Introduction

Sometimes, such as our Global DPCA Meetings, we need to combine remote WebEx participation with a gathering of people in a conference meeting room. This becomes much more complicated than when remote individuals are each sitting in front of their own personal computer.

Participants in a meeting room can easily forget about the remote participants on WebEx. Having dedicated WebEx moderators will help keep the meeting together and create a more positive experience for everyone.

These moderator tips are intended to provide orientation and guidance to moderators who may be new to WebEx and help them to create a successful and productive meeting.

Key Points to Remember

• Make sure that people in the room do not forget about remote WebEx participants

• Make sure that all speakers in the room use a microphone AT ALL TIMES, or remote participants cannot hear anything

• Make sure that remote participants do not disrupt the room with audio-feedback or other noise

• Keep everyone engaged and communicating with each other – but don't flood the chat box

• Always use the chat box to "Everyone" to request **Hand Up to manage the speakers queue. It is possible to pop out the chat pane to a separate window by pressing the button found at the right end of the top of the pane:
  
  

  Open

  

• Know how to reach one of the in-room technical specialists in an emergency

Moderator Responsibilities

• WebEx moderators are responsible for helping to make sure that there is smooth communication between people in the room and the remote WebEx participants – you are the "bridge" between these two groups

• Much of the communication for remote participants will be in the WebEx Chat box, so you need to always be monitoring this

• Unless it is really one-to-one personal communication, encourage participants to address their comments to "Everyone" – especially if it is a request to speak, or a notification of a problem with WebEx communication

• Don't let the people in the room forget about the WebEx participants – you are there to represent them and speak for them in the room

• Take turns and share the moderating responsibility so that one person is not left to do the job alone

Presentations

• Make sure that presentation documents are loaded from the DA Wiki to the WebEx whiteboard in advance

  • Presentation materials are always best shared as PDF files, rather than Word, PPT, or other files

  • Convert files to PDF before uploading to the WebEx whiteboard

• Make sure that in-room Presenters use the WebEx whiteboard for presentations – do not let them just open a file on the desktop

• Help the podium presenters to learn how to move from page to page in their presentation

  • Offer to help manage their presentation slides for them, if they are not comfortable with this

Moderating the Meeting

• Test your pc/workstation prior to the meeting. Ensure that audio works. Always use a headset if your computer is connected to audio

• Keep active discussion going in the WebEx chat box so that people know you are there, but don't flood it with too many messages

• Keep all participants on MUTE if they are not speaking to the meeting

• Help ensure that individual participants who are having technical issues do not interrupt the meeting

  • Encourage them to connect with you or another support person via a personal Skype chat, if needed

• Always encourage remote participants to use the Call Using Computer VoIP audio, NOT the US-based phone number

• It is helpful to re-type questions to the speaker into the chat box so that everyone can follow the discussion

Host, Presenter, and Moderator Team Work

• Host and Presenter need to closely cooperate and share the work load

• With a large number of remote participants and a group gathered in the room, it is too much for one person to fill both roles

  • The host is responsible for keeping everyone on mute and fixing the focus of the video presentations

  • The presenter manages documents and slides in the whiteboard area

  • The presenter manages the screen that people see in the room – from full video display to seeing the Chat box

  • The moderator ensures that WebEx participants are recognized in the room, that the Question Queue is tracked, and that in-room activities (e.g. coffee breaks, voting, etc.) are communicated to WebEx participants

• Have the Meeting Host Key number ready, in case something happens to the Host computer and someone else needs to reclaim control over the meeting

WebEx Login Names

• When logging in to WebEex from the in-room Host and Webcam computers, use a name that describes that computer, for example (“!” in front of the name will keep it at the top of the alphabetical participants list):

  • !PuntaCana Hub

  • !PuntaCana Podium

  • !PuntaCana Webcam#1

  • #PuntaCana In-room Moderator

• Encourage all participants to include their DA Title/Officer position in their name when they sign in

Suggested Staffing and Team Members

• Team Lead – someone who is responsible for the overall coordination, staffing, network, and hardware set up

  • Do not assume that someone else will "make it happen" – get confirmations on all the details

• On-site tech team – providing the A/V setup of projectors, mics, sound board, cables

• Network providers – to ensure Internet bandwidth. Often not the same people as the A/V equipment team

  • providing both fixed line and WiFi connections for the room

• Host Manager (in-room or remote) – real-time management of participant mute controls and passing control to the Presenter

  • share Host Key with Presenter and Moderator Managers so that they can take control as needed

• Presenter Manager (best if in-room) – preparing presentations as PDF files and uploading them to WebEx whiteboard

  • presentation slide transitions when the Podium speaker is not controlling the slides themselves

• Moderator Manager (must be in-room) – monitoring the chat box, tracking "**Hand Up" queue, keeping room aware of WebEx issues

  • always have emergency access to reach the tech-team and network providers

Hardware and Technical Setup

• Make sure that other WebEx participants in the room do NOT connect to audio (this can create terrible audio feedback)

• If professional microphones and an audio mixer are being used, make sure that all webcam or computer microphones are turned off

• Use a personal headset/earphones if you are connecting to audio or have any other sound coming out of your computer

• Make sure that all speakers in the room use a microphone AT ALL TIMES, or remote participants cannot hear anything

• Encourage speakers to stand where they can be seen by the webcam

• Know how to immediately reach the Internet and audio/visual technical specialists in case something goes seriously wrong

• The projector screen must be big enough to be clearly seen by everyone in the room (two screens may be necessary in some situations)

• Provide a monitor or second projection screen that can be easily seen from the podium

In-Room Audio/Visual/Internet Setup Schematic

This is an outline of the audio, video, and wired network connections that are needed to setup and manage a typical WebEx configuration in a conference room.

Notes

• This does not take into account additional WiFi networks that may be made available to in-room participants, but that network should be separated from the high-capacity Quality of Service wired LAN that is needed to ensure good video transmission in and out from the WebEx Hub computer.
  In-room microphones may be either wired or wireless depending on the audio mixer setup

Webcam Positioning

• Keep the Hub Webcam#1 always pointed at the speaker/presenter or main activity in the room

• Set the Moderator Webcam#2 on the other side of the room and pointed for a general view of the room, so that remote participants can also see the in-room activities

• Periodically adjust the camera angle to give a sense of room dynamics

Schematic