Conferences - (Voice)

Conferences can be found under Features - Conferences.

Conferencing is integrated into the system and is beneficial if you require many people to join a voice conference. To set this up, go to Conferences and select ‘New’. Choose a conference code or leave the default one. It needs to be unique in the system. Create an administrator PIN (the administrator can talk, listen & lock the conference), a talk PIN (talk & listen) & a listen PIN (listen only). At the bottom of the page, you can add the numbers and emails of people who will receive notifications when the conference starts. To access the conference room, allocate a phone number to this or create a Feature Code pointing to the conference room if you wish to dial it internally.

Conference Settings

Conference code
This is automatically allocated, but you can change it if you wish. You only need to use this conference code when you enter the conference menu and are asked to enter the conference room number. You can bypass this by simply asking for the pin instead.

Description
You can do so here to add more information about the conference.

Owner
If you set the owner here, depending on their access rights, they could manage this conference when they login to the portal. This doesn’t affect the Administrator's ability to change settings, either.

Administrator PIN
This is the main admin pin and should not be shared with other users joining the conference.

Talk PIN
This will allow the person logged in to the conference to talk and listen.

Listen PIN
This will only allow the caller to listen to the other attendees.

Maximum people at the conference
This is set to unlimited, but remember that it will use up channels. Please do not leave it unlimited unless you have already placed a limit on the customer's rate plan or customer settings.

Ask callers to record their names.
If set to Yes, when a person enters the conference room, they will be asked to record their name, which will be played out loud when they enter and leave the room.

Play music to callers.
While the ‘talk’ users wait for the administrator to enter the room, if this is set to Yes, the callers will hear hold music until the administrator has joined.

Callers are muted unless the administrator is present
As it states, if set to Yes, all parties cannot speak to each other until the administrator joins.

Play tone when a new person joins
A tone will be played when someone joins the conference if set to Yes.

Duration of conference
This is set to permanent by default. If you want all parties terminated at a particular time, you can set a limit of 10 to 240 minutes.

First conference starts
This is the time and date the conference was created by default. You can change this start date to ring out to participants. The system will email the parties below in the notify list when the conference is live.

Repeats
If you want this to be a recurring conference, you can select daily, weekly, two, monthly or two monthly to repeat. The default is ‘does not repeat’.

Total number of conferences
This is the total number of times this conference room can be used when choosing an option in the repeat setting.

Caller ID for notification calls
This will be the display number the conference participants will see when they are being called to join the conference.

Show in Reception Console
This will allow the conference to be seen in the Reception Console under the option at the top of the systems menu.

This section lets you upload the details of the people you want to be notified about joining the conference.

Other Options for this Conference

Make copy
This will create a new conference from the current one you are in. It will copy all the settings, like for like.

Notes
This accessible text area allows you to make notes about the conference.

Creating a Permanent Conference

You don’t need to notify people about a conference. You could set up a permanent one where you can point a number and ask people to enter it by dialling it and entering the conference PIN. Remember that you have a few options if you set a Feature Code or External Number.

Under the default destination, you can choose one of the following;

Conference login. Using this option, you must know and enter the conference room number and PIN.
Conference, ask for a PIN. You must point the Number to the correct conference room, but you only need the PIN.
Conference, administrator. Since this will allow direct entry into the conference room as the administrator, I would only use an internal Feature Code.
Conference, talk. Since this will allow direct entry into the conference room as a talking user, I would only use an internal Feature Code.
Conference, listen. This will allow direct entry into the conference room as a listening user, so I would only use an internal feature code unless you are happy for people to dial in and listen.