Quick Start Guide

Facilitation Guide

Caller Registration Options

Contents

1 Welcome and Congratulations 2 Before the Call 2.1 Purpose and Outcomes 2.2 Scheduling Your Call 2.3 Notifying Participants 2.4 Scripting Your Call 2.5 Structure of the Call 2.5.1 Example: 2.6 Rehearsal and Practice 2.7 Preparing Your Assistant(s) 3 Callers Arrive 3.1 The “Waiting Room” 3.2 Late Arrivals 4 Conducting Your Call 4.1 Yes/No polls 4.1.1 Examples: 4.2 1-5 rating polls 4.2.1 Examples: 4.3 All participant Q&A sessions 4.3.1 Examples: 4.4 Breakout groups (2-8 people per group) 4.4.1 Examples: 4.5 One-on-one side meetings 4.5.1 Examples: 4.6 Sales or registration rooms 4.6.1 Examples: 4.7 Facilitating a Smooth Call 4.8 Selling products and services 5 After the Call 5.1 Thank You Notes 5.2 Follow-up Communications

Welcome and Congratulations

Welcome to MaestroConference! You are now at the podium of the most dynamic call-facilitation platform available.

This guidebook is designed to assist you in using MaestroConference to make your conference calls and teleseminars even more vibrant, effective and profitable. Written specifically for the presenter, it focuses on preparing for, conducting and following up after your MaestroConference call.

We look forward to your mastering and using all of the features of theMaestroConference call system.

Before the Call

Like any important meeting or event, preparation is the foundation of success. Your calls—whether for a training workshop, a sales presentation or a team building exercise—will be most effective if you plan ahead for them. Below you will find a few suggestions for shaping your call and preparing to conduct it.

Purpose and Outcomes

As you get ready for your calls, consider exactly what you want to accomplish. What information and experience are you intending to convey? What outcomes do you want to create? What actions do you want your participants to take during and after the call?

We find that the most valuable calls are based on a clear purpose and designed to produce specific outcomes. “Purpose” speaks to the why of the call, without which the call may feel ungrounded, pointless or manipulative. Why is this important? The answer to this question is what engages your participants’ caring and commitment.

“Outcomes” address the what question: What are we producing together? Answering this question serves participants by aligning expectations and focusing their attention. Articulating a clear purpose and distinct outcomes for each of your calls prepares your callers for discovery, action and accomplishment.

Scheduling Your Call

You may schedule your calls at any time, using our web-based interface. You will be asked to provide the date and time of your call, and to estimate the number of presenters, assistants, and participants. The Technical Manual has further information about how to schedule a call.

Notifying Participants

We recommend that, depending on the purpose of your call, you prepare your participants appropriately. For a marketing event, this may mean an invitation and reminder e-mail message; for a training workshop, you may simply send a brief notice or two prior to each call. The Technical Manual has further information about the different ways you can invite participants to join a call.

Scripting Your Call

As you would for any important meeting or event, you will want to prepare an outline or script prior to your MaestroConference call. Keeping in mind your purpose and outcomes, you can design your presentation and discussions as if you were leading a meeting or seminar with every participant in the room. Nearly anything you would facilitate in training or meeting rooms, you can do on a MaestroConference call. You can easily include any or all of the following features:

• Yes/No polls
• 1-5 rating polls
• All participant Q&A sessions
• Breakout groups (2-8 people per group)
• One-on-one side meetings (a participant with an assistant of your choice)
• Sales or registration rooms (hosted sub-meetings in which your assistant can take orders for your products or services)

Structure of the Call

 The MaestroConference call system is designed to make your teleseminars and conference calls more vibrant, effective and profitable. As with any presentation, there are four critical phases that we recommend you address:

• Relate: Connecting with your participants
• Discover: Clarifying your message and exploring what it means to your participants
• Advocate: Inviting participants to choose new behaviors or activities that support them
• Support: Providing action steps so that participants act on their choice

Example:

 A health coach marketing a series of individualized coaching sessions might structure a call that includes the following elements:

Relate:

• state her intention for the call and ask call participants to do the same
• have callers share with a partner a time they've done something positive for someone else to support their health
• share a humorous or informative piece of information which touches on the need for her service (Example: a conversation with a client who was an expert on nutrition but unable to eat well despite his knowledge)
• list the top 3 pain points that her service addresses

Discover:

• recap what they just heard
• answer specific content questions from their life (e.g., places where you eat unconsciously)
• explore "where their life is headed" without individualized or group coaching

Advocate:

• share some of the benefits of participating in health coaching
• provide real life examples and success stories
• allow callers to work in pairs to identify areas of their health where they would like new results
• let callers share their health goals with the entire group

Support:

• recap what they've learned
• ask them to make a commitment to a specific action (appointment, individual call, free initial session)
• talk in a heartfelt way about the difference that health coaching could make in their future

While MaestroConference is primarily focused on providing you with the most advanced platform to support your teleseminars and conference calls, we also offer call facilitation and design services. Please contact Mitch Feigenberg, our Facilitation and Training coach, at mitch.feigenberg@maestroconference.com.

Rehearsal and Practice

 We recommend that you can explore the dynamics of leading a MaestroConference call. Take a few “test drives” using your own content with colleagues or friends as your participants. You are free to conduct as many practice calls as you like. These calls will support you and your assistant(s) to become proficient with theMaestroConference Conductor's Interface.

Preparing Your Assistant(s)

 You may want or need assistants on your calls. Depending on your level of confidence in using the Conductor's Interface and the attention needed to lead the conversation, you may prefer to have an assistant run the user interface so you can to give your full full attention to the content of the call. Or, you may be comfortable handling both tasks yourself.

Other reasons to have one or more assistants on a call include answering questions, taking orders or simply having an additional set of eyes and ears roaming the room during breakout sessions.

When you conduct your “test drive” calls, you can include those individuals who will assist you in running the user interface or facilitating small group discussions or other activities. This will give you an opportunity to ensure that your team knows how to conduct and assist on a MaestroConference call.

Callers Arrive

 

The “Waiting Room”

 When your call participants dial in and provide a pin number, they are placed in a “waiting room” in which they enjoy music until you begin conducting your call.

Late Arrivals

 Callers who arrive after the scheduled start time of a call join the call in progress. If all of your participants are in one group, late arrivals will simply enter the session unannounced. If participants are in breakout groups when late arrivals join the call, they will immediately enter the session but you or an assistant will need to manually add them into a breakout group, should you so desire. Otherwise, you may greet them privately and/or have them remain unassigned to a breakout group. They will hear anything that anyone says to the entire room, and they will be incorporated into the large group when you dissolve the breakouts.

The MaestroConference Conductor’s Interface lets you see exactly who is on the call and offers a range of simple-to-use features which you can employ at any time. Details on how to use the Conductor’s Interface are provided in theMaestroConference Technical Manual.

Conducting Your Call

 

Yes/No polls

 "Yes/No" Polls are easy to use and immediately engage your call participants in relationship with you. We recommend that you use "yes-no" polls in the first few minutes of your call. They indicate your interest in the callers' responses and set the tone of interactivity and immediacy that is so unique to the MaestroConference call system. It is helpful to your callers to consistently use the same numbers throughout your calls to mean the same things, for instance, 1 for yes, and 2 for no.

Examples:

"Did you read your preparation material for this call? Please press 1 for yes and 2 for no."

"Do you live or work in a major metropolitan area? Please press 1 for yes and 2 for no."

"Have you been able to identify one of the three problem areas we discussed on our last call? Please press 1 for yes and 2 for no."

 1-5 rating polls

 "1-5" rating polls provide more information and can give you a better sense of people's concerns and satisfactions as well as your effectiveness at offering them new information and solutions. It is helpful to your callers to consistently use the same numbers throughout your calls to mean the same things, for instance, 1 is the best rating, and 5 is the worst.

Examples:

"How useful did you find last week's written materials? Please press 1 for Extremely Useful, 2 for Very Useful, 3 for Somewhat Useful, 4 for Barely Useful, or 5 for Not at all Useful."

"On a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 being Fabulous, 2 being Okay, and 3 being Terrible, please rate your experience with on-line dating services. If you don't have any experience with them, please press 4."

"On a scale of 1 to 5, please indicate your interest in a week-long retreat. Press 1 for Very Interested, 2 for Somewhat Interested, 3 for Neither Interested nor Uninterested, 4 for Somewhat Uninterested and 5 for Very Uninterested."

 All participant Q&A sessions

 Question and Answer sessions can be used to engage your callers with material you have covered or if you simply want to hear what they are thinking. At any time on your presentation, you can offer participants the chance to ask a question or indicate a need.

Examples:

"Who would like to raise an issue that concerns them? Please press 1 on your keypad and I will give you the microphone so you can speak to the entire group and we can address your concern."

"Who would like an individual conversation with a coach at this point? Press 1 and we will match you with someone right away. Who still has questions that need answering, press 2 now and we will address your questions in the large group."

"If you have a general question on our topic, please press 1 now."

 Breakout groups (2-8 people per group)

 One of the most powerful features of the MaestroConference call system is the breakout group. You have the ability to put people in pairs, trios or larger groups for any particular purpose. (Please see the Conductor's Manual for instructions on how to move callers into groups.)

Examples:

"I am going to put you with a partner now. Please take 30 seconds to say hello and introduce yourselves. I will then signal you to begin a two minute conversation on out topic. Near the end, I will signal you again so you can wrap up your thoughts and thank your partner."

"In a few moments, you will be placed in groups of four to talk about how you want to move forward on your sales campaigns. Make sure everyone has a chance to brainstorm and let's see what you can accomplish in ten minutes. Okay, you are now in groups of four. Introduce yourselves and begin working. I will come back to you when there is one minute left so you can collect your ideas and be ready to come back to the large group."

"We are going to move into small groups with your coaches now. Three participants and one coach in each group. The coaches have several questions for you to answer and explore. I will be moving around, listening in on the groups from time to time. You will have 20 minutes, then we will come back to the main group. Any questions, please press 1 now. Okay, you are in your groups now. Please begin, coaches."

 One-on-one side meetings

 At any time, you can place participants in one-on-one private meetings with a member of your staff. These meetings can allow participants to get questions answered, purchase products, or do anything else you want them to do.

Examples:

"If at any time during this presentation you wish to schedule an appointment for an on-site evaluation, just press 1 on your keypad and a member of our staff will talk with you directly."

"If you have questions during this part of the call, simply press 2 on your keypad and an assistant will answer you immediately."

"At some point in today's session, one of our coaches will pull you out of the main room for a "private chat" about your goals for the month. This will give you a chance to get some feedback and coaching about your plan. Don't worry - it will only take a few minutes and we won't let you miss anything critical going on the the main room."

 Sales or registration rooms

 Another useful feature for smaller question-and-answer sessions and group sales activities is the "sales room", a hosted sub-meeting in which an assistant of your choice can speak about and take orders for your products or services. At any time, callers can ask to join an on-going smaller conversation led by your assistant(s).

Examples:

"If at any time, you would like to leave the general meeting and meet with one of our Product Counselors, simply press 2 and you will be placed in our Sales Center where a qualified representative will review your needs and help you explore how our service can assist you to meet your goals."

"If you have specific questions about using system XYZ to be more effective in your ABC, simply press 2 now and we will introduce you to our Applications Specialists who will brainstorm with you about the best ways to use the XYZ."

"Please press 1 on your keypad now to be moved to our Free Trial Group conversation where Steve of our staff will answer any final questions and help you order your new products."

 Facilitating a Smooth Call

 The added features of the MaestroConference call system add richness and immediacy to the caller experience. They also require additional sensitivity by the presenter. Nobody likes to be interrupted in the middle of a conversation with a peer, but you will need to warn participants that their time is almost up, and then bring them back to the main room, in order to facilitate successful conference sessions.

The MaestroConference call is a dynamic event that often includes frequent interaction among call participants. Establishing a consistent facilitation pattern is both empowering and reassuring to call participants. Specifically, your sensitivity in managing transitions from activity to activity will keep your callers engaged and moving forward.

For example, when you have callers working in pairs or small groups, we recommend giving them a 30 second warning before wrapping up an interchange. You can easily do this by speaking to the entire group (see Conductor’s Guide for the mechanics of this feature). Then, asking them to wrap up the conversation, allow them to “say goodbye” to their partner prior to re-forming the large group for questions, comments or your next learning or marketing activity.

Selling products and services

 One of the great things about the MaestroConference call system is that participants can make a purchase at any time. Simply ask them to indicate their readiness by pressing a number on their telephone keypad and you can easily move them to a private conference where an assistant can take their order.

After the Call

 

Thank You Notes

 We highly recommend that you send a thank you note to each participant. Especially in sales and marketing activities, it is amazing how much feeling appreciated means to clients and prospective clients.

Follow-up Communications

 Based on the purpose of your call, you will want to send marketing materials, reading assignments, or the like to call participants. You may also wish to use a survey of some sort to get direct feedback about call quality and additional participant needs. We regularly use and recommend SurveyMonkey for customer satisfaction surveys.

Technical Manual

Set-up

• 1 Create Account
• 2 Log In
• 3 Website Sections
• 4 Conference Management
  • 4.1 Create a New Conference
  • 4.2 View/Edit Page
    • 4.2.1 Participant Registration Link
    • 4.2.2 Customize this Conference
  • 4.3 Other Settings
    • 4.3.1 Callers & PINs
    • 4.3.2 Registrations Settings
    • 4.3.3 Participant Dashboard Settings
    • 4.3.4 Advanced Settings
    • 4.3.5 Call History
• 5 Support
• 6 My Account
  • 6.1 User Information
  • 6.2 Customer Information
• 7 Log-out

Conductor Interface

• 1 Interface Overview
• 2 Interface Access for Your Assistants
• 3 Creating Breakout Groups
  • 3.2.1 Equal-sized Breakouts
  • 3.2.2 Breakout by Data
  • 3.2.3 Creating a Single Breakout
• 4 Dissolving Breakout Groups
• 5 Making Breakout Groups Private
• 6 Walking the Room
• 7 Mute and Microphones
• 8 Text Chat
• 9 Raising and Lowering Hands
• 10 Removing a Caller
• 11 Notes and Email
• 12 Audio Cues
• 13 Breakout Timer
• 14 Call Settings
  • 14.1 Call Info
  • 14.2 Entry Settings
  • 14.3 Entryway and Green Room
• 15 Custom Fields
• 16 Copy to Clipboard
• 17 Participant Dashboard Usage
  • 17.1 Broadcast Polling Status Info
  • 17.2 Feedback from Dashboard
• 18 Presenter/Assistant Help Menu

Participant Dashboard

• 1 Participant Dashboard
  • 1.1 Log-In Screen
  • 1.2 Verification Page
  • 1.3 Dashboard Sections

  Create Account

   

  Go to http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/create to activate a purchased account. This is a one-time activation process. Simply enter your email address and create a password. You are now ready to log-in.

  Log In

   

  To log into MaestroConference, go to http://myaccount.maestroconference.com.
  Enter your username and password. If you have forgotten your username or password, simply click the "Request New Password" link, and we will email you a one-time use link. This will allow you to log-in and reset your password.

  Website Sections

   

  Once you’ve logged in, there are four components of the website that you can visit by clicking on the links in the blue bar at the top of your screen.

  • Conferences: Allows you to create, edit, view, and delete conferences
  • Support: Displays the Customer Support page
  • My Account: Allows you to update default settings and change passwords
  • Log-Out: This will sign you out of your account

  Conference Management

   

  Clicking on the Conferences tab will take you to your current list of conference calls. The first time you log in, you will not yet have any conferences in the list.

  Create a New Conference

   

  To schedule a meeting with you as the presenter, click on the large orange button labeled "Create Conference".

  This will take you to the initial Create a New Conference page. This page allows you to decide whether calls should be created as Scheduled or Reservationless.

  • Conference Name: Give your conferences a descriptive name. We suggest something that will be easy to recognize among a list of scheduled calls or classes.
  • Contact Email: Enter the email addresses to identify the person or persons to whom reminders, reports, or related info should sent to once the conference is over. Multiple email addresses, separated by a common, can be entered.
  • Call Type: Scheduled or Reservationless
    • Scheduled: Recommended for conferences that require a specific time and date. These calls allow the maximum amount of callers per subscription, and can be set as reoccurring.
      • Once you've created the conference, you can add multiple reservations to the scheduled call, effectively creating a recurring conference on a given date/time. To do this, simply click "Schedule a reoccuring call" and edit the time/date of the new call.
    • Reservationless: Recommended for impromptu, ad-hoc meetings that are limited to 25 callers. The PINs are multiple use and valid until the conference is canceled.
  • Estimated Number of Callers: The total number of people you think will attend your conference. This does not affect your subscription line; it simply tells our servers to reserve a space for your conference.

  View/Edit Page

   To modify an existing conference, click on the blue “View/Edit” tab.

  Participant Registration Link

   This link is located in the boxed window when the page first opens. Simply copy, paste, and email the link to your participants. This will allow them to manually register themselves for a conference.

  For a overview of Advance Registration Options see Advanced Registration Options

  Customize this Conference

   Please remember to hit “save” once you have customized the desired settings.

  • Conference Name: Conference names can be modified.
  • Contact Email: Conference email can be changed, and additional email addresses can be added.
  • Record Call: The default is "Yes" to change it to “No” click the radio button. If Yes is selected the system will record the conference. Call recordings will be available in MP3 format (found in the Call History of the specified conference).
  • Green Room: This feature creates a private breakout group where Presenters and Assistants can discuss strategy before and during the call without being heard by the main room. The default is Yes, or whatever defaults are located in the MyAccount settings.
  • Reminders: This feature will send an automatic reminder to conference registrants 8 hours before a scheduled call. Reminders include Call-in number, PIN, and your registration addendum.
  • Welcome Music: Plays music as callers dial-in to the conference. This feature reassures early callers that they are on a live call and frees you and your assistants to meet in a Green Room until you are ready to begin the call.
    • When you are ready to begin a call, turn Welcome Music off by clicking the new "Music" button in the upper left corner of the Conductor's View web interface. Alternatively, any Presenter or Assistant may press *9 on their telephone keypad to turn music off.
    • Note: You can also change default settings for Recording, Green Room, and Reminders on you’re My Account page. You can always override your defaults at the conference level.
  • Participant Dashboard: Provides the conductor with a chat box labeled "Feedback." This enables communications between conductors and participants in real time.
  • Schedule a Reoccurring Call: If your conference has been set as a "Scheduled" call, you can keep your conference PINs active by setting the call as reoccurring.
    • *Please note, once the call has been archived, the PINS will be become invalid. There is no way to reactivate invalid PINs.

  Other Settings

   Once you have enabled the desired settings on your conference manager, we have additional features you can customize. Manually enter & register participants, send out the conductor link, edit the features on the participant dashboard, and access the call history and recordings in the following sections.

  Callers & Pins

   Call hosts can also create PINs and optionally enter name, email, and other information for each caller. This is more labor intensive than using the registration form, but may be preferable in some circumstances. Presenter and Assistant PINs may only be created using this feature.

  Note: When all participants share the same PIN for a call, the list of callers during a conference will show each participant's phone number.

  Registration Settings

  • Self-Registration URL: This is the same participant registration link located at the top of the page.
  • Customize Registration Announcement: You may enter information in the form that will be sent out to participants, along with the registration form and follow-up emails.
  • Notes: Notes or comments that participants send to the call host will be received here. Participants have the option of filling this out during their registration process.

   

  Participant Dashboard Settings

   This feature is a simple screen which provides real time feedback between callers and hosts.

  • Caller link: This URL is the link for the participant interface log-in
  • Text to Display before call starts: This message will appear as soon as the participant is logged into the interface
  • Text to display after the call ends: When the phone call ends, this message will appear if the dashboard is still present.

  Advanced Settings

  • Conductor Link: A URL link to the Conductor's View web interface is now available to share with assistants ahead of the call. Anyone who has this link will have access to all functionality to conduct your call. For security purposes, you will also find a button to refresh the link. Refreshing invalidates an existing link and gives you a new one to share.
  • Notes: These are notes that are sent by the participants to the call Presenterprior to the call.

   

  Call History

   Contains information pertaining to the call session, such as call recordings and call report. Details about call duration, participants, PINs, and caller notes are located here.

  You can also access recordings from this section via two links:

  • Click to download normal recording: this link will download the full recording, which includes silences in the main room if the participants were in breakout groups.
  • Click to download recording with silence suppression: this link will download a recording that has edited out silences in the main room.

  By right clicking on either link, you can copy the link location and download the MP3 file. From there, you can email the file out to participants

  Support

   

  Click on the Support tab to direct yourself to our Customer Support Center

  • Quickstart: All the basics, beginning with setting up your account, to concluding your conference- all in 7 easy steps!
  • Video Tutorials: The visual component to our Quickstart guide.
  • FAQs/Knowledge Base: The most commonly asked questions have their answers located here.
  • Documentation: Quick Start Guide, Facilitation Guide, and Technical Manual can be found here.
  • FAQs/Knowledge Base: The most commonly asked questions have their answers located here.
  • Conference Simulator: Practice conducting your calls here. Contains all the features on interface, conveniently built-in with participants.
  • Customer Success Clinic: Live sessions conducted by our MaestroConference support team. This will take you through the basics of using our service, with the added benefit of asking and interacting with users just like you!
  • Professional Services: Various help and support services for those who need added guidance through our system. We offer consultations, help co-conducting calls, set-up assistance, and additional features by request.

  Our MaestroConference Support Team is here to help you, M-F, 9-6pm PT via email, chat, and phone. We love to hear from you!

  customersupport@maestroconference.com
  (877) 414-1515

  My Account

   

  To change your account settings click on "My Account" link located on the right side of the blue bar. The settings allow you to updated or change the following information:

  User Information

  • Password: This is the password you use to log in to your MaestroConference account. This field will remain blank unless you wish to change your password. You may enter a new password in both fields.
  • Confirm Password: Enter a new password into both the "Password" and "Confirm Password" fields to change your password.

   

  Customer Information

  • Name: Name that appears to all participants. You may edit this and change it if you need to.
  • Dial-In Number: The number that you and your callers will use to access all of your conferences. Your dial-in number will always be the same.
  • Contact Email: Email that receives reports and data about each conference call. Multiple people can receive the information by entering each email address separated by a comma.
  • Affiliate Code (user name): Your unique user name provided by the Affiliate group. Have. When you enter your code it will be automatically included in the footer of all MaestroConference email set to your call participants (registration and reminders). This ensures that you receive affiliate credit whenever a client subscribes to the MaestroConference service.
  • Conference Recording: This sets the call recording default for all conferences. You may override this setting when creating a conference by clicking on the radio buttons. The default is "Yes."
  • Default Green Room Settings: This sets the green room default for all conferences. You may override this setting when creating a conference by clicking on radio buttons. The default is "No."
  • Conference Reminder: this will be sent out 8 hours prior to the scheduled conference start time. The default is "No."
  • Welcome Music: default setting for music that plays when callers dial into a call. The default is "Yes."

   

  Log-out

  To log out of MaestroConference, click the "Log Out" link on the right hand side of the blue bar, under your name. This will keep others from using your computer and accessing your conference information.

  Interface Overview

   

  The MaestroConference Conductor's View allows you to manage a conference call in virtually the same way you would facilitate a live meeting. Using the interface you can:

  • Organize callers using breakout groups and custom fields
  • See data on callers and control their audio
  • Raise and lower their "hands", and conduct straw polls
  • Chat with call staff and take notes on callers
  • Initiate audio cues and timers
  • Enable the Participant dashboard and communicate instant feedback with your participants

  The interface is divided into five panels:

  • Summary Panel: contains conference-level actions and summary information.
  • Chat Panel: provides chat interaction with other call staff that also have the interface open.
  • Caller Panel: allows you to see who is on the call and how the "main room" is arranged.
  • Feedback from Dashboard: enables to you to communicate directly with participants
  • Detail Panel: provides specific information and actions on a solo caller or group of callers.

  Interface Access for Your Assistants

  Your assistants can access the interface in one of two ways: You can provide them with your login information and allow them to log into your account, OR you can send them the URL of the interface for a conference once you have launched the interface yourself.

  WARNING: Anyone who has access to the Conductor's View can severely affect the quality of your call. Provide this information with caution.

  Creating Breakout Groups

   Breakout groups of any size can be created in several ways.

  Equal-Sized Breakouts

  1. Click the "Create" button in the Breakouts section of the Summary Panel.
  2. Select which group(s) you wish to arrange using checkboxes.
  3. Select the size of the groups you desire using the list.
  4. Click the "Commit" button and the room will be arranged.
  5. Decide whether you would like the groups arranged:
     • Randomly
     • Keeping specified fields together
       • Example 1: Participants labeled with a customized field of blue will be grouped with blue, green will be grouped with green, and so forth.
       • Example 2: Those with "hands raised" who pressed 1 on the keypad will be grouped with other people who pressed 1, those who pressed 2 will be grouped with others who pressed 2, and so forth.
     • Mixing specified fields
       • Example 1: Those grouped under the label blue will be mixed with participants labeled green.
       • Example 2: Those with their hands raised with a number 1 will be mixed with participants who have their hands raised to number 2.
  6. Click the "Commit" button and the room will be arranged.

   

  Breakout by Data

  1. Click the "Create" button in the Breakouts section of the Summary Panel.
  2. Click the "Breakout by Data" tab.
  3. Select which custom field you desire, then click the "Commit" button.

   

  Creating a Single Breakout

  • To create a single breakout with specific individuals, select individuals by either holding down the Shift key or the Ctrl/Command key.
    1. Hold shift to select a group of people next to each other
    2. Hold Crtl/Command to select multiple people who are not next to each other.
  • Click "Create" in the "Move into Breakout" section of the Detail Panel, or select the appropriate action (e.g. New Breakout)

   

  Dissolving Breakout Groups

   

  To dissolve all groups at once:

  1. Click the "Dissolve" button in the Breakouts section of the Summary Panel.

  To dissolve a single breakout:

  1. Select one or more members of the breakout.
  2. Click the "Breakouts" tab in the Detail Panel.
  3. Click the "Dissolve" button.

  Making Breakout Groups Private

  Clicking the "Private" button immediately below the caller information in the Breakout tab allows you to make that breakout private. Callers in a private breakout can only hear each other, and won't be able to hear the presenters or others with microphones.

  Walking the Room

  To move Presenters or Assistants into a group to assist or listen in:

  1. Select the people you wish to move in the Caller Panel.
  2. use the "Move into Breakout" section in the Detail Panel to select the desired breakout.

  Mute and Microphones

  There are three audio states for each caller. Change states with buttons in the Detail Panel and by clicking the microphone icons in the Caller Panel. The states are:

  • Muted: Caller is completely silenced. Designated by a red "negative" circle
  • Local: Caller can be heard only by people in the same breakout group as them. Designated by a light grey colour.
  • Mic: Caller has a "microphone", and can be heard by the entire room (minus people in private breakouts). Designated by a dark grey colour.

  If a microphone is green, it means there is sound on the caller's line. This could be the caller trying to speak, but it could also be random background noise.

  Callers can mute and unmute themselves by pressing "6" on their telephone keypad.

  A mic volume slider, located below the mic states on the actions tab is visible when 1 caller is selected. To increase the volume slide the icon to the right. To decrease the volume slide the icon to the left.

  Text Chat

  Chat allows call staff (Presenters and Assistants) to communicate with each other during the call. Because chat is time-stamped and included in the call report, it is also a good way to take notes during the call.

  Double-click "Your Name" at the top right of the Chat Panel to enter your name. Once your name is entered, the text you type is identified with you.

  Click the narrow window to type, and hit return on your keyboard to post your comments to the chat window.

  Raising and Lowering Hands

  Callers can raise their "hands" using the 1-5 keys on their telephone keypad. Results are displayed next to individual callers in the Caller Panel and aggregated in the Summary Panel. Results are also displayed in the Detail Panel for selected callers.

  Conductors can lower all hands by clicking the "Down" button in the Hands section of the Summary Panel. You can raise and lower individual hands in the Detail Panel. Simply click on the number hand you want raised, or click the "Down" button.

  Removing a Caller

  Callers may be removed from a call by selecting them and clicking the "Remove" button next to their name.

  Notes and Email

  You can take notes on individual callers by selecting them and then typing into the "notes" field in the Detail Panel. This becomes part of the call record that will be sent to you after the call along with the chat history.

  In this panel you can also record an email address for a caller and change a caller's name (by double-clicking the name and typing over), should more than one caller use the same PIN. You may also enter group names into the Custom Fields to use as notes or in creating pre-defined breakouts.

  Audio Cues

  Eight audio cues are available in the Summary Panel to help manage breakouts and other activities. These must be manually started by pressing the play button.

  Breakout Timer

  Under the audio cues is a simple countdown timer, which can be used to facilitate timed breakouts. When the timer reaches zero, it will turn red. You can start, stop, and reset the timer at any time.

  Call Settings

  If you click the "Settings" button in the Summary Panel, you will be presented with a dialogue box containing the Call Info and the Entry Settings.

  Call Info

  This shows information about the current call. It includes names, PINs, and email addresses of callers, as well as the Call-In number and conference ID.

  Entry Settings

  Entry Settings allow you to define the default audio settings for all people calling into the conference. Once the setting has been changed, new callers will enter the call with the audio state that you have set based on their role. You can set each type of caller as mute, local, or mic. The defaults are:

  • Presenters - Mic
  • Assistants - Local
  • Participants - Local

  Entryway and Green Room

  Entryway: An optional breakout that new participants can automatically enter. It allows you to keep an eye on who is coming into the call so you or an assistant can quickly orient them. It's especially useful when your participants are in breakout groups, as this is a place for latecomers to talk with each other (and ideally, an assistant) until the breakouts are complete.

  Green Room: Similar to Entryway, the Green Room is for Presenters and Assistants. If enabled, they will automatically join this special breakout group when they dial in, allowing you to talk strategy before and during the call.

  Custom Fields

  The Caller Panel includes two different custom columns. These can be used to create special tags to organize callers into different groups. The custom fields can be filled either in conference setup or during the call. Presenters can use the "Pre-Defined Breakouts" function when creating a breakout to quickly split the room into breakouts, grouping people with the same custom field together.

  Copy to Clipboard

  The Info tab in the Detail Panel has a feature that allows you to copy data records for currently selected callers to your computer's clipboard. The data can then be pasted into any word processing or spreadsheet program and saved for later use. This is useful to take a snapshot in time of a current set of callers so you can follow up with them later.

  For example you could ask all callers who wish to be followed up with later to press 2 on their telephone keypad. By selecting these callers (using the select drop down at the top of the caller panel), click Copy Selection in the Info tab and then pasting the records into a spread sheet, you would have a complete list (including name, phone number and email address) of all callers who pressed 2.

  Participant Dashboard Usage

  This is a simple screen that provides real time feedback between callers and hosts.

  Broadcast Polling Status

  This check-box is located in the upper-right hand corner of the Conductor Interface. The results of participant polls will be shown to users on the Participant Dashboard. As a host, you will see the full results of the polls. Users of the participant dashboard will only see the results as percentiles- we do not list number results to ensure privacy protection.

  Feedback from Dashboard

  Messages communicated to and from the participant dashboard will be shown in this message box. Each new message will replace the current text in the box.

  Presenter/Assistant Help Menu

  If, during the the call, you would like to reach MaestroConference Customer Support, there is a button located on the lower-right corner of the interface. This links you directly to our chat support.

  If, during the call, the Presenter or Assistant is unable to access the Conductor's Interface, they can dial "0" to access the emergency help menu. The options are:

  • Call Saver: If the Presenter or Assistant hits "*7" on their telephone keypad, it will give every caller on the call a mic. That way, they will be able to carry on in the case of loss of Internet access.

  Participant Dashboard

   

  If you would like to enable this feature, please make sure the participant dashboard is checked "Yes" on the conference management page. The dashboard website ishttp://myaccount.maestroconference.com/dashboard.

  Log-In Screen

  • Call-In Number: Please enter the specified call-in number for this conference. Omit spaces, hyphens, and/or additional markings.
  • PIN: Please enter the PIN for this conference. Keep in mind, PINs are conference specific.
  • Forgot your PIN?: Enter the email address your account is listed under. We will send you the information for all conferences you have registered for over the next 48 hours.

  Verification Page

  This page only appears if the conference is not in progress. There is a default message that appears with the conference details. This includes the conference name, dial-in number, and conference start time (if applicable).

  Dashboard Sections

• Conference Information: Lists the dial-in phone number and PIN of the conference
• Presenter Message: Text messages sent from the conference hosts, both prior and during call, are located here. Each new message will replace the previous text.
• Straw-poll results: Poll results are provided as percentiles only- we do not post numbers results for privacy reasons.
• Feedback for Conference Host: Please enter the name in the Name field, and submit your message in the Feedback box. If no name is entered, the message is sent with the associated PIN number.