YAHOO MESSENGER : GROUP CONFERENCING

Group Conferencing with Text, Audio, and Video

For maximum participation, schedule your Group Conference/Chat times well in advance via email. Prior to the scheduled time, planned participants should exchange their Yahoo usernames as they will need to the usernames of the other participants to their own contact lists in Yahoo Messenger.

It is also helpful to determine in advance who will be the one to initiate the conference at the scheduled time. The person who initiates the conference invites the other participants to join. This will ensure that everyone is "invited into" the same group conference (chat) window.

Text

1. On the Yahoo Messenger window, click on the group name (i.e., work) containing the usernames of those with whom you wish to have a group chat. Click the IM icon to open a blank message form.

2. On the blank instant message form, click the conference icon.

3. On the Invite Contacts to Conference window you will see a "messenger list" to the left and an "invitation list" to the right. Although you may have many names on your contact list, the "messenger list" in the chat window only displays those people who are currently online and available for a conference. If a desired participant has his/her individual IM status set to anything other than "available", his/her username may not be displayed on the "messenger list" (for more information on "availability" status, see Part Four, Step 7).

Select the usernames from the messenger list that you want to invite to your conference and then click the add button in the center of the screen. The names you have added will appear on the invitation list to the right.

If you wish to include audio in your conference, check "Enable Voice Chat for this conference" as shown in the screen image below.

Note: All participants must have speakers connected to their computers for a group conference with audio. Those who plan to speak must use headset mics. Those who do not have headset mics, can still listen via their computer speakers, but they will have to type their responses.

After you click the Invite button button on the Invite Contacts to Conference window, the recipients of your invitation will receive an instant messenger pop-up notice. If someone (besides yourself) initiates the conference, you will receive the same type of pop-up message.

4. When the group conference (chat) windows appears:

• The username of the person who initiated the conference appears in the title bar of the conference window.
• Usernames will begin appearing in the right column as the invitations are accepted.
• The upper text window displays the transcript of all text that has been entered by participants.
• Under the transcript box, you will see font tools (bold, italic, color, font type and font size). Those tools only affect the text that you enter.
• Under the font tools, you may click the smiley face icon at anytime to select a particular "emoticon" to accompany the text you are currently typing.
• The format tool next to the smiley face icon toggles the font tools on or off.
• You may send a private side-bar message to anyone whose name appears in the right column. Click the username and then click the IM button beneath the username column to open a private message window to that user.
• Enter your text in the lower text window and click send to communicate with the group.

Voice

Before using Voice as part of your group conference/chat, consider the following:

• Although you can listen via your computer's speakers, use a headset mic if you are going to talk.
• If the other participants do not have headset mics, they can still hear you via their speakers.
• The speed of the participants' Internet connections and the quality of their headset mics will affect the audio quality of your conference. Quality can range from crackling ham radio to high-end speaker phone. Generally, the fewer people participating, the greater the overall quality will be (simply because you are reducing the potential number of quality detractors, such as slow or spotty Internet connections, bad microphones, etc.).
• The audio portion of your chat does not appear in the text window (you cannot see it, you can only hear it). Keep this in mind if there are any ADA compliance concerns (those concerns will be based on who is participating in the chat and whether it is mandatory or optional).
• Currently, there is no way to save a transcript of the audio portion of your chat. Only the text portion can be saved.

To activate Voice chat, you must first click the voice icon at the top of the existing conference window. If you are a participant in a conference that someone else initiated, the initiator of that conference may have already enabled voice chat. If so, the title bar of the conference will say "Voice Chat" followed by the username of the person who initiated the conference. The voice enabled conference/chat window is identical to the text conference/chat window with the following exceptions:

• The icons located to the left of the users who are able to participate in voice chat will be wearing headsets. In the screen image below, umucdemo is able to participate in voice chat, but mikeevanchik is not, as noted by the absence of headphones on the icon next to his username.
• Under the transcript box, you will see Talk and Mute controls/indicators.
• As a reminder, if you do not select "Hands Free", you will have to push the green Talk button every time you want to say something. "Hands Free" mode works best, unless there are other people in the room with you or there is significant background noise, which you do not wish to "play/transmit" into the message. Also, if you have selected "Hands Free" mode and you need to speak privately to someone standing next to you, select mute. Otherwise, the person with whom you are instant messaging will hear everything you say. If your telephone rings while you are engaged in a Hands-Free voice chat on Yahoo Messenger, you should also select Mute. Be sure to de-select Mute when you are ready to begin talking again via Yahoo Messenger.

Video

Participants in a group conference (chat) who have high speed Internet connections and Webcams installed on their computers can use video as part of the conference .

Starting Your Own Webcam:

Option 1: Before starting a group conference, click the Messenger menu on your contact list and select Start My Webcam.

A "View My Webcam" link (see image below) will appear next to your name in the IM contact list of anyone who has added your username to his/her list of contacts.

Option 2: If you are already active in a group chat window, click the Webcam icon located in the upper left corner of the group conference window. An announcement should appear in the transcript window indicating that you have activated your Webcam.

Option 3: Select the name of the person on the group conference participant list (right side of conference window). Select Contact from the tool bar, then select the "Invite to View My Webcam" from the drop-down box. The person whose name you clicked will see an invitation to view your Webcam. He or she may accept or decline the invitation.

Regardless of the method you use to activate your Webcam, a warning window will appear containing the terms and conditions of Yahoo Messenger Webcam service. Click OK to continue. You may be prompted to select your connection speed.

Viewing Other Participants Webcams:

You do not need to have a Webcam to view another participant's Webcam. There are two ways to view another participant's Webcam.

Option 1: In your Yahoo Messenger contact list, click the "View My Webcam" link to the right of the contact's ID/name in your Messenger List. If there is no "View My Webcam" link, the person either does not have a Webcam or he/she hasn't activated it.

Option 2: If you are already active in a group conference window, place your cursor over a name in group conference participant list, right click, and then select View Webcam.

Depending on the participant's IM preferences (settings), he/she may have to grant permission for you to view his/her Webcam before the Webcam image appears, as shown below.

If the person does not have a Webcam installed, or the Webcam is not turned on, you may see the following error message:

You may repeat this process as many times as you want, based on how many participants are active in the group chat session. However, the more Webcam windows you open, the more difficult it will be to make room for all of them on your computer screen. Also, with more than one or two Webcam windows open at once, you will notice a considerable delay in the frame rate of each video.

To view your own Webcam image, place your cursor over your own name in the group chat participant list, right click, and select View Webcam.

You can adjust the display properties of the Webcam windows by using the Webcam menu located inside the Webcam window (see screen shot below):

• Select "always on top" to force a Webcam window to remain on top of your open instant message window. Note: If you do this to everyone Webcam window you have opened during a group chat, you will most likely obscure your view of the group chat window.
• Select Small if a Webcam image is too large, relative to the instant message window.
• If you have opened your own Webcam image (see tip above) and you which to immediately cease transmitting your image to the participants of the group chat, de-select Broadcast from the Webcam menu of your own Webcam window.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Only the text portion of your instant message/chat session can be saved. To save the transcript, select "Save As..." from the Conversation menu located in the upper left corner of the message box. You must click "Save As...." before you close the message window. Once the message window is closed, you will not be able to save or retrieve the text of your chat.