This article will serve to help faculty and staff navigate the new AV equipment in their classrooms and huddle rooms and facilitate successful virtual meetings in said spaces.
Teams Rooms/Huddle Rooms
The new Teams/huddle rooms are equipped with a TV, a rally bar, a wall control panel, and a remote controller.
The TV is your main display during meetings.
The rally bar is the video camera and microphone on top of the TV.
The wall control panel houses all the controls for the TV (audio, video, etc.)
The remote controller is an alternate way to control the audio, video, etc.
You can use this equipment to begin/join/host meetings in a variety of ways:
How to Join a Scheduled Meeting:
You will know that your scheduled meeting involves a huddle room if the room is listed as a Required participant in the Outlook invitation:
If you are attending remotely, no further action is needed - you will join the meeting from your device like normal.
If you attend the meeting from the huddle room directly:
Once you enter the room, you should see the meeting displayed on both the TV and the wall panel:
Once the meeting is ready to begin, you can tap the Join button on the wall panel (the white box in the image above, better image pending).
The camera and microphone will activate, and remote attendees can join the meeting.
How to Join an In-Progress Meeting:
If a meeting is already in progress and you wish to attend via the huddle room, you can accomplish this using one of two ways.
Option 1: Add the Room to the Meeting
Ask the meeting host to add the huddle room to the meeting as a participant:
Once added, the wall panel in the room will ring and a notification will pop up. Click Accept to attend the meeting from the room.
Option 2: Forward the Email Invite
If you have a meeting invitation on your calendar, open it, and click the forward button:
Forward the meeting invite to the huddle room in question:
Click Send. You will receive an email from the huddle room once it accepts:
The meeting will sync and show up on the wall panel - tap on Join to attend the meeting.
Note - it may take a minute for the meeting to sync and show up.
How to Start an Impromptu Meeting:
If you would like to start a meeting from a huddle room without prior invitation/spontaneously:
Tap the Meet now button on the wall panel to begin a meeting.
Tap the Invite someone field at the top of the wall panel and search for the attendees you wish to add.
Once added, the attendees will receive a Teams notification/ring on their computer and can join the meeting.
How to Share Content to the TV:
In order to share content on the TV, you will need to bring a laptop with you to the huddle room. From there:
Start/attend the meeting in question from the huddle room as described above.
Using the wall panel, add yourself to the meeting (see above).
Answer the call from your laptop to attend the meeting. You can now share content from your laptop to the meeting, which will appear on the TV.
How to Start a Zoom Meeting on the TV:
It is possible to attend a Zoom meeting through the TV, although we highly recommend using Microsoft Teams for your conference needs. To start a Zoom meeting in a huddle room:
Follow the steps listed above in regards to forwarding an email invite:
Open your Zoom invitation.
Forward the meeting invite to the Huddle Room.
Accept on the wall panel.
Classroom AV
The upgraded AV equipment has optimized your ability to share your screen with the class, and hold conferences directly from the classroom. Upgraded classroom AV equipment includes:
A wall-mounted TV.
A wall-mounted control panel, located near the teacher’s desk.
A ceiling-mounted camera and microphone.
To turn on the TV in the classroom:
Make sure the teacher’s station computer is turned on.
On the wall panel, tap Local Presentation to turn on the TV
The TV will turn on and duplicate the display on your teacher’s station.
To begin a conference:
Make sure the teacher’s station computer is turned on.
On the wall panel, tap Conference Presentation.
The TV will turn on and duplicate the display on your teacher’s station.
The ceiling-mounted camera and microphone will activate.
Invite students to a Teams meeting from the teacher’s station.
You can tell if the microphones are turned on in the classroom by observing the color around their rings:
green = the microphone is on
red = the microphone is muted
no light = the microphone is off
To power off the TV, press the Power Off button on the wall panel:
