Using the Video Conference units in meeting rooms

This page offers information and advice on conducting meetings in DAERA meeting rooms that contain Video Conferencing Units (VCUs).

If you are using a Non-IT Assist issued work phone some of the links below will not be accessible.

This guidance relates to those VCUs that support Teams meetings. From 1 Jan 2024 the older VCUs that do not support Teams meetings are being phased out. By mid-2024 almost all VCUs in DAERA offices will support Teams meetings.

The 2 most common type of VCUs that support Teams meetings are:

• large stand-mounted Cisco Webex Boards with touch sensitive screen and separate Touchpad controller.
• much smaller oblong-shaped Cisco Room kits attached to a standard non-touch-sensitive screen, and with separate Touchpad controller.

Joining a meeting from a VCU

(It is assumed, if the VCU is in a room, that you have pre-booked that room using the Room Booking application – or that you have used the relevant room booking process for your office if not on the Room Booking application.)

There are a number of ways that you can join a meeting from the VCU -

1. The simplest way is to select the Microsoft Teams icon on the VCU screen or Touchpad

In the resultant pop-up enter the Meeting ID and Password for the Teams meeting (contained in the meeting invite) and then select Join.

This will put the VCU into the meeting ‘lobby’ – anyone who has already joined the meeting will be prompted to admit the VCU to the meeting and should now do so.

2. If you have invited the VCU to the Teams meeting then the unit should display the scheduled meeting on screen. To join the meeting press the Join button on either the touchpad or VCU screen. Only the large Cisco Webex boards have touch screen capability. For the Room Kit units use the touchpad.

This will put the VCU into the meeting ‘lobby’ – anyone who has already joined the meeting will be prompted to admit the VCU to the meeting and should now do so.

Sharing your screen within the Teams Meeting to the other meeting attendees

You may wish to share your screen within the Teams meeting to the other Teams meeting attendees – for example you may have slides that you want to present to all attendees, both in the room and to the other meeting attendees outside of the room. Currently you cannot do this by connecting your laptop to the VCU’s HMDI cable - IT Assist are awaiting a Webex Operating System update to enable screen sharing within a Teams meeting using the HMDI cable.

In the interim, the personin the Meeting Room wishing to share their screen must join the Teams meeting from their laptop and share their screen, as you would do normally during a Teams meeting. To prevent audio feedback the person should also …

• Mute their microphone within the Teams meeting
• Turn off the speaker on their laptop using the keypad key (normally f5 below – if not, look for the key with that symbol

Using the VCU as a ‘dumb’ screen to present onto

Outside of using the VCU in Teams meetings, you can use it as a large screen on which to project from your laptop. For example, you may have a slide presentation that you want to show your colleagues in the office and just want to use a larger screen.

To do this you can do the following –

1. Connect your laptop to the VCU’s HDMI cable

2. Go to the Touch pad controller and select the Share Screen Icon

3. In the resultant pop-up select the View button on the highlighted PC (HDMI) option – your laptop screen will then appear on the VCU.