University of Illinois, College of ACES, TeleNet Teleconferencing

Hosting a Data Conference as a Presenter

Think of this as a distance-learning meeting room or conference center.  The audio (sound) comes over the telephone, with visuals over the Internet.  This combination is called teleconferencing, data-conferencing, internet-visual-conferencing, or E-conferencing.

To host a conference, you will need to:

IMPORTANT: You can only join the conference 10 to 15 minutes in advance of the scheduled starting time.

Step 1. Advance Preparation-Presenters Only

·         Close down your e-mail program, so the audience won’t hear a chime or “You’ve Got Mail!” popping up in the middle of your presentation.  To give your computer maximum available memory, close out all unneeded programs.

·         Get your POWERPOINT slide-presentation open and running and.”Minimize” to icon on lower tool bar.

Step 2. Access the Telephone Conference

  1. Dial 800-DISTANT (800-347-8268)
  2. Press “1” to attend a live meeting.
  3. Alternate: Users with a Profile Number may press “2” and follow prompts to log-in.  [TIP: There are some features only available to Profile Users, such as “Callout”.]
  4. You will be asked for the Meeting ID number, XXXX followed by the # sign
  5. The computer-teller will repeat your meeting ID number.
  6. You will be asked for the Meeting Password number, XXXX followed by the # sign.
  7. Various recorded announcements may be made, and then you will automatically join the conference.  If you are the first online, music will play.

Step 3. Access the Data-Conferencing Web Page

  1. Bring up your web browser, i.e. Internet Explorer (any version), or Netscape (not version 6 or 7).
  2. Type in this URL to open the conference web page: http://telenet.aces.uiuc.edu, and click on color hotlinks “Meeting Place Web Interface”, OR “to join a data conference”.
  3. This will open a Welcome to Meeting Place page.  Enter the Meeting ID in the box and hit “enter” or “return” on your keyboard.  [TIP: First-time users should scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “browser test” to make sure your security settings are open.]
  4. Or, an alternate method is to click on “Attend Meeting” button.
  5. Enter your first and last name in the “Guest Name” blank box on the left side of the screen.  [You must put in your name or the program will not move forward.]
  6. Or, an alternate method for persons with a Profile stored in the system is to enter your User ID and Password on the right side of the screen.  [TIP: If you do not share the computer, you can check “remember me” so this line will auto-complete the next time.] 
  7. Enter the Meeting ID in the box on the lower part of the screen, if you did not already do that in step3.   Meeting ID can be numbers from Step 2 above that you used on the telephone keypad to get into the audio portion of the meeting, or a word if a Vanity-ID has been used.  Click on “Find Meeting”.
  8. The Welcome-page will greet you by name, and show today’s meetings with the ID you just entered.  There may only be 1 meeting, or several on a list if more than one meeting held today is repeated using the same meeting ID.  Click on the blue-color “Meeting ID” numbers for the meeting you wish to enter.  [TIP: This is the same exact Meeting ID you used to get into the conference with the telephone.]  This serves as a “hotlink” to the conference.
  9. On the next screen, you will be asked to type in the Meeting Password (XXXX).  This is the same exact password you used on the telephone entry.  (TIP: If you enter it wrong, the screen message says incorrect password, and you have to enter it again.)   [If a vanity-password has been programmed for your meeting, you may type the word instead of converting it to numbers as you have to do on the telephone keypad.]  You cannot get past this screen until you enter the correct password
  10. A basic information block about the meeting will appear.  Click on “Join Web Conference” box.  Answer affirmatively (click “grant” or “yes”) to any security questions that may appear.  Now you have entered the data conference sharing session.  It may take several minutes to load the program, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
  11. A “Welcome to Meeting Place Application Sharing” message window will appear on a blue background.  If the data conference has already begun, you will see the first visual of the presenter.  You will want to toggle between “Zoom Out” or “Full Size” to adjust for the best viewing according to your screen size.  The “Participants List” on the left side of the screen can be eliminated to give maximum screen space to your visuals.  Click on the tiny “black-triangle” to make the list disappear or reappear.
  12. If you are the presenter, you need to take control of the conference and get your first visual up for other participants to view.  Take control by clicking the Applications Share Button (with arrow) or click on the word “SHARE”.
  13. From the pull-down menu, click on Application, and then click on Share Desktop.  An alternative is to share a specific application such as a slide show, but ability to change to another program is more limited.  A message will come up that says “you are currently sharing your desktop”.  [TIP:Everything you see on your desktop as the presenter will be seen by everyone...including icons, wallpaper, and screen-savers.]
  14. During the presentation, the speaker may enable collaboration at any time by clicking on “Application”, and then clicking on “Enable Collaboration”.  This allows others to edit text materials on screen…slides or word documents.
  15. When finished with your presentation, you need to stop sharing so others can present, or the meeting can end.  Click on “Share Application”, click on “Unshare”, click on “Shared Desktop”.  The conference screen will return to blue background and a “Waiting for sharing” message.

NOTE 1-SECURITY:   The data conference system requires Java script be enabled on your local computer.  The computers are interactive and exchange data packets of information, similar to “cookies” on some web pages.  Some computers may have the security level set too high to participate in a data conference, and will need to be adjusted lower to receive a picture in the window.  When you are asked a Security Question during entry, you must click to indicate “Okay”, “Grant”, “Approve”, “Yes” or whatever the affirmative answer is on your browser security screen.

NOTE 2-VIEWING:     If you have to scroll around to see everything, adjust the screen resolution higher on your computer monitor.  Also quit other software running on your machine to give maximum memory size.  If you have any trouble, let us know via the telephone audio part of the conference, or redial 800-347-8268 and then hit #0 for operator assistance.   If your computer crashes during the conference, reboot your browser and start over at http://telenet.aces.uiuc.edu.  

NOTE 3-SOFTWARE:   The University of Illinois TeleNet Teleconferencing system will transmit anything in the Microsoft Office Suite, including PowerPoint slide visuals, Excel Spreadsheets, and Word text documents.  If requested before the meeting starts, a digital audio recording of any conference may be made, and referenced for access 15 minutes after a conference concludes.  [TIP: The attachments and any recordings are accessed from the same computer page as above.  Follow all of the steps for Meeting ID and Password above to get to the Meeting Details page.]  Attachments of Power Point slide shows, Word/Text Agenda/Documents, and Meeting Recordings are in the upper right corner of the page.  Click to open and play.

JLH Revised 6/12/03