Audio and Video Conferencing Options for Staff
There are several options available to support business operations for audio and video conferencing needs to support remote work options. It is important to determine the “best fit” need so that campus options are available to as many users as possible to support a blended remote/onsite work experience for all. Please review these options to ensure that campus resource capacity limits are not impacted.
Option 1- Hangouts Meet
Whenever possible, use Hangouts Meet as a first option. Google Hangouts Meet is accessible via an active internet connection and can support voice and video conferencing using any webcam or mobile device. Google Meet will also automatically assign a phone number and bridge ID for users who wish to call in using a phone.
- Works Best for groups of up to 250 per call. Chrome is the preferred supported browser
- This resource can support up to 100,000 concurrent viewers at no cost.
Within a Google Calendar Meeting Notice, you can select to “add conferencing” for Hangouts meeting. This will embed a link directly into the meeting notice for all users you are inviting.
More information is available:
https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9282720?hl=en
Option 2- Cisco Voice Conferencing
- This is recommended whenever Google Hangouts Meet is not possible to support a voice conferencing session.
- Works best to support 30 attendees per call. System capacity is 115 concurrent users.
The campus has enabled advanced Cisco conference calling features for use on campus extensions. The conference calling feature, called a conference bridge, requires set-up in advance and may be used as an ongoing service once established. Both internal and external participants may call into and use the conference bridge once it is created. Up to ten people may participate in a conference call. To set up this feature for an extension in your department, please follow these steps:
Open an email to send a request TO: [email protected]
- Provide the extension to enable with the conference bridge feature.
- Provide the phone extensions that will need to have access to the phone extension enabled with the conference bridge feature.
- Provide a five digit PIN for the call host to use to start a conference call.
- Provide a five digit PIN for the call participants to use to join the conference call.
- Send the email; this will open a request ticket.
Additional instructions can be found here: https://www.oakland.edu/uts/common-good-core-resources/telephones/#conference
Option 3: Updated Cisco Phones with Conferencing features
- Works best to support up to 3 participants, but can support internal 4 digit extensions as well as an external 7 digit phone number on the same call.
- Some Cisco phone models on campus have the ability to conference in other participants.
The person with the supporting device has to initiate the call.
Dial the first phone number; either a 4 digit extension or 7 digit phone number. (Don’t forget to start with “7” plus the area code to make an outbound call)
Once the first person answers, ask them to hold while you conference in the second number.
You may have to select “More” if “Confrn” is not a visible option on the menu on the display screen.
Once you Select “Confrn” dial the second extension or phone number, wait for the person to answer, and then press “Confrn” again. Both parties will be on the line.
Option 4: Chat
- Works best to support small groups or 1-1. These chats do not retain conversation threads, and are recommended for quick chats.
Google has chat capabilities built-in to Google Hangouts.
- Open Gmail's chat settings by clicking Settings from the gear icon on the upper right-hand side of your mail.
- Click Chat.
- Select the bubble next to Chat on.
- Click Save Changes.
To add persons to chat with, Select the “Plus” sign next to your own name at the bottom of the screen where Chat resides and add the NetID or name of the person you’d like to chat with. You can chat with more than one person by selecting “New Group”
Last update 3/17/2020