# Creating a conference

To create a meeting, go to the Conference section and click the /mcu/media/gui/create/en.png button. This will open a window with a newly created meeting, for example, Conf_397062486, and settings conveniently divided into tabs. Each tab is described in more detail below.

/mcu/media/conference_header/en.png

In the "header" of the settings, above the tabs, there are buttons, the functionality of which will only be available during a running conference.

To clone a conference with all its settings, press the /mcu/media/gui/more/en.png button and select the Copy a conference option.

# Information

The Info tab contains the main parameters of the event and a list of its participants:

/mcu/media/information/en.png

# Participants

The list of participants is located at the bottom of the Info tab.

/mcu/media/participants/en.png
  1. Adding a new participant.

  2. Connecting a participant by address.

  3. Search for the added participant by their name or address.

  4. Sorting the list (from A to Z) or (from Z to A).

  5. View information about an invited participant

  6. Enable/disable a participant's camera

  7. Mute/unmute the microphone

  8. Enable/disable speakers

  9. Mute conference audio for a selected user

  10. Enabling/disabling the call to a participant at the start of the conference.

  11. Control participants' AV devices (speaker volume, microphone sensitivity levels, echo cancellation and automatic gain control).

  12. Remove a participant from the conference

  13. Select multiple users to perform group operations.

# Adding Participants

To add participants from the address book, press the /mcu/media/gui/add_participants/en.png button.

To connect a user by address, click the /mcu/media/gui/add_participants_with_address/en.png button. A window for setting data transmission protocol, address, participant's label, and equipment (including noise suppression and AGC) will open.

/mcu/media/add_participants_with_address/en.png

On the Additional tab, you can access the settings described here.

# Quick addition of participants

If the user list panel is displayed on the right, you can quickly add participants by selecting them in the right side menu Users, and then dragging them to the conference settings area using the mouse:

/mcu/media/quick_add_participants/en.png

# Main

This section is where you can manage the settings for the conference name, route, ID, and PIN.

/mcu/media/conference_general_settings/en.png

# Conference name

The title of the event, which is also used on the browser connection page (WebRTC). It can be changed on the fly during the conference, but will revert to its original value after the meeting ends.

# Route

Route is a mandatory primary identifier used to access the conference. It can consist of numbers, Latin letters, a hyphen, and an underscore. With the /mcu/media/gui/name_as_a_route/en.png button, you can avoid using the conference name as its route. For example, in the image above, the route would look like this - Conf_855958710. Press the /mcu/media/gui/generate/en.png button to generate a new value, or the /mcu/media/gui/clear/en.png button to clear the field.

# ID

ID is an additional conference identifier that consists only of digits. It is used for alternative access to the conference and for connecting via DTMF. It is automatically generated when creating a conference, but it is optional. It can be deleted as described above.

# PIN

An additional way to protect the conference from unwanted participants is to use a PIN. It consists of numbers only. It can be changed on the fly during the conference, but will be reset to the previous value after the conference ends.

# Connection via browser

Chromium-based PC browsers are supported.

To enable participants to join from a browser (using WebRTC protocol), check the Allow access to conference via link box.

# Setting up conference participants

In this block, you specify the settings related to the users added to the conference.

/mcu/media/conference_participants_settings/en.png
  1. Select the maximum number of participants.

  2. Select the display settings for participants' own video window in the layout:

    • Automatically
    • Display
    • Don't display for active speaker;

    • Don't display for all.

3. Configure the participants' call when the conference starts:

  • Call participants when conference is started;

  • Don’t call participants when conference is started;

  • Use default value.

4. Check this box to make sure that participants can be re-invited to the conference if the connection is lost. If the operator of a video conferencing server disconnects a participant on purpose (via web interface), auto dialing will be disabled for this conference session.

5. Display volume level in the video windows.

6. Check the box to automatically mute meeting participants upon entry.

7. Check the box to stop participants' video upon entry.

# Schedule

To set the conference duration, select the required value from the drop-down list Duration.

If no schedule is set for the conference, it defaults to the virtual room mode.

Click the Add button to make the conference recurrent (repeating).

In the opened window, set the repeat mode. Depending on the selected mode, different repeat settings will be available to you:

  • Do not repeat – set scheduled date and time.

  • Weekly - specifying the time and day (days) of the week to repeat the conference;

  • Monthly - with repetitions specified on certain dates of the month.

Below is an example of a weekly conference that repeats on certain days, with a specified duration, and a schedule validity period.

/mcu/media/schedule/en.png

# Layouts

Layout settings are only available for SIP and H.323 connections.

Layouts can be set both when creating a conference and during the event itself. By default, the For all participants layout is created. It is received by all participants who do not have their own individual layouts. For example, a subscriber who joined the conference by ID will receive the global layout.

To edit the layout For all participants, click the /mcu/media/gui/edit/en.png button next to it in the list.

You can create a custom video layout for one or more users. To do this:

  1. Press the Add button.

  2. A window with a list of conference participants will open for you.

    /mcu/media/layout_recipients/en.png
  3. Select the users for whom you are setting up the video layout and press the Next button.

  4. You will enter the layout editing mode.

# Editing the video layout

In edit mode, you can find the main layout settings on the General tab. Here you can:

  1. Enable/disable the automatic video layout that is configured by TrueConf MCU based on the current number of connected conference participants.

  2. Specify the maximum frame size for this layout.

  3. Use the overlay layout mode. In this type of video layout, one of the video windows expands to fill the entire conference screen, while the slots of other participants are placed on top of it.

/mcu/media/layout_edit/en.png

When automatic video layout is disabled, you will have the option to select the type of layouts, the number of displayed video windows, as well as the layout constructor, which is discussed below.

# Layout Constructor

To use the builder:

  1. Disable the automatic video layout.

  2. Select the type of layout:

    • Flexible - works with any number of video windows in the layout.

    • Predefined - works with a pre-defined number of video windows, which cannot be altered (indicated near the thumbnail).

3. Choose a video layout, specify the number of video windows, and optionally activate the overlay mode.

4. Click on Fill windows automatically or adjust the video windows as shown below.

/mcu/media/layout_constructor/en.png

# Manual Configuration

Select the desired video window in the builder window. A settings window will appear to your right. From the Video window type drop-down list, select the required item (depending on the selected item, different settings will be available to you):

  • Empty — an empty video window, for instance, for an invitee during the conference;

  • Fixed participant: one of the participants will be permanently displayed in the selected window

  • Active speaker in “Smart meeting” mode - display of the currently speaking participant;

The active speaker will only be displayed in the video window when the smart meeting is enabled.

  • Autofill - automatic display of one of the participants. To automatically rotate participants in this video window, activate the Shuffle participants checkbox.

  • Content: the window will be used for displaying the content shared by participants, e.g., desktop or slides.

Only one video window can be set to display content.

/mcu/media/layout_settings_manual/en.png

For a video window with a mode different from Empty or Content, you can set the scaling in the layout:

  • Crop video — this mode is intended for displaying the maximum number of windows in the layout.

  • Don’t crop video — in this mode, a participant's video is scaled to fit the layout windows. In this mode, the video is not cropped which helps to improve MCU performance when rendering the layout.

  • Auto: TrueConf MCU determines the best video scaling mode depending on the current resource usage.

Below is an example of a universal video layout with overlays, consisting of six video windows, using all types:

/mcu/media/layout_constructor_example/en.png

After setting up the video layout, press the Save button to exit editing mode.

# Quick Layout Change

If you need to quickly change the current video layout, for example, to change the order of windows, you can do so by simply dragging the video window in the constructor:

/mcu/media/layout_settings_quick/en.png

# Audio channels

In TrueConf MCU, you can split video conference participants into audio streams, each of which can be assigned a speaker or listener role. This option significantly simplifies the organization of events where simultaneous translation into several languages is required.

To create a new channel, press the Add button. In the window that appears:

  1. Enter the channel name.

  2. Add listeners and presenters.

  3. Press the Create button.

/mcu/media/audiochannels/en.png

# Design

By default, all conferences use the layout defined in Administration → Skin styles. To apply a different design to all layouts of this conference, activate the Enable custom settings checkbox and configure it to your liking. You can read more about style settings in the Personalization section.

# Additional

Here you can configure video and audio transmission parameters exclusively for the current conference:

  • enable/disable the use of noise suppression and AGC;

  • select the audio and video codecs in use;

  • to configure resolution and bitrate, as well as scaling mode;

  • configure the use of participant avatars in the layout.

By default, the values from the global call and video settings are used.

Disabling some codecs can solve compatibility issues with some SIP endpoints. To learn more about this question, please contact our technical support team.