ePresence 4.1 Web-Conferencing User Guide

This guide assumes that you have properly installed ePresence with Red 5, as described here.

ePresence Web-Conferencing Overview

ePresence Web-Conferencing allows you to host or participate in live interactive video conferences and online meetings. ePresence Web-Conferencing supports full-duplex video and/or audio with desktop sharing and text chat.

ePresence Web-Conferencing User's Guide

1. Registering for a Conference

The process of registering for a conference is the same as registering for a webcast.

1. Navigate to the ePresence Server you were invited to in your web browser. For example,  http://demo.epresence.tv/s4/

2. Click the Register link.

3. Fill-in the registration form, and submit it.

2. Joining a Conference

1. Participating in an ePresence conference requires a high-speed connection. Slow connections such as dial-up are not sufficient. Typical High Speed connections such as DSL or Cable are adequate provided that the connection is functioning properly, and providing at least 1 mb/s between your PC and the conference server.

In order to optimize your connection speed shutdown any applications that consume bandwidth, such as bit torrent clients, streaming video applications, etc. If your Internet connection is shared make sure other users are not consuming bandwidth.

2. Make sure your headphones and microphone are plugged into your PC and functioning properly. Test your audio setup by playing an audio file, and making an recording with a standard sound recording application. If you are using a webcam ensure it is functioning correctly. Perform these tests in advance to avoid delaying your conference with equipment tests when it is in session.

Do not use PC speakers. PC speakers create audio feedback that affects everybody in the conference. The only workaround for this problem is a properly configured conferencing room equipped with effective echo-canceling technology.

3. Open your web browser and navigate to ePresence Server that is hosting your conference. Click the Live Events tab. Your conference should be listed on this page. If you are early, your conference may be unavailable. If this is the case refresh the Live Events page periodically until the conference becomes available.

When your administrator enables the conference you'll see this icon: Click the icon. If you have not logged on to the server before allow Flash to use your camera and/or microphone by clicking the Allow button:

We recommend setting-up your Flash player to remember privacy settings for your camera and/or microphone. To save privacy settings: right click anywhere on the login screen, select Settings and check the Allow and Remember check boxes.

If you are using a webcam a preview of your webcam feed should appear on the login screen before you join. If your camera feed is not displayed please check the connections and settings of your webcam.

4. Enter your username and password. The conference can be protected with an additional password. If this is the case the conference administrator should have sent you an email with the password information. Enter the conference password. Click the Login button.

3. Using ePresence Screen Sharing

ePresence Screen Sharing allows you to display your desktop for all your conference participants.

1. Download ePresence Screen Sharing from  http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=159579 ePresence Screen Sharing is avalible for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

2. Run the installation utility and follow the instructions.

3. Launch ePresence Screen Sharing

4. Click the Setup tab.

5. Enter your ePresence Server URL ( http://yourServerUrl/YourePresenceFolder/), username, password and select the community. Click the Save button.

6. In the Desktop Sharing menu, select your event from the Event List combo box.

7. Specify your Capture Quality setting. Minimum quality is recommended to ensure smooth playback

8. Click the Start button. Your desktop can now be viewed by the other conference participants.

4. Participating in a Hybrid Conference

Hybrid conferences are a mix between webcasts and web-conferences that allow a larger remote audience than standard ePresence web-conferences, and permit remote participants to interact with conference presenters. A moderator manages remote audience interaction. The login process is identical to regular web-conferences.

During a hybrid conference you can interact with conference presenters by asking the moderator to enable your VoIP and video functions by doing the following:

1. To "raise your hand" click the microphone icon beside your name in the Participants window. Then wait for the moderator to enable your audio and video feed. When your audio/video stream is activated your Name box in the user list window will turn green. You can now ask your question.

2. To initiate text chat with the moderator click the moderator's icon in the user list window. A text chat window opens.

ePresence Web-Conferencing Administrator's Guide

1. Creating a new Conference

1. Open your web browser. Navigate to your ePresence Server Control Panel (e.g.  http://your_ePresence_server/cc)

2. Enter the Administrator's Password.

3. Click the New Event button.

4. Enter the topic of your conference, and the name of your presenter(s) in the Topic and Presenter fields.

5. Select your conference template.

Available templates include:

Conference_video for conferences with VoIP audio and webcam video

Conference_audio for conferences with only VoIP audio functionality.

Conference_hybrid for webinar conferences that allow remote participants to interact with speakers by asking questions that are managed by a conference moderator.

The reliability of VoIP functionality depends on your available bandwidth and connection speed. If you do not have optimal conditions for all involved parties then the most reliable option is to use tele-conferencing for voice communication and ePresence Conference Presenter for presenting slides and other media from your desktop. If you chose to use a teleconferencing system for audio please refer to step 2 for further instructions.

6. Define the Start and Stop time of your conference.

7. Optional: To add extra security to your conference you can specify a password that your participants will use for logging into the conference.

8. Click the Update Event Properties button.

9. Close your Control Centre

9.Send an email to all your conference participants with the URL of your ePresence server. Please ensure your conference participants have a webcam if you want to view a video feed from their location, and headphones and a microphone if you choose to communicate with VoIP. Conference participants must register on your ePresence server before they can login to your conference. After registration they can click the Live Events tab, select your conference from the event list, and login with the username and password they chose during registration.

2. Using Tele-conferencing Services with ePresence

If you are using a traditional telephone-based conferencing solution for audio, and only using ePresence for webcam and/or desktop sharing, then one of your participants must click the Mute-All button in the bottom-left corner of the screen before the conference begins.

3. Moderating a Hybrid Web-conference

Hybrid web-conferences require a moderator to manage interactions from remote audience members.

To moderate a hybrid conference do the following steps.

1) Navigate to your ePresence server

2) Click the Live Events tab and select your conference.

3) Login with the username: moderator and the moderator's password.

If a moderator password has not been setup yet do the following. Navigate to your ePresence server.

Click the tool icon. Enter the Administrator Password. In the Control Center window, click the Update Systems Setting button. In the New Moderator Password box enter your new moderator password and click the Submit button.

4) During the hybrid Conference pay attention to the Participants Window. When remote participants "raise their hand" to ask a question their user icon will turn red and a message will display under their name showing how long their have had their hand raised for. To enable a participant to interact with conference presenters click their user icon. A menu appears with three options: Send Private Message (select this option to start private text chat with the participant), Toggle Permission to Speak (select this option to activate the participants audio and video stream), Toggle VIP Status (select this option to allow the participant to interact in the conference whenever they want).