Scheduling A Videoconference

 

Disclosure - Currently the OSDH Video Studio is short staffed. To ensure that your videoconference experience is a quality experience, please follow the step-by-step procedures below. Of special importance, please note that it is the responsibility of the event coordinator to monitor the chain of events that need to occur, including assuring the final list of participating sites is provided to the video studio no later than noon on the day before the conference (or noon on Friday if it is a Monday videoconference). A successful videoconference doesn't just happen by magic - it takes work and due diligence.

 

1. Contact the OSDH video studio in order to schedule the date and time of the conference. Contact may be initiated via telephone but an email formally requesting to schedule the conference must follow. This email should include:

• Date
• Start Time
• Length of conference
• Name of the event coordinator - This person is the point of contact for the videoconference. In order to eliminate any confusion or miscommunication, we will only work with the identified event coordinator, who will be responsible for scheduling and organizing the conference.
• Title of the conference - This should be the title that everyone will know it by. Example: there may be two nursing videoconferences in one day; if we receive an inquiry, we need to be able to identify which conference is in question.

 

2. Have your participants schedule the videoconference equipment and room with the person/people responsible for the videoconference equipment at their county health department.

Here's an example, fill-in-the-blanks email you can copy and paste to send to your participants:

In order to participate in this videoconference you must schedule the use of the Polycom videoconference equipment at the site you wish to use. You must then reply to the Event Coordinator that you have done so. The Event Coordinator for this videoconference is XXXX. You must reply to XXXX no later than COB XXXX or you will not be included in this videoconference.  If you cannot attend, please let XXXX know that as well.

Staff who may want to attend include XXXX.

If you do not know who your site facilitator is, I have attached a link to a list of site facilitators for each county office:

http://www.ok.gov/health/Organization/Office_of_Communications/Video_Communications/Videoconference_Locations/index.html

 

3. When the participants schedule the videoconference equipment and room, they need to email the event coordinator and let them know that they wish to participate in the conference. The event coordinator compiles a list of participating sites.

• 35 sites are the most we can accommodate for one conference. This may necessitate you having more than one session.

 

4. Email your list of participating sites (in alphabetical order) to Jay Burgess. Our deadline is NO LATER THAN NOON on the day before the conference, or Friday by noon if your videoconference occurs on Monday. This is the most misunderstood procedure in the videoconference scheduling process. In order for us to assure all sites receive the best service possible, we need to adhere to this deadline. No exceptions! If we don't receive you list by noon the day before you videoconference, we will assume that it has been cancelled.

• Sending the sites in alphabetical order helps to further ensure that all the sites get loaded and no one is inadvertently left off the call-out list.
• Only include the county sites that you wish to connect in your list. We don't need any other information. Adding superfluous information only leads to confusion.
• Don't send participants piecemeal - send them in a list all at once on the day of the deadline.
• Set your deadline a couple of days before the studio's deadline - you will have stragglers and this should help take care of that to some extent.
• Please refrain from sending your list early. When lists are sent early there is almost always someone who wants to be added to the conference after the list has been finalized. Once we receive the list we consider it final and will not make additions.
• The only time sending your list early is acceptable is if you are going to be gone on the day of the deadline. However, you can send your list early but delay its delivery until the morning of the deadline. In your email click on the tab that says Options and then click Delay Delivery at the top. This will open a window where you can set the delivery time for your email.

 

This has been a brief step-by-step explanation of how to schedule a videoconference. But scheduling is only part of the process. Once your conference is scheduled, there are other procedures you need to follow in order for your participants to have a good videoconference experience. Please use the navigation menu to the left and go to the next page to learn how to have the best videoconference experience possible for you and your participants.

 

 

Revised on 2-1-12