How to stream a conference call in Webcast

Requirements

• Access to Webcast Manager
• Webcast Conference (Pexip connector) should be active on your account
• Access to Webcast Operator
• For conference participants: Access to a conference tool, such as Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, etc.

Objective

You wish to stream a conference call during a Webcast event. In this way, a relatively limited number of participants will be active in the conference call (any of them can potentially take part in the call orally). The call can be streamed in Webcast Consumer so that a much larger number of participants can listen in and interact by chat to the call.

Step-by-step guide:

1. Check that the conference feature is activated for your account

- Log in to Webcast Manager

- On the left menu, you will see many entries. If you are a system editor or higher on your Webcast Manager (roles on Webcast Manager are documented here) but "Video Conference" is not present, please contact your CSM and ask to have access to this feature.

2. Add the conference connector to your Webcast Manager account

- From your Webcast Manager, go to "Video Conference"

- Click on "+ Create" button

NOTE If the button "+ create" is not shown on your account, you have reached your Pexip video conference limit. Please, contact your CSM to obtain more (you can have up to 4 at the same time) or delete an existing one.

- Enter a name for your connector and click on "+ create" again

The Connector will appear in the list. The address provided is what your guests will use to dial into the conference.

- Click on the three dots on the right side of the connector entry

- You can select "copy address", to copy directly the connector directly on your clipboard.

From the same drop-down menu, you can also delete or update an existing connector.

3. Set the Conference connector in the webcast event

- On the left menu, click on "Webcasts"

- Select the event, to which you wish to add the conference connector

- From the configuration tab, on the "live" section, select the conference connector you wish to insert in the event

- Click on the "save" button

NOTE If the event has a connector it is essential to set the right date, time, and duration for the event. The connector will only be available during this time range. E.g. if you set the event on 5.5.2021 starting at 3:45 PM with a duration of 1 hour, you'll only be able to connect to the conference call on 5.5.201 only between 3.45 PM and 4.45 PM.

4. Connect the conference on the Webcast Operator

- Login to the Webcast Operator

- In the Operator, a new edit panel called Video Conference will appear. This panel contains an "email address" (a conference room ID) and two PIN numbers, one to distribute to hosts and another for guests. Your webcast participants need both the email address and the PIN number in order to dial into your Webcast conference.

- To start the conference connector, click on the plug-icon.

NOTE In case you do not see the plug-icon in the "video conference" section, the Webcast Manager probably set the event date, time and/or duration wrongly. See note from previous step. 

- Wait a few seconds, if the conference connector was correctly started, you will see the tab changes status.

- Now you can communicate to all participants the e-mail address ID and the correspondent dial-in PIN number.

4. For Hosts and Participants

To participate in the conference, once you have received the conference e-mail ID and its PIN number, follow these steps:

- Log in to your conference tool (e.g. Microsoft Teams)

NOTE in this guide, just as an example, we will take Microsoft Teams to make the instructions more clear. This workflow is very similar for other supported software (e.g. Skype for Business, Google handouts, etc.).

- Search for the email addresses that was provided by the Webcast Operator and select it.

- Call this fictitious user

- You will hear a voice saying "Please, enter the conference PIN number"

- Open the telephone keyboard

- Insert the PIN number you received from the Webcast Operator

- Confirm

You are now on the conference call. As for any conference call you can participate orally and share your camera if you wish.

All the users that have access to the Webcast Consumer can see the conference call and (if set) can interact by writing within the Webcast chat.