Participant Prep

Preparing for Video Conferencing on BigBlueButton

Testing Your Equipment Before the Event

Go to the BigBlueButton test site to test your browser and equipment: https://test.bigbluebutton.org/

• Check to make sure headset and mic works
• Check your internet connection

The BigBlueButton room runs in the internet browser window and works best with Google Chrome and Firefox

Joining the Meeting

• Open the event link in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox
• Put your name in the box and click join
• When prompted “How would you like to join the audio?” select JOIN WITH MICROPHONE

• Do the echo test to ensure your microphone and speakers are configured correctly

• It is recommended to mute your microphone in meetings when you are not speaking, so that background noise does not disrupt the meeting. If the room does not automatically mute users upon entry, click the mic button at the bottom of the screen. You can also click on your user name and select mute.
• Put your name and affiliation in the shared notes on the left side bar

Participating in the Meeting

Unmute to speak

• If you want to speak, click on the mic button at the bottom of the screen or click your user name and select unmute in the User list on the left side of the screen

Turn on webcam

• If you want to join the meeting with video, select the camera icon at the bottom of the screen

• Give your browser permission to access your webcam when the permission request pops up

Start a private chat

• Click on the users name in the user list and select START A PRIVATE CHAT

• The private chat can be accessed under the public chat tab on the left side

Use public chat

• The public chat is the first thing visible in the left pane when you log onto the BigBlueButton meeting
• Any public conversations that occurred before you joined the meeting will be above the welcome box in the public chat
• Public chat can be downloaded by an individual for later reference. You may save the public chat by clicking on the three dots in the the upper corner of the public chat panel. A pop-up menu will appear with the options to Save, Copy or Clear. Choose the Save option to download a text file of the chat messages to your computer. Select Copy if you want to copy the chat messages to another program you choose. In most IEEE SA OPEN advisory group meetings and events, events, we do not download the chat contents for sharing. If there is information you would like to be available for later reference, please place it in the shared notes.

Collaborate in shared notes

• Any user in the meeting can write on the shared notes pad
• Open shared notes and type in the window

• The user name does not appear next to the text that each person types. If you want your name attached to what you contribute in the notes, you will need to put your name in the text
• If you would like to maintain a copy of the Shared Notes, they can be downloaded. Pick the download option (document with a down arrow). A pop up menu will show options for file download. These include Etherpad, HTML, Plain Text, Microsoft Word, PDF or ODF (Open Document Format). (Please note that Shared Notes download are different from Public Chat downloads.)

Conferencing etiquette

• Choose a quiet location without distractions
• Use a headset to eliminate background noise and feedback that your microphone picks up
• If you have your webcam turned on and do not have a virtual background in place, sit in a place that has a background you are okay with other people seeing. If you would like to use a virtual background, there are a few options available including a blur background option. There is currently no support for your own image upload.
• Stay muted when you are not speaking to prevent background noise and feedback

Facilitator Guide

Leading Conferencing Rooms on BBB

Purpose: Breakout rooms are a time for event attendees to collaborate. It is a working session. Sessions are led by a facilitator, but do not follow a structured agenda.

Welcome attendees into the room, remind people to join with the audio microphone icon, not the headset (listen only) icon. If a person has an icon with a headset next to their name, they have joined via listen only.

Ask users to close the main meeting hall BBB tab in their browser while they are in the breakout room. As the facilitator, please make sure you also do this. Audio from any other open BBB meeting rooms in other tabs will come through the users computer audio and it will be heard in the breakout room.

Breakout rooms may be recorded. Prior to the beginning of recording, the facilitator should notify the attendees that the session will be recorded. If people do not want to be visible in the recording, they should turn off their video. The recording will only record user webcam video and audio input during the session. Recordings will not capture presentations, shared screens, public or private chats, or shared notes.

At the end of the breakout session, post the link to the main hall in the public chat so attendees can navigate back to the main room. Remind people to close the current meeting room window tab in their browser.

Copy the notes from the shared notes section and send them to the appropriate person for posting to the Gitlab group.

Actions:

Mute a user

If you need to mute a user because of background noise from their mic, click on their name in the participant list. Select MUTE USER in the list

Mute all users

If you need to mute all users or all users except the presenter, click the settings icon above the user list and select either MUTE ALL USERS or MUTE ALL USERS EXCEPT PRESENTER

Tell users how to switch from listen only to audio

If a user is in listen only, instruct them to:

• Leave the audio conference by clicking on the blue headphone button on the bottom of their screen
• Join the audio conference again by clicking the same button, that now has a picture of a white phone with a line through it and says "Join Audio" when the mouse hovers over it

• When prompted on how they would like to join audio, select the "microphone" icon

• Complete the echo test when prompted and they will be added back into the audio conferencing in the room

Share your screen

To share your screen with attendees:

• Click on the round button at the bottom of the screen on the right side of the button row, with the white picture of the monitor with a line through icon

• When prompted by the pop up window, select the picture of the screen you want to share (there may be more than one if you are using multiple monitors) click SHARE

• To stop sharing your screen, click STOP SHARING on the bar at the bottom of your shared screen

If a participant wants to share their screen

• Give them presenter mode by clicking on the user's name on the attendee list and select MAKE PRESENTER

• The user with presenter status will have the presenter icon on their username icon

• After the user is done presenting, click on your name in the user list and select TAKE PRESENTER

Create a Poll

• When you have presenter status, you can create a poll by clicking on the plus sign button on the left side of the bottom bar. Select "Start a Poll"

• Use the pane that pops up on the left side to create the poll questions and response options

After users vote, it will publish results on the current presentation slide. Results are displayed as totals. The presenter can see individual responses from users as they come in, but the final displayed poll is an anonymous total and does not identify how individual users voted.

Start an interactive multi-user whiteboard
In presenter mode, you can write on the whiteboard as part of a presentation or make it a shared whiteboard so all users can collaborate and write/type on it. Steps:

• Start the whiteboard by progressing the presentation slides forward until you come to a blank slide

• Click on the picture of the white board icon at the bottom of the editing toolbar on the right side of the slide, it will say "turn on multi-user whiteboard" when you hover your mouse over it. The icon will show two whiteboards after you click on it, indicating the whiteboard is interactive and all users can write on it.
• Click on the hand at the top of the toolbar and select an editing tool to use

To leave the white board so only the presenter can draw on it, turn off the multi-user whiteboard icon at the bottom of the editing toolbar and select the editing tools you want to use.

Removing people from the room

• If you need to remove someone from the room or they need assistance leaving the room, click on the user's name on the attendee list and select REMOVE USER