Information Technology Division
Academic Technology Center

Participating in an Interwise iMeeting Event

Understanding the Interwise iMeeting Interface

When you join an iMeeting event, the screen looks like the one shown below.

Participant List

The participant list indicates who is attending the event, who is presenting, who is speaking and who is queued to speak, as well as all options selected under the Raise Hand menu.

Toolbar

The Toolbar provides quick access to several features.

Raise Hand is the default option in a drop-down menu of participant responses. Participants can select a variety of emoticons or indicators that are seen by all the presenters. When an option is chosen, the head icon next to your name in the participant list changes to display the option you selected. After you select an option and are acknowledged by the presenter, select the option again to turn it off.
This button allows you to send text messages to either individuals or to all participants. If you click on the Send Note button, a small window appears allowing you to type a message and select who you want to send it to. When someone sends a message, a message window automatically opens on the screen of the receiver. The receiver can type a message in response if they wish.
If you need to temporarily leave the event for a few minutes, click the Step Out button. The head icon next to your name in the participant list will be grayed out, indicating to the rest of the participants that you are currently unavailable. Click the Return button to rejoin the event. Note that when you step out and then return to an event, you have to mute your microphone again.
The Enlarge button allows you to enlarge the whiteboard area by hiding the participant and materials windows. Enlarging the whiteboard area is helpful when the presenter is displaying websites or applications since part of the images may be covered by the windows on the right side of the screen.
Click the Mute button to mute your microphone. When your microphone is muted, the button says Muted. It is recommended that you keep your microphone muted when you are not speaking. When you are ready to speak, follow the appropriate instructions below, depending on how speaking abilities are being used in your event.

Status Panel

The status panel indicates the event status and who is speaking. It also shows the volume in the green/yellow/red bar at the right. One way to adjust your listening and speaking volumes during the event is to adjust the percentages that appear on the panel.

Drawing Tools

The drawing tools are available to the presenter and any participant who has speaking rights. If voice activated speaking is being used in your event, the drawing tools will always be available to you. The tools allow you to mark up the whiteboard, including any content displayed on the whiteboard, such as PowerPoint slides, documents, images, etc. Any markups you make on the screen are visible to all participants.

Tip

As a courtesy to the presenter and other participants in the event, refrain from using the drawing tools unless you are asked to do so by the presenter.

Whiteboard

The whiteboard area of the screen is the large white area shown in the image at the top of this topic. This is where most content is displayed during the event. When the event first starts, you may see an Event Information page displayed.

Table of Contents

Content files that the presenter has preloaded into the event appear in the table of contents in the Materials tab. You can see content items listed, but only the presenter can display them. If you are given presenting privileges, double click on a content item to display it.

Using the Microphone to Speak

The presenter has two options for setting up speaking during the event, which impacts how you speak up during the event. The two options are voice activation and queued speaking. The presenter should tell you which option is being used.

Voice Activation

Voice activated speaking allows you to speak up whenever you want to do so. More than one person can speak at a time. As a courtesy, you should try to speak up only when there is a pause in the conversation. Some presenters may ask you to raise your hand and wait to be called upon before speaking.

Warning

Most microphones pick up non-speaking sounds in addition to your voice, which means that participants in the event can hear you coughing, sneezing, breathing, shuffling papers, etc. To eliminate the rest of the participants from hearing your non-speaking sounds, click the Mute button to mute your microphone during the entire event. When you speak, activate your microphone by holding down the Ctrl key.

Queued Speaking

Queued speaking allows only one person at a time to speak. When one person is finished speaking, another person can speak. Click the Mute button to mute your microphone during the event. When you wish to speak, enter the speaking queue by unmuting your microphone (click the Muted button to unmute the microphone or hold down the Ctrl key). When your microphone is unmuted, you will automatically be able to speak if no one else is speaking, or you will be entered into a queue if someone else is speaking. If you are queued to speak, a number appears next to your name indicating where you fall in the speaking queue. In the example shown below, John is first in the queue and Ima is second in the queue. The number disappears when it is your turn to speak.

Application Sharing

In some events, the presenter asks participants to share an application that is running on the participant's computer. If the presenter asks you to share your application, he or she will give you presenting rights. Once you have presenting rights, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the application on your computer. The application must be open before you can share it.
  2. In the content window, click on the App Sharing tab.
  3. From the list of applications that appears, select the application you want to share. Click the Start Sharing button.

    Your screen changes so that only the application window is displayed. The iMeeting interface is hidden. In the upper right corner of your application window, you see the Application Sharing Dashboard.

    Note that the Dashboard allows you to mute and unmute your microphone, but for ease of use, it is recommended that you leave the microphone muted and use the Ctrl key to speak. The person icons that appear in the gray boxes represent participants. If you are using voice activation, you'll be able to see when someone else is speaking. If you are using queued speaking and one of the participants enters the speaking queue, the Dashboard displays the number 1 and a microphone, as shown below.

  4. To give remote control of the application to one of the other participants, right click on the person icon in the Dashboard and select Allow Remote Control and then select the name of the participant who you are giving control to.

    To take remote control away from a participant, right click on the person icon again, select Allow Remote Control, and select that person's name again.
  5. To end application sharing, click To Interwise in the Dashboard. The Interwise interface appears. On the App Share tab, click End Sharing.

Note

Do not switch to another application while you are sharing an application. Participants will only see a blank screen. If you need to switch to another application, end the current application sharing and start over. Or, if you will be sharing multiple applications at once, share your desktop instead of a specific application. The application you are sharing must be the active window.

Polling

The presenter may conduct a poll and ask you to answer either a Yes/No question or an OK question. The question may be one that the presenter asks verbally or one that the presenter displays either by showing a PowerPoint slide with the question on it or by typing the question on the whiteboard. When the presenter initiates the poll, you see either a Yes/No box or an OK box appear on your screen, like the ones shown below. Select your answer. If an OK poll is being used and OK is not your response, simply close the window without clicking OK.

The other participants cannot see your response. The presenter may choose to show a tally of the responses, but only overall results are displayed and not individual responses.

Responding to Questions or Tests/Surveys

The presenter may initiate on-the-fly questions during an Event or administer a test/survey. These questions may be Yes/No, Multiple Choice, or Free Text format. Other particpants cannot see your individual answers.

  1. When a moderator administers an on-the-fly question, it will show up in the middle of the whiteboard.

  2. Respond to the question by selecting your answer and click Answer.
  3. For Free Text questions, you will type in your answer and click Send.
  4. When a test or survey is administered, you will select Next.

  5. In a test or survey, you will be able to see your progress as you respond to questions. Questions you have answered will be highlighted in green. You can also skip ahead or go back to questions you have already answered.

  6. When you get to the last question and are finished taking the test or answering the survey questions, click Close in the Question window.

  7. When you are ready to submit your test or survey to the Moderator, click Submit.

Recording the Event on Your Computer

The presenter may have set up the event to record on the server, which means that you can use the same link you used to enter the event to view a recording after the event that is saved on the Interwise server. You can also record your own recording locally on your computer, which allows you to review the recording without being online.

Recording Locally

To record locally on your computer, follow these steps:

  1. From the Record menu, select Start (or Resume) Recording.

    The status panel indicates that you are currently recording the event, as shown below.

  2. To stop the recording, select Stop (or Pause) Recording from the Record menu.

Tip

You can start and stop the recording as often as you wish to capture just portions of the event. If you wish to record portions of the event in separate files, select Continue Recording in a Different File from the Record menu.

  1. When you have finished recording, select Save Recording from the Record menu. Give the recording a name.

Note

Recordings are saved with the .vcr extension. This file type can only be played back with Interwise. Interwise must be installed on the computer in order to play it back. If you've attended an event, Interwise is installed on your computer.

Playing Back a Recorded Event

Follow these steps to playback a recorded event that you saved on your computer:

  1. Recordings are saved on your C: drive. To start playing back a recording, open the Interwise Participant application by going to Start > All Programs > Interwise > Interwise Participant.
  2. When the application window opens, go to the File menu and select Playback Event Recording.
  3. Browse to the relevant file and click Open. The browse function should default to the folder where recordings are stored on your C: drive.

    The playback window opens as shown below.

  4. Use the playback controls in the top left of the playback window to control the recording. You can back up, go forward, pause, play, and stop the playback. You can jump around in the recording by clicking on items in the Table of Contents. Enlarge the content viewing area by clicking the Enlarge button.
Maintained by itweb@wpi.edu
Last modified: Sep 25, 2006, 16:33 EDT
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