Setting up online meetings with 3CX
3CX has two different kinds of meetings, 'Conferences' and 'WebMeetings'. For setting up both of these, you will need to log into the 3CX web console at https://my.dentex.group/phone (or https://pbx.dentex.group/webclient). The login and password for this was included in your Welcome email in the 'Your Communications Dashboard' section. Please note that this is different to your voicemail PIN and will be an alphanumeric password.
Conferences
Conferences can be created immediately, or scheduled in advance, and participants dial in our main conference service. The participants don't need any web access for audio and can connect from anywhere in the world. The external conference service number is 03333 055 945 but if you are on 3CX you can access the service by dialing 7000.
Please do not use the external number from 3CX - you will be using 2 lines (one out and one back in) for a number that is available to you internally!
To setup a new conference, select Schedule Conference from the web client. You will be shown this screen:
The type of conference will determine how the participants access the conference and what services will be available.
If you select Audio, the parcticipants will dial in (either from other extensions, landlines or mobiles).
If you select Video, the conference will be conducted using a webclient, and the participants will need access to a video camera, modern browser (Firefox, Chrome) and a decent Internet connection.
When you select Video, you will be further prompted to specify a 'WebMeeting Profile'. For most purposes 'WebMeeting' (the default) is sufficient. If you are going to be presenting to a group of people, then a 'WebMeeting (classroom)' may be more appropriate and allows you to do such things as hide the participants from each other. Please contact IT for more information if you're not clear on how this would work.
Once you have determined what kind of conference you want to organise, you need to specify when you want the conference to occur. If you want to start immediately, leave the default option, 'Now', selected. Otherwise, select Later and enter the time and date of the conference.
Provide a subject for the Conference, this will be copied to the invitation email that will be sent out. If you have any notes for the participants, you can provide those in the appropriate field, but these are not compulsory.
Select 'Office365' as the calender type, and click on Create Meeting. The web client will open an Outlook online session (you may be prompted to authenticate with your Dentex credentials), and pre-populate a meeting request with all of the details. You then enter the email addresses of the recipients, and click on Send. This will then setup the meeting in Outlook and you will be notified before it commences.
Audio conferences
Once the meeting has commenced, you will be able to see who has joined and control the meeting from the web client:
As participants join the meeting, you will see them listed in the meeting. To end the meeting, you can click on the delete button (next to the plus icon) and all parties will be disconnected.
Video conferences
Scheduled video conferences are functionally the same as Web Meetings, except that they can be scheduled. Please see the section below on how to use them. When you schedule the Web Meeting, you will be provided with a link in the invitation which can use to join the meeting.
Web Meetings
To start a Web Meeting, click on the WebMeeting option on the left hand side navigation menu. Your name will be pre-populated, so simply click on the Log in button to start. If it is your first time using the service, you may be prompted by your browser to allow access to your webcam, microphone and other functions. You should allow these - the web app will not function correctly without them. You can disable your camera or microphone from the function bar at the top of the screen - simply click on the camera or microphone button (so that they are red) to disable them. You can also:
- Record your meeting
- Share your desktop
- Share a PDF
- Start a poll
- Draw on a common whiteboard
These options are available from the function bar at the top:
Inviting Participants
On the right hand side is the Attendee list and Meeting chat. To add attendee, click on the 'Invite people' (the left most) button above the Attendee list:
This will provide you with the meeting link that you can share with others you wish to join, or you can add their name and email addresses to the meeting, and the system will send them email invites.
Changing audio and video devices
To change the audio and video devices (for instance, to use a headset), you click on the settings cog wheel aboce the Attendee list. This will open a settings dialog where you can specify which devices to use:
To use a headset, you should change the Input Device under Audio to the appropriate device. To change the audio output, you will need to change this in the system settings (in Windows, click on the Audio button in the system tray (bottom right) and select your output device there).
To use a different video camera, select the appropriate Input Device from the Video section.
Ending the conference
When your conference is complete, you should click on the red hangup button. This is especially important if you have opted to record the meeting, as the recording will not be ended until you do. Once you end the conference, any recordings will be encoded and emailed to you within an hour.