TalkRoomsOnline web-conferencing

WebSupport@TalkRoomsOnline.com

Talk

Rooms

Online

Phone: 1-800-383-9691

Web Conferencing Overview

Voice-Conferencing:

Voice conferencing in the web-conferencing system is generally done using "half-duplex". This means that only one person is permitted to speak at a time. It works similar to a walkie-talkie. As you speak into the microphone, your voice is digitized (VOIP) and sent out to all participants in the virtual conference room. Our system uses "client-server" technology. This means that all the bandwidth requirements are handled by our dedicated server in our datacenter. This differs from "peer-to-peer" systems which utilize the participants themselves to send the data. What this means to the users is that the quality of the voice is NOT dependent on users in the room, so it does not drop off if you have users on dial-up connections or poor connections from other countries with less telecom structure. You do NOT need a telephone to participate. All that is required is a computer connected to the Internet and a microphone/speakers or a headset connected to your computer. Full-duplex (like that on a telephone or cell phone) is now available.
To use full-duplex and speak at the same time another user is speaking, you must be a moderator in the conference room. To enable Full Duplex, click on Administration and then Configure Full Duplex. Click the enable option and then select the Talk key (currently only F11 is available). Once configured, you can speak simultaneous with another user by pressing and holding the Full Duplex talk key (F11). Or you can lock the talk key by clicking Administration and then selecting Full Duplex Conversation, or by using the Full Duplex quick launch button below the user list.

Speaking:

When you press and hold the Ctrl key, you will hear an audible beep that tells you you can speak and a yellow talk bubble will appear next to your name indicating you are the one speaking. You hold the "Ctrl" key down on your keyboard to speak and release it when done speaking. Or you can choose to click the Microphone button (it turns red when pressed) to speak and click it again to stop speaking. There are many ways you can work with the Talk key in the system. By default, you can press Ctrl and hold to speak and release to stop, or press "Alt+L" to speak and "Alt+L" again to stop. The Ctrl Key by default is set to "Global" which means it works no matter what window you are currently in. In other words, you can be looking at your email and press the control key to speak in the conference room. You can change the Talk Key from "Ctrl" to something else, or configure a Talk "Toggle Key" by using the "Configure Talk Key" option. Any microphone will work, but of course, the better quality microphones will give better sound results. When someone is speaking in the room, a yellow talk bubble will appear next to their name in the user display window and the top line will identify the name of the person speaking.

Listening:

To listen in a conference room, you only need a sound card installed on your computer with speakers plugged in. Many speakers need to be plugged into a power source (into the wall), so if you are not hearing anything, check that the speakers are plugged in and turned on. You can turn off the sound by clicking the "speaker" button right above the "microphone" button (or press Alt+Q). This will mute sound in the conference room, but allow other sound on your computer to function normally.

Queue:

When someone is speaking in the room, and someone else presses the key to speak, they enter into the "queue". This is a line of people who wish to speak. A small hand icon will appear next to their name in the user display window. When the person speaking stops, the next person in the queue will enter speaking mode automatically. The order in which people enter the queue is the order they will spea

Clear Speaker(s):

If the moderator in a room wishes to interrupt the current speaker, he may choose to "Clear Speaker". To do this, either click with the right button on any user in the user display list and choose "Clear Speaker", or click on Administration and then "Clear Speaker". When the speaker is interrupted, the next user in the queue will automatically enter in speaking (if there is someone in the queue). Another option is to "Clear All Speakers". This will interrupt the current speaker as well as remove all participants that are currently in the queue. You should use this option if you have someone speaking and others in the queue and you wish to interrupt current speaker and enter in to speak

Audio Mute:

If you, as a moderator in the room, wish to prevent a specific user or all users from speaking in the room, you can choose to audio mute. This option is available either from the Administration menu or from a right click on the user(s) in the User Display Window. To mute a specific user, select the user from the display window and either right click on the user or from the Administration menu choose "Audio Mute Selected User". To unmute the user, repeat the process. The same holds true for audio muting all users in the conference room. Choose the option once to audio mute everyone and repeat to unmute.

Raise/Lower speaker's volume:

As a moderator, you can raise or lower the current speaker's microphone volume at any time to ensure that they are not too loud or too soft. Simply press "Alt+Arrow Up" to raise their volume and "Alt+Arrow Down" to lower it. The option is also available from the Administration menu. The user must be speaking for you to raise or lower their microphone volume. Note that in a few cases, this will not work because it is impossible to hook into the control to raise or lower the microphone. This may happen if two sound cards are installed or with certain sound cards that don't use typical Windows Controls.

Configure Talk Key:

If you wish to use a key other than "Ctrl" for speaking, you can change your Talk key by going to "Options" and then to "Configure Talk Key". There are several options under "Single Key Mode". One option is to choose the "Right Ctrl Key". This is helpful for those who want to "multi-task" using their control key without accidentally entering to talk in the conference room. With this Talk Key configured, you will be free to utilize the left control key for copying, pasting, or any other shortcuts without activating the talk in the the conference room. Currently, multiple key mode is not working correctly and should be avoided. There are also several options for configuring a "Toggle Talk Key". This will allow you to "lock" the talk key globally from within any application with the press of a single key. For example, if "Assign Pause Key to Lock Talk Key" is checked, then any time you press the Pause key on your keyboard, you will lock the talk key to speak. Press the Pause key again to stop speaking. This is very helpful when multi-tasking in other applications and allows you to continue to work hands-free in another application while speaking in the conference room without constantly switching back and forth between the applications.

Global or Application Only Setting:

Setting your Talk Key to Global means that you will be able to activate the Talk key from within any application open on your computer. Setting it to "Application Only" means it will only work when you are focused in the conference room itself. You can change your setting by going to "Options" and then to Configure Talk Key. These settings will remain even after you leave the conference room and return. If you want to change this setting "temporarily", you can click on "Actions" and then "Global Talk Key" to select or deselect the setting (or press Alt+G). This will change the setting from Global to Application Only, temporarily. The next time you enter, it will return to whatever is configured under Options.

Disabling Talk Key:

You can temporarily disable your talk key by going to Actions and then "Disable Talk Key" or pressing "Alt+D". This will make the Talk Key configured temporarily disabled. It is useful when you want to use your keyboard without accidentally queueing up to speak.

Microphone Settings:

To select your Microphone as the INPUT device, click on "File" and then "Microphone Settings". This will open the Recording Control. Make sure that "microphone" is selected. If you do not see microphone, click on Options and then Properties in the Recording Control window. Then look in the list and select "Microphone" to be shown. Click OK and then select "Microphone" as your Recording Source. You can also adjust the volume level of the microphone from this Recording Control window. Alternatively, most users can adjust their microphone volume from within the conference room by moving the slider left or right located next to the Microphone button. Blind users access the slider by using Alt+M and then arrow keys or PageUp and PageDown keys.
In some cases, you may want to play sound from your computer rather than speaking from your microphone. If you want to play something (like an MP3 file) directly into the conference room, simply use the "Microphone Settings to select "Stereo Mixer" or "Wave" as your recording source instead of the microphone. Then play the file using Winamp, Windows Media, Real Player, or anything else. All sound from your computer will get piped directly into the conference room (provided you are "speaking" with your talk key pressed or locked). When done, simply change back to your Microphone to continue speaking.

Speaker Settings:

You can adjust speaker volume by clicking on File and the Speaker Settings. This will open the Windows Volume Control panel. Adjust Volume Control or Wave as desired. Alternatively, most users can control the volume in the conference room by adjusting the slider left or right next to the Speaker Button in the room itself. Blind users click Alt+S and then use arrow keys or PageUp and PageDown.

Text Chat:

The advanced text chat in the conference room allows you to interact with other participants while listening to the speaker. The text chat can either be public (all participants see it) or private (between only you and another participant). The administrator of the conference room has the option of allowing private text chat between "users" or not. There are a number of ways to "spice up" your text including different fonts, colors, images and sounds. Text chat can be disabled for all users or specific users by moderators in the room at any time. URLs are clickable in the text chat. The chat text can be saved to a local file at any time. The admin of the conference room may choose the have the text chat logged to the server. If the text chat is logged, it may be either public (for anyone to see) or private (only the admin of the room can see). There is an "accessible text chat" available for blind users and colors/fonts may be over-ridden for low-vision users.

Send a Public Message:

To send a public message to the participants in the conference room, simply click into the textbox area (directly below the emoticons button) and type your message and hit the Enter key on your keyboard. The message will instantly be displayed in the text chat area for all to see.

Send a Private Message:

To send a private message to anyone in the conference room, click on that user's name in the user display window with the RIGHT button of the mouse and choose "Send a Private Message". This will open a separate window in which you can send private message back and forth to the participant. When you send a message, a new window will open on that participants computer and a sound will play indicating a new message has arrived. You can open as many private conversations as you want. Each conversation will be maintained in a separate window in order to easily identify conversations. Blind users may alt+tab between the main conference room and private conversations.

Fonts:

You can alter the font that you send to the public text chat by clicking the Font button and then configuring the font face and any characteristics desired. These settings will remain in place after leaving and entering again

Colors:

You can change the color of your text chat to anything you desire. Simply click the "color" button below the text chat area and choose your color. This setting remains in place after leaving and entering again. You can override colors (usually used for low-vision users) by going to Options and Text Chat. First "Enable" Text Chat Override and then choose the color you want all text chat messages to be. You can also set the text chat background color from the same menu.

Emoticons:

You can add emoticons to your messages by clicking the emoticons button and choosing the image you want to display, or by using the text equivalent of the emoticon. For example, :) will display a smiley face and :( will display a frown face.

Images:

Images are not available at this time

Sounds:

Sounds are not available at this time

Disabling Text Chat of a User: (Moderator Feature Only)

A moderator in the room can disable the text chat of a specific user by selecting the user in the User Display and then clicking with the right button on that user and choosing "Text Mute Selected User", or by selecting this option from the Administration menu. This will cause that user's text chat textbox to become "greyed out". They will not be able to type text into the box nor send any messages. Repeating the process will re-enable the text chat for that user. If you want to disable text chat for ALL users, follow the same process, but choose "Text Mute All Users". Repeat to re-enable text chat for all users.

Save Text Chat:

Any user can save the text chat into to a text file at any time by clicking "File" and then "Save Text Chat". Give the file a name and click save.

TimeStamping Text Chat:

You can have all messages timestamped in text chat by turning on TimeStamp Chat Entries under the Options->Text Chat menu item.

Enter Leave Messages in Text Chat:

You can have messages placed automatically in the text chat every time someone enters or leaves the room. Turn this feature on under the Options menu at the top of the conference room.

Text Chat TroubleShooting:

User Display Window:

The User Display Window shows all participants currently in the conference room. The participants are separated into two groups. The first group is the moderators in the conference. These are user that have entered with a moderator password and have privileges of administering the room. The second group are "users" in the room and do not have administration rights in the conference. Each group can be expanded and contracted as desired. Clicking with the right mouse button on users in this window opens a list of options. The top line of the window displays who is currently speaking. Icons next to the user's names shows if they are speaking, in the queue to speak, typing, away, etc. User may not see a User Display, as the admin of the conference room has the ability to "hide" this from users.

User Display: Moderators and Users:

Moderators and users are separated into two groups. Moderators have different menu items from users with a right mouse click. Moderators are also differentiated by a slightly different icon next to their name. Both moderators and users are alphabetically ordered.

Disconnecting, banning, and unbanning users:

By clicking with the right mouse button on a user in the User Display, a moderator may "disconnect" (kick out) a user from a conference room. This action DOES NOT ban the user from the room. It is mostly used in a case where a user has stepped away from his computer, but left the conference room open and the current users in the conference room do not want/need that person in the room. From the same menu, a moderator may choose to "block" the user. This will kick them out of the conference room and never allow that user to again enter the conference room unless he is "unbanned". The system bans according to "computer", so the particular user could rejoin the conference on a totally different computer, but will not be allowed back in on the same computer. Re-installing the plugin or changing IP address will not change this. The options to disconnect and ban are also available from the Administration menu. To unban a user, a moderator may use the "Show/Unblock banned users" from the Administration menu.

Setting Status:

If you are stepping away temporarily from your computer, you can change your status to "away" by right-clicking on your own name in the User Display and setting status to Away. Or you can set your status from the File menu. When you return, you can change your status to "Online". If you speak, your status will automatically change to Online.

User Display TroubleShooting

Browser:

The embedded browser is an instance of Internet Explorer built into the conference room. You can navigate it like any browser by entering URLs into the address box, clicking on links, etc. When "Follow-me" is turned on under the Administration menu, everything you do in the browser will be replicated for all participants in the conference room. This can be used to show websites, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, images, text, or to provide links to download other files. There are some limitations to what can be "shown" in the browser to the participants. Websites that require a "login" will not work for other participants. Some websites use "javascript" links rather than normal links for navigation which may not work in follow-me mode. Also, if a link opens in a popup or a separate window, the participants will have to click on that link themselves to open it (you can not force a window to open on the participants' computer). Automatic popups (like ads) are blocked. Finally, Flash/shockwave will be displayed in the browser for others, but anything you do INSIDE the flash object will not get passed along because Flash is actually a separate application and not part of a browser itself. The same holds true for an embedded Windows Media Player or Real Player on a webpage.

Accessing a Webpage:

To access a webpage in the browser, simply type the address as you normally would in the address box at the top of the browser and hit Enter on your keyboard. If you want others to see the page, turn on "Follow-me" first or use the "Send Current Page" from the Administration menu.

Using Follow-me:

When Follow-me is turned on from the Administration menu, all participants in the conference will automatically follow your navigation in the browser. Simply access a webpage and click on the links. If there are two moderators in the room and both have follow-me on, they will send each other the web page they access. There are some limitations to what can be "shown" in the browser to the participants. Websites that require a "login" will not work for other participants. Some websites use "javascript" links rather than normal links for navigation which may not work in follow-me mode. Also, if a link opens in a popup or a separate window, the participants will have to click on that link themselves to open it (you can not force a window to open on the participants' computer). Automatic popups (like ads) are blocked. Finally, Flash/shockwave will be displayed in the browser for others, but anything you do INSIDE the flash object will not get passed along because Flash is actually a separate application and not part of a browser itself. The same holds true for an embedded Windows Media Player or Real Player on a webpage.

Using Send Current Web Page:

To send the current web page being displayed in your browser to all participants in the conference, click on Administration and then click on Send Current Page.

Navigating Browser:

The browser contains buttons to move forward and back. There are also buttons to refresh the current page, a button to access your Favorites from Internet Explorer, and a button to return to the original Home Page of the conference room. You can click on any link within the browser for navigation. Add-ons such as Google Toolbar are not utilized within the embedded browser and are therefore not available.

Favorites:

You can access your Internet Explorer Favorites from the Administration menu or from the "star" button on the browser. You can choose one of your favorites from the list and send it to the browser by double-clicking it or by selecting it and pressing Enter on your keyboard. You can also add a webpage in your browser to your Internet Explorer Favorites list at any time.

Document Center:

The Document Center allows you to share documents such as PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, images, text, and other documents. Both PowerPoint and Excel are exported into HTML (or images) and then uploaded to the Document Center. All other documents are sent in their original format. IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to save a PowerPoint presentation as HTML, upload to your own site, and then access it in the conference room. Microsoft exports PowerPoint in a fashion that makes it impossible to access in a collaboration environment. Therefore, all PowerPoint presentations must be uploaded and accessed using the document center to assure that users can view them in the browser.

Uploading PowerPoint:

To upload a PowerPoint presentation, you must have Microsoft PowerPoint (from MS Office) installed on the computer. Open the document center by clicking Administration and choosing Document Center. Click the "Select File" button and navigate to your PowerPoint presentation. Select the file and click the Open button. Choose whether you want to upload it in HTML, JPG, or GIF. HTML will give the best quality and overall results, but if you are planning on recording the session, keep in mind that the slides will not render in FireFox, so it may be best to choose JPG or GIF. JPG generally gives the best results in images if your presentation contains photos. If your presentation is based solely on clipart and text, then GIF may render better. If you choose JPG or GIF, you have an option to choose the size to display. Keep in mind that many users still have 800X600 screens so if you choose this size or larger, the slide may display entirely within the browser area and some users may need to use the scroll bars to see the entire slide. Now select the Upload button. The document center will Load the presentation, convert it to HTML, JPG, or GIF and upload it to your Document Center. Once the upload is complete, you can access the presentation by clicking the Manage Documents button.

Accessing Uploaded Documents and Sending them to the Browser:

To access any documents that have been uploaded to the Document Center, Open the Document Center from the Administration menu and click on "Manage Docs". This will open a window that displays all the uploaded documents. Simply click on the document desired and click the Load Doc button. This will load the document into the browser. If the document is not a PowerPoint, Excel, Image, or Text file, a link will be displayed for downloading the file. You can preview any of the files in your default browser (outside the conference room) by clicking the preview button. From this window you can also delete files and folders and also send a PowerPoint presentation to the WhiteBoard. NOTE: Whiteboard must be loaded first and the presentation had to have been uploaded as a JPG or a GIF file.

Uploading a Recorded Session

To upload a recorded session, open the document center by clicking Administration and choosing Document Center. Click the "Manage Archives" button and click on "Select Archive". Choose the recorded session you want to upload and click "Publish". The recorded session will be uploaded to the Document Center. You can then use the document center to view the session, using the "Preview" button.

Replay:

Recording and replay Archive

This feature is extremely useful when doing the same presentation over and over to different live audiences. Simply do your presentation one time and record it. You can then upload it to the document center if desired, or maintain it locally on your hard drive. While in the room, do the following to play the recording (sound and all slides or websites displayed) live in the conference room:

1. Open Document Center from Administration menu and click on Replay.
2. Select the recording using Open File (for local) or URL (for an uploaded session)
3. Check to make sure the second drop-down box on the left contains the "output" device selected (usually called Stereo Mix or Wave)
4. Click Play.
All sound from the session will be played live into the room and all slides will be sent to the browser and displayed.
You can press Pause at any time to instantly return back to the microphone and then return to the recording replay by pressing Play.
When the recording is finished, sound input will automatically return to your microphone unless specified in the checkbox setting to unlock Talk key on finish.

Loading PowerPoint into the Whiteboard:

You can load a PowerPoint presentation into the Whiteboard by:
1. Uploading a presentation in either JPG or GIF format.
2. Load the Whiteboard from the Administration menu.
3. Turn on Follow-me from the Administration menu
4. Enter the Document Center, click on Manage Docs, select the presentation and click the Load WB button.
The presentation will appear in the whiteboard, and navigation buttons will appear to move from one slide to another.

Record a Session:

Click Recording and then Start Recording. You can Pause the recording at any time from the same menu. To stop the recording, click Recording and Deselect Start Recording. The recording will automatically be saved in the Recordings folder under the name you gave.

Accessing a Recorded Session on your Computer:

Click File and then choose Open Recordings. This will open a window on your computer containing all recordings you ever made in any conference room. This window has 4 options:

Delete: Completely and permanently removes the recording from your computer. There is no Undo action for this.
Open Folder: Opens the folder of the recording in Windows explorer to display all recording files for that particular recorded session.
Preview: Loads the recording in the embedded browser of the conference room. Please note that this will only play for you and not work to send to others in the room unless they have the same recording with the same exact name on their local computer
Close: Closes the window

Accessibility:

We pride ourselves on making all aspects as accessible to impaired individuals as possible. We use direct consulting from blind, low vision, hearing impaired and others to make our products easy to use with screen readers, zoom programs, low resolution screens, and captioning. In cases where certain objects were too difficult to make accessible, we have offered options to switch to other objects that are accessible, such in the case of Text Chat. We have gone to great lengths to not only make our products visually inspiring and feature rich, but also practical and usable by all computer users. We are always completely open for suggestions on how accessibility may be improved and understand that this is always a work in progress.

Tabbing

The use of the Tab key is the most common way that blind users navigate within a program. We have reduced the locations (tab stops) to the maximum. Only the Text chat window, text chat type box, and user display window can be tabbed to. All other objects, including the browser and buttons must be reached using hotkey focus keys. These focus hotkeys are defined in the menu under Help->Accessibility.

Support: 1-800-383-9691