Webex Best Practices, Tips and Troubleshooting

Owned by Harry Fike
Last updated: Apr 12, 2022 by Brian Wilson
8 min read

Important Information and Common Issues

  • Difficulty joining a Webex meeting, ensure they have installed the Webex App on their device (regardless of the device) and that they are joining the meeting through the App and NOT the Browser (see additional info below).
  • Issues with audio or video, be sure they have selected the correct audio, speaker, video, and microphone device.
  • Using a Chromebook, be sure to Grant Webex Access to Microphone, Webcam, Screen
  • Supported Operating Systems and Browsers

Additional Information: Many are unable to join a Webex meeting from a Chromebook, iPad, or Mobile Phone because they have not downloaded and installed the Webex App from their App Store. Instead, they are trying to join from a browser and often times their audio, video, and microphone settings are not configured and permissions have not been enabled. Joining from the App seems to resolve all issues.

Best Practices

WebEx Meetings Guide https://help.webex.com/en-us/xm3o0v/Schedule-a-Cisco-Webex-Meeting

Event Planning Questions:

  • Will you require pre-registration for your event? See Section 2
  • Will you have additional presenters, moderators and cohosts? See Section 3
  • Will you require real time polling and Q&A by participants? See Section 4
  • Will you be using Breakout Sessions? See Section 5


Section 1

Standard WebEx Meetings Scheduling Best Practices:

Hosts/Cohosts and Presenters should download the WebEx App on your laptop or desktop (FSU machines should use the FSU Software Center, personal devices can use the download from the WebEx link https://www.webex.com/download-webex-meetings.html )

Meetings can be scheduled through the WebEx App and choosing SCHEDULE. Enter the email addresses of your participants* and attach any documents necessary for the meeting.

Section 2

*Pre-Registration set up requires the use of the frostburg.webex.com website for scheduling the meeting rather than the WebEx desktop client.

  • Sign into Webex via the website
  • Click on Meetings on the left Navigation
  • Enter the Name of Your Meeting in the Meeting Topic Field
  • Click on Schedule

Click on Advanced Options/Scheduling Options

Turn on the Reminder Bot

This will automatically send an email to all students in a course prior to the start of the session and includes a passcode and join button.

  • Log into Canvas
  • Click on Cisco Webex in the left hand navigation menu
  • Click on Setup

  • Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Reminder Bot
  • Click the button to Turn On

  • Enter the emails of your participants
  • Under Cohosts Choose “Let me choose Cohosts from the meeting”
  • If using breakouts, choose enable breakouts
  • If choosing to record the event, choose automatically start recording
  • Under Registration Choose “Require Attendee Registration”
    • It will require first and last name and email address registration you can delete the other fields
    • If participants entirely FSU community, click automatically accept registration
    • If participants include the public, consider NOT clicking automatically accept registration
  • Click Schedule and the links to both the registration and meeting links will appear
  • Use the permanent registration link for distribution lists or hyperlinking on a website
  • Emails will be sent to all attendees who you entered in the meeting with a dynamic (not permanent) registration link.





Section 3

WebEx Meeting Best Practices with Cohosts: https://help.webex.com/en-us/n1bqkbv/Add-Cohosts-for-Webex-Meetings#task_C8B405CFA929B34D7DF08D9BEA8B9797

  • Create an agenda listed with the planning committee’s responsibilities and times and durations. Make sure everyone has access to their presentation materials
  • Set up a practice meeting to ensure all moderators and presenters understand their roles and can demonstrate them
  • Starting the Meeting
    • Organizer Click on Participants Icon
    • Right click names and Change role to cohosts
    • Right click name and Change role to presenter (that presenter must change role to the next presenter)
    • Use the mute all function and notify participants that they must unmute themselves


Section 4

WebEx Meeting Best Practices with Slido https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nmrk74x/Integrate-Slido-with-Webex-App

  • Click on Apps Icon on Left of Participants and Chat icon
  • Choose Slido
  • Create New Poll (Select Type)
    • Create your question
    • Enter answers (if applicable)
    • Click on ellipse on the right of poll for edit, reset, and delete options
    • Launch Poll which will open window in attendees right panel
      • Default Poll is unlocked
      • Default Results Shown to Attendees
      • Click on Deactivate Poll if you wish to stop it
    • Poll is automatically saved and accessible when open Slido app inside Webex*
      • Be sure to reset poll if want to erase previous answers

*Note: You can create polls in advance at slido.com and sign in with Webex credentials


Section 5

WebEx Meeting Best Practices with Breakout Sessions https://help.webex.com/en-us/nroo6fs/Webex-Meetings-Breakout-Sessions

  • Click on Breakout Tab in top Left Tab and Enable breakouts. Breakouts will appear in the bottom task bar
    • Host/Cohosts should set up the number of breakout rooms as soon as possible
    • Break Outs are defaulted at 2 minutes and you can change the settings to what you need (suggest not longer than 5-7 minutes)
    • Choose between automatically assigning participants or manually assigning them to break out rooms
    • Cohosts can Join break out rooms independently to check in and do not have to be assigned
    • Close Breakout Rooms (Countdown timer 59 seconds)

Assigning Breakouts Automatically or Manually





Changing Breakout Settings

Do NOT Turn On Webex Meetings Attendance Grading

Once you turn it on, you can NOT turn it off. When you turn this feature on, every time you have a session, a column will populate in the Canvas Gradebook.

Recording in the Classroom

Many classrooms are equipped with either a web cam or a document camera that can be used with Webex or other recording tools to capture lecture content.

Here are a few tips to ensure your lecture and other materials are captured well:

  1. Audio is generally the most important thing for someone viewing a recording. Be sure to not wander far from the web cam or turn your head away, just as if you were talking to someone directly.
  2. Question asked out in the classroom may not be picked up by the web cam, so if they are important for the recording, be sure to repeat them in front of the web cam.
  3. Video of a whiteboard or other items may not show up well on a recording. Depending on a number of factors including lighting, distance of the web cam from the whiteboard, and glare from lights, a web cam may not record the best picture. If able, make use of a document camera or prepared slides when posting your lectures online. Webex also has the ability to use an iPad or other tablet that may capture handwriting better. See the section below for how to do that.

How-to

Set Webex Sound Notifications for Office Hours or Meetings

  • Open the Webex App on your device

  • Click on the Gear Tool in the upper right area 

  • Click Preferences then Notifications

  • Toggle on all desired notifications then click Apply

Teach using Webex, Canvas, and an iPad

If you are teaching from an iPad (many professors do for the whiteboard to write equations or other apps suiting their purpose) you can do so via the following:

1) Make sure you have enabled WebEx in your Canvas Course, linked, etc.  this works best from your PC or Mac.  Video:  https://app.vidgrid.com/view/MdJcwED92O1m/?sr=ggP13A

2) Assuming you have successfully performed the steps in #1:

  • From your Canvas course, go to the "Virtual Meetings" tab (Canvas usually lands on "Classroom Collaboration")
  • Create a Virtual Meeting (or series of Virtual Meetings) use "Meeting" under "Choose Host Center"
  • After you have created a meeting, you can join it as the Host from the Virtual Meetings Tab by clicking on the "Host" button
  • The iPad will start opening WebEx (or give you option to download if you have not already)

     
  • If you are the first person, Waiting for others to join will show up.  On the bottom (L to R) are the Microphone, Camera, and Share (up arrow) options
  • The Share Content option gives you the option of sharing a Whiteboard or apps (Middle) as well as any app via Share Screen (top)
  • Pick the app, Whiteboard or Share Screen to use (draw with, etc.) and share with your students.  Note: Some instructors have reported Microsoft OneNote works particularly well for equations.

Webex on Chromebook

Install the Cisco Webex Meetings App

The Cisco Webex Meetings app will need to be installed before attending a meeting.

Grant Webex Access to Microphone, Webcam, Screen

Once installed, you will need to grant access to the microphone, webcam, and screen (for screen sharing and recording).

Google Chrome Browser Extension

A person may need to download and install the Webex Meetings Extension.

Troubleshooting

Webex Join Button missing

People using a smaller screen, like on Chromebooks or Macbooks, do not readily see the Join button for a Webex meeting. They need to click under the name of the meeting to make visible a horizontal scrollbar. Then they can slide or scroll to the right to see the Join Meeting button.


Webex Authorization has expired

Within Canvas, some people who previously Authorized the LMS under Cisco Webex > Setup are receiving an authorization has expired message shown below.

To correct the problem, have the person go into their Canvas course, click on Cisco Webex, then click on the Log out button for the Webex Education Connector (shown below). This will log them out of Webex and prompt them to log back in. The expired message should then be gone.


Webex - Sharing Video

If you are sharing content with Webex, the way you optimize will affect if audio is sent or not

Ex. Showing a Video on a:

Computer: Choose "Optimize for motion and Video" and select "Share your Computer Audio"

Note: On a Mac, you may have to install audio drivers the first time you do this.

iPad/iPhone:  "Optimize for Video" and select "Share your Computer Audio"

 

Webex Record Button missing or grayed out

We have found instructors who had an account setting which caused the record button to be grayed out or not present. 
A related problem is when you hit the record button and a menu only asking where (on your hard drive) you want to save the file appears.
This issue will need to be fixed by IT, so please submit a ticket.

IT Techs, more detail /wiki/spaces/PUB/pages/4588999.