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TIPS FOR SUCESS
This page offers tips for collaborating
and conferencing over intranets and the Internet using VoiceText
Communicator and the VoiceText Conference Server.
Exchange
Contact Information Using the Personal Info Window
Double-clicking on a user's icon
in VoiceText Communicator opens a window listing contact
information for that user.
To make your own contact information
available to other users, be sure to open your own Personal
Info window and enter the phone numbers, network addresses,
and other information you would like to share.
Use
VoiceText Communicator's Chat Window for Side Discussions
or for Main Discussions When Connecting over Modem.
VoiceText Communicator includes
a chat window in which users can exchange text messages.
Chat messages can be useful for:
- holding side conversations
during a conference call
- soliciting questions or answers
from students in an on-line classroom
- exchanging text, such as SQL
strings and program commands, which can be cut and pasted
into other programs
- conversing with users who have
access to only a single phone line, and who are using
that line for a modem connection
To open the chat window, pull
down the View menu and select Chat Window.
To send a message to other users,
do the following:
- Click in the text box at the
bottom of the window and type your message.
- Press the RETURN key on your
keyboard (or click on the Send button) when you're finished.
Pressing RETURN (or the Send button)
sends the message to the text display area of every chat
window currently open on the desktops of users participating
in the meeting. The display area prints the name of the
message's author in front of each message. (See the figure
below.)
By default, messages are sent
to all participants in the meeting. The chat window now
supports the ability to send and receive private messages
between two users. These private messages are only seen
by the sending and receiving users; noone else in the meeting
can see them. To send a private message, select the user
you want to talk to from the drop down "Talk to:" list.
Note that the creator of a meeting
can restrict the access to chat windows, and disable this
feature in the windows of some or all users.
Use
VoiceText Communicator's Pointer to Call Attention to Important
Areas
If you would like to call attention
to a particular item or area being displayed, you can do
so by turning on your pointer. Once you do so, VoiceText
Communicator relays the position of your mouse pointer over
the Capture Frame¬ or Display Frame to other users in the
meeting. Other users in the meeting will see your pointer
represented by your user icon, enabling them to identify
the user who is controlling the pointer.
To turn your pointer on, pull
down the Presentation menu and select Pointer
On.
To turn your pointer off, pull
down the Presentation menu and select Pointer
Off.
Note that the creator of a meeting
can restrict the usage of pointers, and disable this feature
in the windows of some or all users.
Use
VoiceText Communicator's Quiz Feature to Ask Questions and
Save Responses
Most meetings have a question
and answer section. The Q+A sections are either interspersed
in the presentation (before a "break" in topics) or held
at the end of the meeting. The presenter can ask the question
over the telephone (if everyone is in a conference call)
or present a slide with the question typed in it. The difficulty
with these solutions is that you cannot record the answers
given, nor can you quickly ask a "on the fly" question.
One possibility is to use the
VoiceText Communicator's chat window to ask the question.
You can then see and save all the answers to the question.
Another possibility is to use
the VoiceText Communicator's quiz feature. This allows you
to ask simple yes/no questions or multiple choice questions.
All users in the meeting will be prompted with the question
and can choose from one of the possible answers.
The results of the question are
then shown in the user list (accessible from the View menu)
next to each user. A tally of overall responses is also
shown. The questions and answers can then be saved to a
file which can then be imported into a spreadsheet.
Use
VoiceText Communicator's Web Surfer to show HTML Content
VoiceText Communicator includes
a web surfer in which users can exchange URLs. Instead of
capturing the screen of a web browser viewing a given URL,
you can send the URL to all the users in the meeting and
have them view it in their own web browser. The web surfer
can be useful for:
- showing on-line documentation
of a product while viewing the product in action at the
same time
- conserving network bandwidth
by sending the URL instead of the imagery of the URL.
- showing a sequence of "pre-canned"
URLs without interrupting the flow of the presentation.
Take
Advantage of the VoiceText Communicator Java Applet
If you see a coffee cup icon
next to the name of a meeting at the Meeting Center, then
you can join the meeting through the VoiceText Communicator
Java Applet simply by clicking on the coffee cup icon. (The
applet is available with VoiceText's Applet Software option
for VoiceText Conference Server.)
If you join meetings using the
Java applet, then you don't need to download and configure
VoiceText Communicator before you join a seminar.
NOTE:
To comply with JavaSoft's applet specification, the VoiceText
Communicator applet is not able to access computer resources
outside its own memory region. Thus, it is not able to capture
imagery for transmission to other users and cannot be used
by the presenter. The presenter must run a native client
(e.g., PC, Mac, or UNIX) version of VoiceText Communicator,
in order to be able to present imagery from his or her desktop.
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