GETTING STARTED WITH WEBEX USAILC.ORG

University of South Alabama Innovation in Learning Center

Updated 04/01/2015

What is WebEx? WebEx is a dynamic web-based conferencing tool that allows users to engage in a myriad of activities with few software/technological requirements. An internet connection is the primary need; only the host of the meeting needs to have a WebEx account. WebEx facilitates developing connections with students and colleagues who are not available to attend face-to-face meetings. Participants may join around the globe via use of a computer or mobile device.

Access to WebEx

1. USA faculty have free access to the university’s WebEx account. To request an account, please navigate to https://southalabama.webex.com/ and click Log In at the top right of the screen. On the login screen that appears, click Sign Up under the “I do not have an account” heading to request a login using your faculty email address. You should receive an email within approximately one business day with your login credentials.

2. Once you have your login credentials, navigate to https://southalabama.webex.com/, click on Log In at the top right of the screen, and use your username and password to log in under the “Log in to your account” heading as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. The WebEx Log In Screen

3. Students or other meeting attendees do not need WebEx account credentials in order to participate in meetings. They will join meetings by navigating to a meeting URL furnished to them by you as the meeting host.

4. At the present time, USA’s WebEx subscription does not support telephone access. Audio is available only through laptops, desktops, or mobile devices, and headphones with microphones are suggested.

2 GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx

Learning to Use WebEx 1. A variety of instructional aids are available online for learning to use WebEx, including on-

screen help, video tutorials, job aids, user guides, and self-paced online courses. In each Center, you may access the instructional aids by clicking New User Reference, User Guides, and/or Training.

Figure 2. Location of Online WebEx Instructional Aids

2. The WebEx interface provides access to four Centers: Meeting Center, Event Center,

Support Center, and Training Center. Faculty members are granted access to all but the Support Center which is reserved for use by technology support personnel only.

3. Each of the Centers have similar interfaces but significantly different functions and applications. A comparison of the features of the Centers appears at the end of this guide.

4. Because the Meeting Center is the most often used interface for interactive meetings and instructional sessions, this introductory guide is based on the Meeting Center tool.

Scheduling and Hosting WebEx Meetings

1. On the WebEx Meeting Center page, you may schedule an “instant” meeting by clicking on Meet Now under the Host a Meeting Heading. By providing the URL or Meeting Number generated by clicking Meet Now, attendees can instantly join your meeting.

2. Basic instructions for scheduling and hosting a meeting are provided in Figure 3. A “Getting Started” guide can be found under New User Reference on the WebEx page.

3 GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx

Schedule and start a meeting. 1. Log in to your WebEx site. 2. Under Host a Meeting, click Schedule a Meeting. 3. If you see the Advanced Scheduler page, click Quick Scheduler. 4. Select a Meeting Type, enter a Meeting Topic, then enter and confirm the

meeting password. 5. Specify the Date, Time and Duration. (Setting duration is for planning only

— the meeting will continue until you end it.) 6. Enter the email addresses of people you want to invite. 7. Click the green Start button to begin the meeting now or click Schedule

Meeting if you changed the time or date. 8. To start a meeting you scheduled, click My Meetings, then locate the

meeting and click Start. Share content in your meeting.

1. Click the button at the bottom of the sharing panel on the Quick Start tab. 2. Select what you want to share with everyone in your meeting, such as a

whiteboard or file. 3. Use Annotation Tools if you want to highlight or mark on shared content.

You can also enable the tools for others. From the Participant menu, select Assign Privileges and check the box next to Annotate. Share your video feed.

1. From the Meeting menu, select Options to check that video is enabled. 2. Click the video button next to your name in the Participants panel. (If you

have an external camera in addition to a built-in one, click the gear icon to select one.)

3. Double-click the speaker's video to display it in full screen. 4. To stop sharing your video feed, click the video button again.

Figure 3. Instructions for Scheduling and Starting a Meeting

Best Practices for WebEx Meetings 1. As Meeting Host, you will need the email addresses of all meeting participants in order

invite them to the event. You should inform participants that they will need to attend the conference via a reliable internet connection in a quiet environment with a computer equipped with audio for both listening and speaking (i.e., headphones with microphone, earbuds with microphone, or laptop). If you plan to include video in the meeting, participants will need to be informed that they will need to also have a webcam available.

2. Ideally, you might suggest that attendees attend a test meeting in order to verify that their hardware and software are working properly with the WebEx interface. Instructions to give to attendees for joining a test meeting are shown in Figure 4 below.

4 GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx

To join a test meeting:

1. Click on the following link to access a test meeting: https://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html.

2. Enter your Name and Email Address, then click Join. 3. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen to download

WebEx. 4. Your test meeting will load. 5. This is followed by a dialog box stating 'The host has not yet joined

the meeting'. Click OK to close the dialog box. At this point, you have joined successfully, and the WebEx Meeting Center client for the test meeting is successfully installed.

6. Click on the File menu, and choose Leave Meeting. If you are unable to join or having difficulty running the test, please contact WebEx Support at 866.229.3239 Option 1 or visit support.webex.com for helpful support information.

Figure 4. Instructions for Joining a Test Session

3. Additionally, you may want to schedule the first meeting of a group as a short “Practice

Meeting” in order to be sure that everyone has a chance to solve connectivity issues before you conduct your first content-rich WebEx meeting with a new group.

4. You, as Meeting Host, will need to have all materials you intend to share during the Meeting prepared and available on your desktop.

5. If you intend to save documents (such as whiteboard annotations) while the meeting is in session, you may want to create a destination folder for the meeting on your desktop prior to beginning the meeting.

6. If you would like to record the meeting, open the Meeting menu in the upper left and

select “Start Recording.” The session will be stored as a link on the WebEx site. To access your recorded session, while logged in to WebEx, navigate to My WebEx>MyFiles>My Recordings. You can share the link with attendees and/or with others who did not attend the session. If you need to convert the session to an .mp4 file format, please contact the ILC at 251-461-1888 for assistance with the file conversion protocol.

WebEx Product Comparison Chart

5 GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx

Product Comparison

Cisco WebEx Meeting

Center

Cisco WebEx

Training Center

Cisco WebEx Event

Center

Cisco WebEx Support

Center

Description Present

information,

share

applications, and

collaborate on

projects.

Streamline the

meeting process

with a centralized

space for

managing

activities and

information.

Deliver highly

interactive and

effective online

training and e-

learning.

Stage large-scale

online events.

Deliver efficient,

personalized

customer service

and IT support.

Usage Scenarios Collaborative

sessions

Internal and

external

meetings

Product and

project

coordination,

demos

Sales

presentations

Employee,

partner, and

customer

training

Product

rollouts

Certification

and IT

training

Distance

learning

Webinars

Marketing

events and

conferences

Product

launches

Employee

communications

Remote

employee and

customer IT

support

Personalized

customer

service

through the

Internet

Recommended

number of

attendees

Up to 500 Up to 1,000 Up to 1,000;

additional capacity

available

Up to eight

concurrent sessions

with five

participants in each

Information Sharing

Cisco WebEx Meeting

Center

Cisco WebEx

Training Center

Cisco WebEx Event

Center

Cisco WebEx Support

Center

Real-time desktop,

application,

document, and web

browser sharing

Yes Yes Yes Desktop and

application sharing

only

Whiteboards and

annotation tools

Yes Yes Yes Annotation tools

only

6 GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx

Video streaming

only

Yes Yes Yes No

Text chat and

Q&A (managed

and moderated)

Text Chat Yes Yes Text Chat

File transfer Yes Yes Available on request Yes

Audio and Video

Cisco WebEx Meeting

Center

Cisco WebEx

Training Center

Cisco WebEx Event

Center

Cisco WebEx Support

Center

Audio Phone, VoIP,

WebEx Cloud

Connected Audio

Phone, VoIP,

WebEx Cloud

Connected Audio

Phone, VoIP,

audio broadcast,

WebEx Cloud

Connected Audio

Phone, VoIP,

WebEx Cloud

Connected Audio

Video HD video;

multipoint; full-

screen view;

expanded full-

screen view

HD video;

multipoint; full-

screen view;

expanded full-

screen view

High-quality video;

multipoint; full-

screen video

High-quality video;

single-point only

Specialized Features

Cisco WebEx Meeting

Center

Cisco WebEx

Training Center

Cisco WebEx Event

Center

Cisco WebEx Support

Center

Polling Instant only Yes Yes No

Program and

campaign

management and

post-event surveys

No No Yes No

Lead source

tracking and

enrollment scoring

No No Yes No

Registration

management

Yes Yes Yes No

Testing, instant

grading, and

instructor scoring

No Yes No No

Breakout sessions

and hands-on labs

No Yes No No

Permissions-based

remote control

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Reports Yes Yes Yes Yes