Make waiting rooms available at your meetings, to ensure they are safe and free of disturbances
Waiting rooms are a sought-after feature within the virtual conferencing industry. They protect your meetings from any security issues, such as unwanted guests dropping their bags and disrupting the whole meeting. The severity of how dangerous this could be was made evident earlier in the year with the help of Zoombombings.
Since then the beginning of time, all meeting hosts regardless of whether they’re organizing professional events or teaching classes have recognized the significance of having a waiting room.
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What is a Waiting Room?
A waiting area within a meeting environment serves as a buffer. Participants in meetings must go through it prior to being admitted to the meeting. The person who hosts the meeting is in complete control of who is admitted participants to the gathering. So, non-invited guests are not able to simply drop in to the gathering. As you can see, they’re extremely useful and essential to safeguard your meetings.
How to Use a Waiting Room in Webex
Webex Users have been requesting lobby or waiting rooms in meetings for a long time, where attendees are able to wait until they join the meeting. In the past, you could get waiting rooms within Personal Meeting Rooms however not in scheduled meetings. However, Webex Meeting version 40.9 has changed this.
How to Use the Waiting Room in a Personal Meeting Room
Each Webex user has their own personal meeting space in Webex with a custom link that never expires. It’s exclusive to you and always accessible and you don’t need to book it in advance to utilize it. Any meetings you impromptuly can arrange through Webex are held in the personal meeting room.
By default meetings held in the personal Room do not have waiting rooms neither. However, you can change the settings to include one. Webex offers the ability to make meetings locked. If a meeting is locked and participants try to join the meeting will be directed to into the hall instead. The host is then able to let the participants in if they wish.
To secure the Personal Room Meeting, go to the toolbar for meetings and then click on the ‘More Options’ (three-dot menu) icon.
Turn on the toggle to select the option ‘Lock Meeting’ in the menu.
Participants who sign up after you have locked the meeting must stand in line. You’ll see in your display that you have people who are waiting to be seated in your lobby. Click the notification to see the complete list.
You can accept them all with a single click. choosing them all or just admitting those you wish to admit. Choose the people you want to admit, then click the “Admit” button.
You’ll need to do this for each Personal Room meeting you want to secure. However, if you consider your role as the only person in the meeting since it’s an impromptu meeting, it’s not an issue. This is a great solution for those who don’t need a waiting area in every meeting.
However, for those who wish to have waiting room function to be included by default for all meetings, there’s a different method. Configuring this little setting will lock every Personal Room Meeting as soon when it begins.
Visit webex.com and log into the Webex Meeting space. From the navigation menu to the left, select “Preferences”.
Then, go to ‘My Personal Room’.
The settings for your personal room will be displayed. Scroll down until you reach the “Automatic lock’ option. Click on the box next to it, to select it.
If you choose it the drop-down menu that lists time will be clickable. Select it, then click “0” from the choices.
Click the Save button.
All of your private meeting rooms will come with an attendant room as standard.
NOTE: To be able to allow people in from the lobby during an unlocked meeting, you must use Webex Meetings, the Webex Meetings desktop application, Webex Teams desktop app, or Cisco Webex cloud-registered room as well as a desk gadget. In other words, you won’t be allowed to allow people into the meeting without having to unlock the meeting.
How to Utilize the Waiting Room for an Agendad Meeting
For scheduled meetings the availability of a waiting area is crucial. If others arrive prior to the host arrives, they must be waiting in the waiting room at the point where the host is able to allow them to enter.
However, previously, you did not use this feature in the course of a scheduled meeting using Webex. Participants who arrived prior to the host arrived were not able to join the meeting in the event that there was a lock on the session. They were required to refresh their minds and then try to rejoin the meeting once the host had arrived. You can see, this is not logical at all. What is the way for a participant to be aware of the presence of the host at the meeting?
However, from Webex 40.9 from now it is possible to create an area for waiting guests attending scheduled meetings. The term “guest” refers to users who are not registered with their Webex accounts, or are external users that don’t have an active Webex login on their website. Therefore, guests who arrive prior to the host’s arrival will need be seated in the meeting room. However, any members of the organization who show up prior to the host is able to join the meeting directly.
Visit webex.com and log into your meeting space. Go to Meetings in the menu navigation on the left.
Click the ‘Schedule’ link to set up a new appointment.
You can also modify an earlier scheduled meeting by using the new setting. Start the meeting, then select Edit.
After scheduling the meeting in the same way you normally would then scroll down and select “Show Advanced Options”.
There are a few options that will appear beneath it. Select ‘Scheduling options’.
In Scheduling Options, go to ‘Unlocked Meetings’. This setting is set to guests are able to be invited to join in the meetings’. Select the radio button that says “Guests stay at the entrance until host allows them’ to choose the option.
Just like the settings of your personal Meeting Room, you’ll see the option to lock your meeting automatically’. This could cause you to think about why you can’t secure the meeting and enable the waiting area, just like personal meeting rooms.
Simply locking the meeting without activating the previous setting will not make a waiting area for guests who arrive prior to the host. Instead, they’ll be able to enter directly into the meeting. This is why making the earlier option available is crucial. However, it’s important to keep in mind that it will only create an area for waiting until you’ve actually joined the meeting. In order to create a waiting area to use later, you’ll must secure the meeting.
You can now enable the automatic lock option when organizing the meeting. Alternatively, you can lock the meeting using the toolbar for meetings after you’ve attended the meeting; it’s your choice. After the meeting has been locked everyone who attends as well as guests and members will have to wait in to the room for waiting.
Then, click the ‘Save or Schedule’ button.
If you’re planning meetings that are scheduled, there’s not a standard solution that will make a waiting area for each meeting. You’ll need to follow these steps for each scheduled meeting.
Waiting rooms during a virtual meeting are crucial to prevent any accidents. While you are able to use waiting rooms in Webex meeting, procedures aren’t exactly simple or easy to follow. Once you’ve figured out how todo it, you’ll be able to make sure that your meetings are as safe as they ought to be.