How to Participate in Open Meetings on VoiceBoxer
VoiceBoxer Open Meeting allows for up to 13 speakers (including the moderator) to speak and participate in events with simultaneous interpretation.
Additional speakers can participate in the event, but only 13 speakers will be able to speak at the same time and have their audio and video feed presented in the gallery view.
In the top right corner of your screen, you will see your own video feed and a microphone in green (unmuted) or red (muted). This will always be present whether you are able to speak in the open meeting or not. When you are one of the 13 speakers who are able to speak your image will be displayed in the gallery in the middle of your screen.
What to Do When You Are one of the 13 speakers
When your microphone is open you have the ability to mute and unmute yourself during the event. You can also be muted or unmuted by the moderator. Mute status is displayed by the microphone icon on each presenter’s live feed.
To help the open meeting run smoothly and limit cross-talk, presenters should use the hand icon to “raise their hand”. This is helpful for all participants and especially helpful for the interpreters who must follow the dialogue closely.
Remember, there are only 13 people (including the moderator) who can speak at one time. If you are speaker number 14 your microphone is muted and your video feed will not be shown on the screen.
Because the event still features simultaneous interpretation, it’s important to speak slowly and one person at a time. It’s highly suggested to mute your own microphone when you are not speaking.
If you see your video feed in the gallery – you are one of the 13 speakers. This means that you can mute and unmute your audio feed to participate in the meeting.
Keep in mind that the moderator can also mute your audio feed.
What to do When You Are one of the 13 speakers
When there are more than 13 speakers (including the moderator), additional speakers will not be visible or able to broadcast their audio.
If you do not see yourself in the gallery, you are out of the Forum. You cannot broadcast or unmute yourself, but you will be able to view and listen to those participants in the Forum.
In order to broadcast, you must first join as one of the 13 speakers. To do this, click the ‘raise hand’ icon . This informs the moderator that you would like to be moved into speaking group and join with audio and video.
How to Moderate VoiceBoxer Open Meetings
Moderating an open meeting on VoiceBoxer is a little different from a traditional VoiceBoxer meeting with structured moderation.
Muting and Unmuting Participants in an Open Meeting
Because the 13 individuals with feeds displayed in the gallery can mute and unmute themselves, it’s important for the moderator to limit cross-talk and multiple participants speaking at once.
Always keep in mind that multiple interpreters are busy interpreting the participants.
As the moderator, you can mute and unmute all participants except for the active speaker (the largest video feed). If you use the mute all / unmute all functions during the presentation, it will not affect the active speaker.
Controlling Who Is part of the 13 speakers Using the Arrow Icon
The arrow icon next to each participant’s name is an important tool while moderating an open meeting on VoiceBoxer.
Because only the first 13 participants on the speaker list will be active speakers, you can bring in a new speaker by clicking the arrow icon next to their name. This will also move the lowest priority participant out of the list and remove their audio feed and their video feed from the gallery.
You can assign ‘first priority’ to any speaker by clicking the arrow next to their name. This will move them into the top position, before the active speaker.
Speakers will not be able to assign themselves to the list, they will only be able to notify you of their wish to enter by clicking the ‘raise hand’ icon in their left toolbar.
How to activate the Open Meeting function for your event
The planning of a virtual meeting as a VoiceBoxer Open meeting event must be done by the event creator.
On the first page of event creation, tick the Multi-audio option to activate the open meeting (Multi-video activates automatically when you click multi-audio):