Planning to hold a web conference using your FreeConference.com Online Meeting Room? Whether you want to share your screen and upload documents for colleagues, have a video meeting with family or simply allow audio participants to access your conference via internet, it is always a good idea to be prepared.
We want to make sure your next web call is a successful and rewarding event for all who take part, and the following 'best practices' will help to make that happen for you.
1 - Get new participants to run the connection test before the meeting:
https://hello.freeconference.com/system/test
It will ensure that participants have a functional mic, speakers and web cam as well as ensure that they can connect into the conference bridge successfully. Note that this URL is included in the details when you use the "Copy" function on your dashboard or when you send invitations from the application.
2 - When Sharing your Screen, to present a Powerpoint presentation or website, it is best to share "Your Entire Screen" rather than "Application Window". The reason is that when you share a window you are only sharing that specific window. Sometimes powerpoint or other applications will create new windows when you go full screen or do other operations so if you are only sharing the one window you select at the beginning people will not be able to see what you are trying to share.
3 - If you are sharing a specific window and you minimize or close that window other participants will NOT see your feed any longer. We are working on a solution to this but for now keep that in mind when you do have to only share a specific window.
4 - Presenting a Powerpoint by uploading it and clicking "Present" from the Chat can be a great way to share a presentation. It uses less PC and network resources which can make it more reliable under adverse conditions. Always test uploading and presenting a document before an important meeting. Occasionally documents can not be converted into a web presentable format so always test this ahead of an important meeting to make sure it will work.
5 - Have dial-in instructions handy for participants that have problems with their microphone or speakers on their PCs. This can happen and be completely out of our control so it's always important to be ready to share dial-in information.
6 - Look out for error icons on other participants' tiles. See the screenshot to the right of a participant tile with the red error icon? We use that icon to indicate another participant is having a problem. If you hover on that icon you will see a message explaining what issue they are experiencing. You can see here an example where the participant's microphone isn't working. There are other errors that can also appear like very poor network conditions, disconnected from the conference etc.
7 - If people have difficulties that don't resolve on their own, refreshing the webpage in Chrome will often solve most issues.
Note: Having more people sharing their video/screen at the same time can cause participant CPUs to run high and their computers may slow down.
You may also find our handy pdf guide: 'How To Host Stellar Meetings', useful when setting up your next conference call: www.freeconference.com/blog/downloadable-meeting-checklist-how-to-host-stellar-meetings
