.
Step 7: Wait for the completion dialog and click Finish. The plug-in is now installed.
Step 8: Click on the link to enter the room.
Step 9: Enter your name and the moderator password specified in the email.
Step 10: Click Log On.
Congratulations you are in your virtual conference room. You can push and hold the Ctrl key to talk. Web page content can be pushed to the guests in the room. For more information review the Online User Manual using the link provided earlier. Review the Introduction and Quick Reference Guides categories.
The room was set up with default configuration settings. For example by default text chatting is disabled. The room settings can be modified. This is discussed under Room Administration below.
Step 11: To log out of a room Click the "File Menu" and click "Exit"
Inviting guests to your room:
It is unlikely you are using this web conference room to talk to yourself. You would like to invite friends, business associates and so forth to join you in the room. I will refer to these individual as guests.
Guests will enter your room using the same steps specified above. The only difference is that guests will likely enter the room without any moderator privileges. I will discuss user privileges in the next section.
Send out the invitation:
Step1: Copy the room URL from the email and paste it into an email to send to your guests. Do not include the moderator password and advise your guests to leave the password field blank. (note 5)
Step 2: Send the email, with the above instructions, modified to exclude the password, to your guests.
Types of users:
There are two types of users: Moderators and Guests. Moderators are provided with additional capability to moderate the room. This is accomplished by using the functions provided with the Administrator menu. Guests will not see the Administrator menu. Moderators can push URLs to all users, remove users from the room, initiate the Whiteboard and Desktop Sharing and so forth. The password, set in the Room Web Administration, determines if a user is a Moderator or a Guest. Multiple moderators can be logged into a room.
Room Administration:
The room you have seen so far has been set up with default settings. These setting can be modified using Room Web Administration. Some of the settings you can modify are: the URL to load when a user enters a room, permission for users or moderators to make recordings, the position and size of the browser window and enabling or disabling text chatting.
Room Web Administration:
Step 1: Copy and paste the room administration URL provided with the email into the address field of the browser. (note 2)
Step 2: Press the Enter key.
Step 3: Type in the administration passwords specified in the email.
Step 4: Click Configure Room. The Room Configuration form will display.
Step 5: Make any necessary changes and click Update.
Additional Information may be found in the Room Administration Guide.
Checking out the room:
One possible challenge might be to get your speakers and microphones working. If there is a problem, usually it is the microphone that causes the most difficulty - most likely because it has not been set up and used previously. If the audio systems of your computer are already working correctly they should work correctly in the room. If you are having problems, first make sure they are working on your computer. Check the speaker and microphone connections to ensure that are plugged in correctly. Make sure any switches and volume controls are correctly set. Check the Windows Audio Schema to ensure the correct device is being used and the correct parameters are set - use the File/Speaker Setting or the File/Microphone Setting in the room or use the Windows Control Panel. A microphone is only required if you wish to talk. The text chat, if it is enabled, can be used for text conversations.
Notes:
- The technology has been tested with Internet Explorer and Firefox.
- You could click on the link provided in the email and bypass the first 3 steps.
- The first time the technology is used on any computer the plug-in, a small program, must be manually downloaded and installed. From that point onwards the technology will detect when a new and updated plug-in is available and automatically initiate the download and installation of the new version.
- You could choose "Save" however you must run the file after it has been downloaded and saved to install the plug-in.
- Passwords can be setup for guests. These passwords are defined with the Room Web Administration.