Online and Virtual Meetings

Conserve on fuel and travel dollars by utilizing online and virtual meeting tools.

Phone

Small groups
Meet from your desk phone for one-on-one meetings using a handset or speakerphone, or consider 2-7 participant conference calling from your desk phone. The latter option is particularly useful for intercampus meetings.

For details, contact Teresa Brasher in Telecommunications at tbrasher@uta.edu or x25011.

Large groups
Larger group phone meetings from your desk can be arranged through Qwest audio conferencing services. This is most useful for group meetings with people off campus, scattered about the city, state or country. Your departmental phone will be charged at a reasonable rate. All other participants are given a toll-free number for accessing the call.

For details, contact Christina Curry at 512-338-5727 and tell her you’re with UT Arlington.

Computer

All you need for audio and/or video meetings via your computer are a microphone and speakers, or headset with a microphone. Webcams are useful should you elect to broadcast your image. This type of meeting can be held with these tools:

Skype
Realtime communication for one-on-one or between a small group of participants. CED (see contact below) supports free Skype-to-Skype calling, text chat, 2-way video if webcams are used, and conference calling for up to 24 participants.

Be mindful of the number of participants in this type of meeting as order might become difficult to maintain. For a meeting with 5 or more participants, web conferencing software (WebEX, see below) is recommended.

WebEX
Live web conferencing such as WebEX allows you to meet with up to 100 participants. You can choose several options for maintaining productivity, such as 1. no one can speak unless they select the “raise your hand” button and you call on them to speak or 2. all participants can speak at once. WebEX supports audio (mic required), presentation sharing, desktop sharing (yours or another’s), web browsing, whiteboarding and multiple video streams from users who elect to send their moving image. You can also use it to conduct polls, which is an excellent tool for voting in meetings. Those who do not have audio input can text chat.

For details, contact Scott Massey at smassey@uta.edu or 817-272-5727 with the Center for Distance Education.

Videoconferencing

Meeting one-to-many or group-to-group from two or more specific locations? UT Arlington offers live two-way videoconferencing at selected sites on campus. All participants must have access to videoconferencing facilities on their end, so please confirm that capability before contacting CSS (see below). Meetings must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance. Be sure to get a technical contact name for your meeting participants’ remote site/s so an advance test can be arranged.

For details, contact Terry Tisdale at terrance@uta.edu or 817-272-7394 with Classroom Support Services.

Not sure which option to pursue? Contact Jenny Jopling at jenny@uta.edu for a recommendation of which type best suits your needs.