Please read our security advice! Conferences that have been generated before the 6th of May 2020 are conducted in the personal, virtual conference room of the user who created the conference if no other options have been selected for the conference. The conference room is accessible for users who have the link to the conference available.
For any personal conference room applies: Like to a real, physical conference room everyone has access who finds it. And: All participants except externals and those joining via phone are automatically presenters and have extended right (e.g. share content, mute other participants, record the conference).
If you want to make sure that your conference is private you have to check the options for the conference.
If you generate the invitation to the conference via Outlook you can set these options already during the process of generating the conference (> button meeting options in the invitation email). OWA doesn't have this feature, but you can always change the setting at any time before or during the conference.
To do so, click on the the button with the 3 dots in the bottom right corner of the conference window.
Choose Meeting Options.
In the now opening window you can change the accessability to your conference and limit the rights of the participants.
It is recommendable to at least limit the direct access for callers.
Private conversations during a conference: The chat belonging to a conference is always visable for all participants. Of course you can have private chats nevertheless - you just have to start them regularly in seperate windows with the people you want to talk specifically.
3 steps to create a conference
Open Outlook.
Change to your calendar. Usually your own calendar needs to be selected.
Create a Skype meeting:
Insert the topic (title), the attendees and the time of the meeting and send out the invites. Click on meeting options to define the privacy settings for your meeting.
If you want to use a private conference room, choose new meeting space in the meeting options.
Alternatively to Outlook: OWA (Outlook Web Access = Webmail) - you need to define the privacy settings at the start of the conference, if you send the invites via OWA (see security advice above).
Open mail.uni-mainz.de in your browser, change to calendar.
In the calendar select new and then Skype meeting.
Insert meeting details, add attendees with mailing address and send the email. (The button send will appear once you insert the addresses). The invite looks slightly different than in Outlook, but works the same.
The recipients receive an email containing an invitation link and have the following options:
Participate via Skype for Business (installed locally or via app on a smartphone): Click on the link Join Skype Meeting. (Using your smartphone there are no costs when you're connected to wifi).
Participate via WebApp: Participants without Skype for Business and externals click on Try Skype Web App and install the suggested plug-in (no admin rights neccessary).
Participate via phone: Participants who only have a phone at their disposal can join by dialing the phone number shown in the invitation email. Please remember to predial +49. If the number contains a comma, please dial only the first part of the number. Wait for the announcement and type in the conference pin after being asked for it. Then you just have to wait a little - participants usually are not the manager of the meeting and therefore do not need to press the star key.
If you want to conduct a video conference, switch on your camera.
In the conference window: Click on the camera symbol and then on Start My Video.
Extended options
During a conference every participant with presenter rights is able to share their desktop or a single window with the other members of the call. Normal participants (non-presenters) are not able to do that - they must be given presenter rights first (see below).
To share your screen click on the screen symbol in the bottom menu band in the call window.
Choose Present desktop to show everyone your complete desktop or Present Programs to share only a specific window.
To stop the presentation click on Stop Presenting at the upper border of the call window.
If your conference has limited access the other participants have to wait in the lobby until admitted. If you can't see the lobby on the left side of the call window: Click on the round button next to x participants.
Click on the checkmark to admit waiting participants to join the meeting.
Via participant actions you can choose seettings for all participants (change roles for all to participants instead of presenters, mute all, etc.). All members with @uni-mainz.de are presenters by default, meaning they are able to share their screen, admit other participants, mute others, remove others from the meeting, etc.; externals can only talk/listen/watch.
To change the rights of a single participant right-click on the participant's name. This way you can also give an external member presenter rights.
Before or during a conference all participants can provide the other participants with content to download. If the meeting is recorded, this content is also attached to the recording. To upload your file click on the screen symbol in the bottom of the call window:
Select Add Attachments.
Select the file(s) you want to share and click Open.
To download a file select manage content in the same menu.
Under More... in the menu you can use a > Whiteboard together with other participants, open a > survey spontaneously or start a > Questions-and-Answers-Session.
Manage content contains all files (uploaded before and during the meeting), whiteboards and surveys for all participants to download them (via the 3-dots-button).