Hosting a Skype Meeting

Each employee of the Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid society now has the ability to host their own remote Skype or Teleconference meetings, regardless of where the attendees are located.

In order to schedule a meeting, simply complete the following steps:

1. You must first be logged into your Skype Client.  Once you have done this the first time, Skype will automatically launch and open each time you log into your computer.  In Windows, click on Start to bring up your Start Menu.  Then simply start typing the word “Skype”.  Search results will start appearing, and you want to select “Skype for Business”  You should see a window like this appear:
2. Your Sign-In address should be pre-populated.  If it isn’t pre-populated, then enter your firstname.lastname@khcas.on.ca, ie: skype.user@khcas.on.ca.  Then click SignIn.  If you are outside of one of our offices, you do not need NetExtender connected to make Skype work.  It works in the same way as Outlook does, and will connect without a VPN.
3. Once you have logged in, your Skype client will look like this; you can now minimize your Skype client.
4. Open Outlook and go to your Calendar.  You will notice a new button has appeared marked “New Skype Meeting”.  Selecting this button will bring up the new meeting dialogue box, and will automatically insert a link to your meeting, as well as the dial in phone numbers.  Now, go ahead and schedule the meeting as you would any other meeting.  Include the email address of those you would like to invite, the time, the date, and use your Room Finder or other method if you wish to also book a meeting room.  You can host your Skype Meeting from your laptop if you are the only host, or the only person attending the meeting from the organization.  If there are multiple people attending, you may want to book one of the Skype Enabled meeting rooms.  Peterborough provides Scugog and Chemong that are pre-equipped with Team sized Skype hardware, while the Boardroom provides Skype facilities for larger groups.  The Lindsay Boardroom can also handle larger groups, and the Haliburton lunch room / boardroom can handle groups of 5-6 people.
5. When it’s time to start your meeting, you will get an Outlook reminder 15 minutes before your meeting.  The reminder will include a “Join Meeting” button. You can click on the Join Meeting button, or wait until it’s closer to the time for your meeting to start.  When you are ready to join the meeting, open the Calendar item for the meeting and select “Join Skype Meeting”.  This will automatically start your meeting.
6. As your meeting starts, you will be asked to choose how you wish to join the Audio portion of the meeting.  You will be provided with three choices:If you wish to use your computer speakers and microphone for audio, select “Use Skype for Business (full audio and video experience).  This is the easiest choice for single person meetings using your laptop, or if you are using a team meeting room like Scugog or Chemong.  If you are in a location with less than ideal internet connectivity, or are in a location where you would prefer to use Telephone audio, you have two choices.  If you are attending the meeting solo, you can choose to have the system call your cell phone to connect you to the meeting.  Select “Call me at” and select the drop down box.  The drop down box will be pre-populated with your cell number (if you have an agency provided cell phone).  Press OK, wait a moment, and your cell phone will ring.  Answer the call and follow the prompts on your phone to join the meeting.  If you wish to join the call from a conference phone or other device for a better group audio experience, select “Don’t join audio”.  Then, in your calendar item, you will find a toll free telephone number and conference code.  Dial this number and enter this code to join the meeting.  Each staff person has their own unique conference code in order to prevent people from overbooking a conference bridge.
7. Once you have selected your audio option, you will enter into the meeting.