Inform participants as long in advance as possible. It is best to think of an audio conference as a physical meeting and to send out invitations to participants with the call's details.
If you are sending participants 1800 numbers to connect from abroad, it is important to also provide them with the regular (03) number in case of any international connection problems from where the participant is calling.
For optimal audio quality for you call, it is important to call the conference from a quiet place that is free from background noise. Also, a land-line will provide you with a cleaner tone and higher call quality. Participants calling from a location with background noise and participants that are dialing internationally or on a problematic mobile phone can mute their line by dialing *5 on their touch tone phone. To be released, the participant must dial *5 once more.
It is important to remember that the connection to the call takes a few seconds, including entering the secret pass code and in case the meeting is set up with name notification, participants will also need to record their names before entering the meeting. Do not wait for the last minute, as this may cause you to arrive late.
It is recommended to always pick up the phone's receiver before dialing the secret pass code to ensure that the system reads it correctly.
For an orderly conference, please wait until the speaker is done speaking and keep from interruptions.
Before you begin the call, it is recommended to have a roll-call to confirm the conference's attendance. If the room is set up with a moderator code with participant name notification, the call's leader, by dialing a specific key pad code, will be able to activate an automatic role call of all the present participants in attendance for the call.
Start the meeting with your volume at mid level and then work to adjust the volume as the meeting progresses.
It is advised for participants joining a web meeting to download the software ahead of time and test their speakers, microphones and connection.
Adjust the red volume threshold line on the top right-hand corner of your participant application. This is done using the up and down arrows located below the green volume level indicator. The line should not be too high or too low in relation to the volume levels reached by the green bar (located on the top right-hand side of the screen) as you are speaking. If the line is too high, the volume levels will not pass the threshold and no audio will be broadcasted by you into the meeting. If it is too low, any small noise that your microphone picks up will be broadcasted into the meeting, causing disruptions.
- If you have background noises coming from your surroundings, place yourself on ‘mute' by clicking on the "Mute" button located on the main toolbar at the top. When you wish to speak, ‘un-mute' yourself by pressing the "Mute" button again.
- Don't speak too closely to your microphone as this may cause a distortion in the audio you are broadcasting.
- Do not interrupt the speaker unnecessarily while he is speaking.
- Participants should refrain from annotating unnecessarily on the whiteboard.
- Do not place your microphones too closely to your speakers as this may cause disruptive noise or reverb.
If the meeting is a large one, with about 10 participants, questions to the presenter should be sent via the ‘Notes' feature or through the "Raise Hand" emoticon located at the top left-hand side of the screen. This will allow the presenter to attend to each question at his/her convenience without having to disrupt the dynamic and flow of the presentation.
For longer meetings, it is wise to use the "OK" question in the polling tab in the "poll for responses to a verbal question" section. The presenter should ask if everyone is following and run the "OK" poll to see how many participants are still attentive.
If a participant must temporarily leave the conference, he should indicate so by clicking the "Step Out" button on the main toolbar. This will gray out the participant's icon on the participants list, and no sound will be broadcast form this participant. The participant will still hear what is happening in the meeting, but will not be able to interact with other participants. The "Step Out" button must be clicked again to step back into the meeting.
Excel spreadsheets should be shown using the application sharing feature and not as inserted materials.
For picture quality, try to avoid wearing bright colors or multi-colored prints (flannel etc.). Wearing these colors or patterns will cause the video conference screen to jitter slightly. The most suitable and recommended colors are blue and gray as these colors will achieve the best picture results.
It is recommended that a microphone check be performed in advance so as to assure that problems such as echo or feedback are not issues during the actual call. In case such problems are encountered, it is best to check and adjust the volume levels and speaker placement at each one of the video end-points. Every video conference that is handled by Veidan is subject to system checks in advance of the conference to guarantee optimal sound
It is important that the background of the video conference room not be bright or glittering; a good idea is also to remove distracting pictures. The ideal background colors are blue, gray or green as they will work best to increase the picture quality. It is also recommended that the conference room floor be carpeted to decrease echo. All of Veidan's conference rooms are especially designed to achieve optimal sound and picture quality.
For best results, it is recommended that lighting be placed above and in front of the video conference participants. It is recommended that not to use direct sunlight as a lightning source and to be careful that no window is in the camera's frame.
Check that all participants are framed in the camera's picture and that the camera is not excessively zoomed forward or backward. It is recommended that 10% of the frame be above the participant's heads. Veidan's video conferencing services are staffed by technicians who will guide you through your video conference and will make sure that the cameras are always properly adjusted to these specifications.
- Introduce the participants from each of the call's sites to each other and engage in a bit of "small talk" to become accustomed to the call's dynamic which is different from that of a face-to-face conference.
- Maintain eye contact with the camera.
- Speak in a regular tone of voice (there is no need to raise one's voice). You can adjust the sound levels from each end-point to achieve best results.
- Video conferencing technology includes a delay of a few milliseconds between the broadcast and reception of data, it is important to keep this in mind and respond accordingly. Not being aware of this fact can easily result in interrupting participants from other end-points. In any case, do not be offended if other participants do not immediately laugh at your jokes, the laughter is milliseconds away.
- Do not place yourself on "mute" unless you have informed or asked the other end-points of this.
- Try to avoid whispering and be aware of your body language. For all intents and
purposes, you are in the same room as the rest of the participants. - Avoid shuffling or handling papers near the microphone during the call. This causes your
microphone to broadcast disruptive sounds to the rest of the participants.
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