The Virtual Hive platform integrates Whereby as native built-in video conferencing tool, which is utilised in different ways in the platform. This document is intended for Virtual Hive administrators with access to https://admin.virtualhive.live and an interest in utilising this technology. In the following it is described how meetings are scheduled, edited and joined as host, including accompanying options.
Document history
Version: 1.0
Date: Document history
Comments: First version
Scheduling video meetings
Scheduling a built-in video meeting is done from Admin (https://admin.virtualhive.live) under the ‘Meetings’ menu. By pressing the ‘Create New’ button in the upper right corner, the following menu appears.
Here two options exist for utilising Whereby:
- Built-in: Schedules a meeting at the scene specified by the ‘Page’ drop-down. Unless named participants are invited by clicking the ‘Meeting restricted to named participates’ the meeting will be open and accessible for all guests, i.e. either from the program or by navigating to the specified scene. Please note, that whenever a meeting is scheduled, it will automatically be added to the program. Whenever the meeting is restricted to named participants, only those invited will see the belonging program item and be able to join.
- Network room: Schedules a network room in the Network area, which again can open for all or restricted to only named participants. Please note that more than one Network area can be configured and also used to enable online video interaction via stands. A network room will appear as shown below, here named ‘Group A’ with a more detailed description to the right.
All scheduled meetings are shown in Admin under ‘Meetings’. A meeting can be edited and deleted using the icons to the right where the ‘Join as host’ icon also can be found.
Attending meetings as host
Scheduled meetings can used and accessed without a host, but when the organizer wants host access for orchestrating the meeting, this can be done by joining the meeting via the following icon found in the meetings overview as shown in the previous illustration.
Participating in a meeting as host provides access to features like recording, spotlight, share screen and general control of cameras and microphone for all attendees. These options are described in the following.
Recording
When joining as host, a ‘Start recoding’ option will be shown in the upper right corner of the screen. If not relevant this can just be closed clicking the ‘x’ and recording can always be started/stopped using the ‘Record’ button located in the button pane at the bottom.
In the example above there are four participants in the meeting, where ‘Christian Sohoel (you)’ has joined as host and the other three as attendees from the guest web application.
Controlling participants
By clicking the ‘People’ icon the in the button pane at the bottom, an overview of participants will appear in the right side as shown in the next illustration. From this overview, either a single or all attendees can be controlled, but clicking the ‘…’ icon next to the room or a specific attendee.
Clicking the ‘…’ icon for the room will open the additional dialog shown below. As can be seen it is possible to ‘Turn all mics off’, ‘Turn all cams off’ and ‘Remove all’, respectively.
By pressing the ’Turn all cams off’ icon, the host view will now be as shown below. As can be seen, all cameras are off, both in the actual meeting and the overview to the right.
By now camera is only enabled for the host, which now can ask all or specific attendees to turn on camera or microphone for a specific attendee or move a specific attendee into spotlight.
Please note, that it is possible to kick a specific or all attendees, using the ‘Remove’ possibility. The following illustrates how it looks giving ‘Sofie’ spotlight. All other attendees still have camera and microphone disabled.
Screen Sharing
It is possible both as host and guest to share screen, which is done using the ‘Share’ button located in the button pane at the bottom. As can be seen from the following illustration, it is possible to share a browser tab, a window or the entire screen.
Consumption and associated cost
Whereby usage is calculated in participant minutes. As an example, 4 attendees meeting for 30 minutes will add up to 4 x 30 = 120 participant minutes. There must be at least 2 attendees in a meeting, before any minutes are added. In a coming version, the consumption in participants minutes for each meeting and in total will appear from the ‘Meetings’ page.
Please note, that the Virtual Hive license includes a certain number of participants minutes. Additional consumption will be billed separately.