Getting started: Webex Meetings

Webex is a set of tools designed for personal and corporate collaboration. It’s used to connect to others, typically through the internet, and allows you to communicate with audio, video, text chat, file sharing, whiteboard, and other features.

Uses for Webex:
Host and attend online meetings/classes, collaborate on team projects, and share documents/whiteboards.

How does it work?
Webex software is delivered over the web as you need it. The first time you attend a meeting, Webex will ask you to install a browser extension which only takes a few moments. You can also download the Cisco Webex Meetings Desktop App for an easy joining experience. If you have local IT or Central IT staff managing your computer, please reach out to them for assistance with the installation which can be found on the Webex downloads page or on the campus software library.

• You can use Webex from any computer with an internet connection, and from most smartphones and tablets.
• You can schedule a Webex meeting ahead of time, or start one spontaneously using your-personal room- as needed.
• If you use Webex to invite someone to a meeting, they will receive an email that allows them to attend. Attendees don’t have to have a Webex account. Your invitation includes a link they can click to join you online.
• During your meeting, you can video conference, type chat messages, share content, and more.
• A typical collaborative meeting is under 25 participants but our institution allows up to 1000 participants in a meeting.

Find more information on Webex at our KnowledgeBase.

View a list of supported operating systems and web browsers

Yes, the recording feature has been enabled with a disclaimer that must be accepted by meeting hosts before starting the meeting, even if they don’t plan to record the meeting.

Please note: “All laws and regulations regarding privacy, security, and confidentiality of individually-identifiable information about students, patients, and research subjects apply to information shared and/or recorded in Webex sessions.” Please read and follow the UW–‍Madison web conferencing technology use policy.

A list of currently-approved tools for use with PHI is available at www.compliance.wisc.edu/hipaa under the Tools for Exchanging and Storing PHI.

If you belong to the UW–‍Madison Health Care Component, contact your HIPAA privacy or security coordinator with questions about the tools approved for creating, storing, and sharing Protected Health Information.

Yes, by default all recordings are transcribed and can be turned off. A link to the knowledgebase article can be found at Webex Meetings: Webex recording transcripts explaining how to turn this feature off or back on.

Yes.

Your Webex personal room is your own virtual conference space that is used for on-demand meetings. Your personal room number can be found by going to the Meeting tab in the menu bar then Information once you launch the personal room. This personal room number never changes and has a static URL.

A scheduled meeting can be done by single occurrence or in a series.  You have the ability to schedule meetings on behalf of someone else.  A scheduled meeting will always have a unique URL.

Check out more information between the two at Compare Webex meeting types.

• Best practices for Webex meetings
• Best practices for Webex events
• Best practices for Webex trainings

If you are not able to attend one of your Webex meetings, you can designate an alternate host to take over the host role for you.

An alternate host must be someone with a Webex Meetings host account at UW Madison. You can designate one or multiple alternate hosts for a single meeting or for a series of reoccurring meetings. Learn how to add alternate host(s) for your scheduled meetings.

If you or your participants are having audio issues while in the meeting here are some general principles to help eliminate audio issues.

1. Before joining a meeting, plug in any external devices (headset, headset with mic, or external speaker).
2. Connect using a hardwired connection and turn off VPN.
3. Webex uses your operating system default sound- speaker and mic.
4. Before joining the meeting, you can change your audio and video settings in the Webex meeting audio/video Selection.
5. You can change the audio source from within Webex Meetings once you are in the meeting. Find steps to set up your audio at Webex meeting: trouble with audio.