Conference scheduling

You will be able to create conferences only if this right is given to you by the administrator.

To create a conference on the main page of the personal area, click New conference or New room.

Please select a conference type:

• Private (by default) – only registered users can join the meeting;

• Public (webinar) – both registered and unregistered users can join.

The launch mode will be set automatically. Click Continue or select a template to go to the main settings.

"General" tab

Specify:

• Conference name

• Mode (All on screen mode is set by default)

• Specify the number of presenters if a moderated role-based conference or smart meeting is selected

• Conference start type: scheduled or unscheduled (virtual room)

• For a scheduled conference, you can:

  • select the start date and time, and, if necessary, configure recurrence (repetition) settings

  • send automatic email reminders to conference participants. This feature will be available if it was previously activated in the settings of TrueConf Server by the administrator. It is possible to add up to 4 reminders for one conference. To do it, click on the Settings button. If you want to apply the notifications settings specified on the video conferencing server, click the button Use administrator specified settings.

Sometimes when editing a conference created previously, you will see the reminders that you did not add. This issue may occur because the administrator of TrueConf Server activated global notifications settings when the conference had already been created.

Сheck the Save as template box to create conferences with the same settings in one click in the future.

"Participants" tab

Go to the Participants tab and add users to a conference in one of the following ways:

• From the address book

• By their TrueConf ID

• By specifying a call string for an SIP/H.323 or RTSP device

• By email (only for public conferences).

"Layout" tab

On the Layout tab, you can select the default layout for all conference participants (including groups of participants depending on the connection type) or for each user individually.

Layout editing is unavailable for smart meeting and video lecture modes.

To set a layout:

1. Specify the type of layout.

2. Select the number of video windows.

3. If necessary, add an additional video window to share content.

4. Assign a participant to each video window or click Auto-fill layout (you can also change the order of video windows with the mouse). You can use full-screen mode for convenient layout settings.

5. Choose where the username should be located (at the top or bottom of a video window)

6. If necessary, check the box Do not allow users to change the layout.

"Additional" tab

Set up the following parameters on the Additional tab:

• Conference ID

• PIN to join the conference. This will boost your meeting security and protect your conference from third-party access (even if a third party has a conference join URL in case you organize a webinar). PIN will be generated automatically upon checking the box. However, you can always change the PIN in the field below. PIN protection will be unavailable if you allow users to sign up for a public conference (webinar).

• Connecting to the conference without invitation (for private conferences only)

• Waiting room for the event. You will be able to choose the participants who will be directed to this room (see below)

• Settings for automatically turning off participants’ cameras and microphones when they join the conference

• Permissions for guest participants (available only for a public conference)

• Restriction on the number of guest participants (available only for public conferences); by default, unauthorized users can join the event up until the moment when the licence limit for guest connections is reached

• Conference recording (available only if the administrator of your TrueConf Server had previously enabled this feature)

• Sending email invitations to participants

• Conference location and description.

Selection of the participants who will be moved to the waiting room

It is not possible to select the participants who will be directed to the waiting room, if registration is allowed for a public conference (webinar). In such a case all participants except the owner and moderators will be directed to the waiting room if it is enabled.

Under any scenario, SIP/H.323/RTSP connections are treated as participants from other servers. For example, if an endpoint makes a call to a conference or is invited to the meeting, it will be directed to the waiting room if all the settings are activated except Guests only for a webinar.

Categories that can be selected for public conferences

• All participants (except the owner and moderators) – all participants except the owner and moderators will be moved to the waiting room (this includes the participants who signed up for the event)

• Uninvited participants and guests (selected by default) – the following participants will be moved to the waiting room:

  • all users from your server, who were not invited in advance before the start of the conference and are now calling the conference/owner or are invited after the start of the event

  • all users from a federated server who were not invited in advance before the start of the conference

  • all guests.

    The following participants will not be moved to the waiting room:

  • users from your server who were invited in advance before the start of the conference

  • users from a federated server who were invited in advance before the start of the conference

  • users who signed up for the event (since they have already been added to the list of invited participants)

  • users from your server and federated server who were invited in advance, but did not join when the conference started and are now trying to join during a conference or receive another invitation call.

• Uninvited participants from other servers and guests – only guests (if they did not sign up for the event) and users from a federated server, who were not invited in advance, will be directed to the waiting room.

• Guests only – only guests, if they did not sign up for the event, will be directed to the waiting room.

Categories that can be selected for private conferences (the rules are similar to the ones set for webinars except guests and unregistered participants):

• All participants (except the owner and moderators)

• Uninvited participants (selected by default)

• Uninvited participants from other servers.

"Registration" tab

If a public conference (webinar) is created, the Registration tab will be available (this feature will can be accessed if you are scheduling a conference and not creating it ad hoc). Here, you can configure registration settings so that users could sign up as guests for the online event:

1. Enable registration (disabled by default)

2. Select the time when registration will close:

3. Without limitation — available only for recurring conferences (the registration will always be open)

4. At conference start — the registration will close right after the webinar start

5. At conference end — the registration will remain open up until the webinar end

6. Custom date and time — set a custom time interval during which the registration will be open.

3. Automatically close the webinar registration when the maximum number of participants is reached (depends on the selected conference mode).

4. Allow any authorized user to join the conference after its start. In this case, any user registered on your server can sign in on the conference page and add oneself to the list of invited participants by clicking on the Attend button.

5. Settings for the input fields in the registration form. You can drag and drop input fields to create a custom registration form. Besides, you can mark the corresponding checkboxes to make sure that certain fields must be filled by participants. The customization of registration form is available only when a conference is created. This feature is not available when the conference is edited.

6. It is possible to select the input fields for the registration form only when a conference is created. You can choose either standard fields or add custom ones (up to 10) by clicking on the Add field button.

When the changes are saved, users will be able to sign up for a public conference on its web page.

Templates

To create meetings with multiple identical parameters, you can use templates. When a conference is created based on a template, all schedule settings are discarded (it becomes a virtual room by default). However, the following parameters remain unchanged:

• Conference name, mode, and owner

• List of participants

• Parameters from the Additional tab (except conference ID)

• All registration settings saved in the template, except the time when participant registration will be closed: these parameters will be available for a scheduled public conference (webinar).

Set up a schedule on the General tab to hold the same conference on a regular basis.

To add a template, use Create a template button in the upper right corner of the Templates section. You can also save your conference as a template when creating it.

To use a template, select it in the Templates section and create a conference using the buttons in the panel on the right. You can also edit or delete the selected template.