User Guide for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Release 8.0
Attending a Meeting
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Attending a Meeting

Tips for Attending a Meeting


  • Call the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system at least once before joining any meetings and record your name.

    The system prompts you for your name each time it dials out to you to join a meeting until you call in and record a name for your profile.

  • Aim to join your meeting shortly before or at its official start time.

    Your system administrator determines exactly how much time in advance you can join your meeting. The default is 10 minutes. If no one joins within 30 minutes, the system automatically ends the meeting.

  • Turn off any pop-up blockers that might be configured in your web browser or security applications.

  • Follow the instructions in your meeting notifications.

    The information that appears on your meeting notifications may differ from the descriptions in this documentation, depending on customizations made by your system administrator.


Note

If you join a meeting by dialing in to the audio session only, your name will not appear in the Cisco WebEx meeting transcript. Only participants in the web meeting room are listed as meeting attendees in the Cisco WebEx meeting transcript.

Related Tasks

Tips for Attending a Video Meeting

You can attend a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace meeting from a video endpoint as long as video ports are available. Video ports cannot be reserved in advance.

To ensure the best possible experience in a video meeting, follow these suggested best practices:


  • Make sure that your video endpoint is configured before joining your meeting.

    If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is video-enabled, it will recognize when you are joining a meeting through video and place you in the video portion of your meeting. If there is no video portion to either the meeting or your method of joining, the system will automatically place you in the meeting as an audio-only participant.

  • Endpoints must support at least the minimum bit rate as specified in the video type, or they will not send or receive video. Video meetings support a mix of video endpoints and audio-only endpoints in the same conference.

  • If you are only listening (and not speaking), then mute your phone during the meeting.

  • Do not use a speakerphone, which can generate echoes, ringing sounds, or audio feedback.

  • If you use a microphone that is built into your video endpoint, then keep the endpoint away from fans, vents, and other sources of noise.

  • For softphones, such as Cisco Unified Personal Communicator with a Cisco VT Camera or Cisco Unified Personal Communicator with Cisco Unified Video Advantage:


    • Do not use the microphone that is built into your computer. These microphones tend to pick up a lot of background noise.

    • We highly recommend that you use a quality headset that is equipped with a microphone.

    • Whenever multiple microphones are available, make sure that your computer and video endpoint are configured to use the desired microphone. For example, if you are using Cisco Unified Personal Communicator with a Cisco VT Camera and you have a headset that is equipped with a microphone, make sure that your system is configured to use the headset microphone.

  • If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only and you are attending over a video endpoint, you must sign in to the web meeting first, then connect to the video meeting by selecting Connect on the Current Meeting window.

  • If you are unable to dial out to an invited video terminal or other video endpoint, call the invited terminal by using the dial-in number indicated in the meeting notification. If this does not work, try pressing #33 on your phone.

  • See the documentation for your specific endpoint product to optimize audio settings and resolve audio problems.

Related Tasks

About the Auto-Attend Feature

The auto-attend feature simplifies how you join meetings or sign in over the phone. If you have the auto-attend feature enabled and call the system from a phone number in your user profile, you are immediately authenticated and placed into the relevant meeting. This feature is enabled or disabled by your system administrator.

The feature works as follows:


  1. As a user with auto-attend enabled, you call Cisco Unified MeetingPlace.

  2. The system determines which phone number you are calling from.

  3. If the phone number exactly matches the main phone number or alternate phone number in your user profile, then the system checks all meetings (except continuous meetings) as follows:


    • Whether you are the owner or invitee of any meetings that are in session or that are scheduled to begin.

    • Whether you are a participant in any meetings that are still in session.

    • Whether you are the owner of a reservationless meeting in which someone is waiting.

  4. If only one meeting is found, the system announces the meeting ID so that you can press 1 to join. You do not need to enter anything else, except in the following situations:


    • The system administrator configured this feature to require you to enter your user profile password.

    • Meeting requires a password.

    • You need to record a name or location.

    • The meeting mentioned is not the meeting you want to attend. In that case, press *.

If multiple meetings or no meetings are found, then the system authenticates you and lets you select the meeting.


Note

If your profile is set to Automatically log in rather than Automatically join meeting, the system will automatically authenticate you, but not place you in the meeting. You will hear audio prompts providing you with a choice of what to do next.

Attending a Meeting from an Emailed Invitation

Before You Begin

  • Your user profile must include an email address for you to attend a web meeting as a profiled user.

  • Be aware of the following:

    • Anyone may join a web meeting from the public Cisco WebEx site, unless meeting passwords are in use.

    • Anyone may dial out from a web meeting.

    • If you are attending a web meeting on a Mac system using Firefox or Safari, you may see the Cisco.com home page before you are admitted into the web meeting room. Ignore this page. The Meeting Manager page will launch momentarily and admit you into the meeting.


Procedure
Step 1   Open the meeting notification email.
Step 2   Select the Meeting URL link.
  • If this meeting was scheduled to allow participants from both inside and outside the corporate firewall, choose the appropriate link based on your location.
  • If you see any security alerts, select Yes to proceed.
Step 3   Enter your name and password (if required).
Step 4   Select Join Meeting.

You are admitted into the web conference.

Note   

If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only, there is no web portion to your meeting. Continue joining your meeting by dialing the phone number of your conference server or by selecting the Connect button on the Meeting Details page.

Step 5   Join the voice or video portion of your meeting.

  • If you see a Join Teleconference window, select a phone number at which you want to receive a call back then select OK.

  • If you do not see a Join Teleconference window, or the system does not call you, dial the call-in number that appears on your screen and follow the instructions that you hear on the phone.

Troubleshooting Tips


  • If you see the error message Meeting not found, it is either too early to join this meeting, or this meeting has ended. Either wait to join the meeting or make sure that you have the correct meeting information.

Related Concepts

Attending a Meeting from a Web Browser

Before You Begin

  • This procedure assumes that you are attending a meeting from the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web user portal.

  • If you plan to join the video portion of your meeting, see the tips for attending a video meeting.


Procedure
Step 1   Open a web browser and enter the URL of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web user portal.
Step 2   Enter the meeting ID.
Step 3   Select Attend Meeting.

  • If you have not signed in previously, sign in as either a profiled user or as a guest user and select Attend Meeting.

  • If you see any security alerts, select Yes to proceed.

You are admitted into the web conference.

Note   

If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only, there is no web portion to your meeting. Continue joining your meeting by dialing the phone number of your conference server or by selecting the Connect button on the Meeting Details page.

Step 4   Join the voice or video portion of your meeting.

  • If you see a Join Teleconference window, select a phone number at which you want to receive a call back then select OK.

  • If you do not see a Join Teleconference window, or the system does not call you, dial the call-in number that appears on your screen and follow the instructions that you hear on the phone.

Troubleshooting Tips


  • If you do not know your meeting ID, select Find Meetings to browse for the meeting by date. This feature may not be available for guest users. If it is available, you will first have to register as a guest before you can search for meetings.

  • If you are a guest user and cannot find your meeting, it is possible that it was scheduled as a private meeting. Contact the meeting scheduler to be permitted into the meeting.

  • If the meeting is not in progress when you sign in, an error message displays. Wait for your scheduled time before attempting to enter the meeting.

Related Concepts

Joining a Voice or Video Meeting


Note

If your profile is configured to automatically connect you to your meeting, the system will connect you as soon as you call the server. If you have multiple meetings scheduled, it will automatically sign you in to the system so that you can choose which meeting to join.

Before You Begin

  • Know the phone number of your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace server.

  • Know the meeting ID.

  • Know your phone user ID and PIN (if required).

  • If you plan to join the video portion of your meeting, read the tips for attending a video meeting.


Procedure
Step 1   Dial the phone number of your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace server.
Step 2   Follow the prompts that you hear.

Troubleshooting Tips

For a list of commands you can initiate by telephone during a meeting, see the Quick Start Guide: Attending and Scheduling a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Release 8.0 Meeting from Your Phone at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6533/products_user_guide_list.html.

Related Concepts

Joining a Video Terminal to Your Meeting

This topic describes how to join a video terminal to a web meeting.

Before You Begin

  • There must be a Video Terminal profile configured for the video terminal that you plan to join.

  • If the video terminal needs to be dialed in at the start of the meeting, it has to have been invited to the meeting when the meeting was scheduled.

  • If the video terminal was not originally invited to the meeting, you can still dial it in from the web meeting room.

  • If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only and the video terminal was not originally invited to the meeting, you can also join it to your meeting by selecting the Connect button on the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Current Meeting page.


Procedure
Complete one of the following:
To Do This

Join a video terminal from the web meeting room.

When prompted to join the teleconference, enter the dial-in number of the video terminal and select OK.

Join a video terminal from the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Current Meeting page.

Select Connect on the Current Meeting page.

Note   

This assumes that your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only.

Dial out to a video terminal from the phone.

Press #31 on your phone.


Troubleshooting Tips

If you are unable to dial out to an invited video terminal at the start of a meeting, manually call the dial-in number of the invited terminal.

Related Tasks
Inviting a Video Terminal to Your Meeting

Attending a Meeting as a Guest User

Guests are users who have signed in to the conferencing system without a Cisco Unified MeetingPlace profile.


Tip

Always sign in with your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace profile to access the full range of web features.

Procedure
Step 1   Open a web browser and enter the URL of the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace web user portal.
Step 2   Enter the meeting ID then select Attend Meeting.

The Sign In page displays.

Step 3   Enter your name to sign in as a guest then select Attend Meeting.
Note   

If you see any security alerts, select Yes to proceed.

You are admitted into the web conference.

Note   

If your Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system is configured for Audio/Video only, there is no web component to your meeting. Continue joining your meeting by dialing the phone number of your conference server or by selecting the Connect button on the Meeting Details page.

Step 4   Join the voice or video portion of your meeting.

  • If you see a Join Teleconference window, select a phone number at which you want to receive a call back then select OK.

  • If you do not see a Join Teleconference window, or the system does not call you, dial the call-in number that appears on your screen and follow the instructions that you hear on the phone.

Troubleshooting Tips


Related Concepts
Features Restricted to Profiled Users
Join Meeting Problems