The Meetings tool is designed to be used in conjunction with a teleconference but can be used in a variety of other ways - it could be used in conjunction with a chat room or a forum, and has also been used prior to and during face-to-face meetings.

The most common use is where participants open the Meetings tool on their community website and join a teleconference at the same time.  For example, the Staff College principals have a weekly
teleconference and use the meetings tool at the same time.

To use the Meetings tool, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the Meetings site section in your main community menu to open the meeting noticeboard and check on future meetings
2. Enter the meeting lounge on the right of this screen via your email and user password. If you haven’t been to the meeting lounge before, fill out the contact details form. Remember your password, as this will enable you to enter future meetings
3. Select the meeting you would like to attend (in blue)
4. Submit the meeting password. Each meeting has a unique password that can be
   obtained from the Meeting Manager or your Community Manager
5. Enter the meeting lounge

Before the meeting you can:

• View the agenda and meeting resources
• Print the agenda and meeting resources
• Indicate your intention to attend or add your apology
• Add an agenda item or a meeting resource by uploading a file or relevant website

During the meeting you can:

• Click on your name as it appears in the lounge and open your personal folder with the
  same password you used to enter the lounge.  Note: This is not the specific meeting password
• Use your own scratch pad to take notes during the meeting and email them to yourself
  as a reminder
• View the meeting minutes, as they are refreshed on your screen after each agenda
  discussion

After the meeting you can:

• Revisit agenda items and subsequent discussions
• Print relevant resources
• Print a copy of the minutes

The Meetings control area enables the community manager to manage all aspects of a meeting:

Add a new Meeting
Choose your community from the list (if more than one).  Fill in the form details and click on Add Details.

Edit/Delete Meeting
Choose your community from the list.  Choose the relevant meeting you wish to edit and change the details or delete the meeting.

Manage Meeting Types
Choose your community from the list.  Each community can build it's own suite of types of meetings to suit it's own purposes.  A meeting type has a set of agenda items to begin with.  The standard agenda can be edited for the meeting type except for a Teleconference.  Once a meeting has been added, the agenda can be altered at any time.

Teleconference Reports
Choose your community from the list and then choose the relevant teleconference from the list.
When the meeting type is a Teleconference, the meeting participant is advised that:

• they need to confirm their attendance or non-attendance, and
• they need to confirm the telephone number that they will use for the teleconference.

The meeting manager can choose Teleconference Reports to view a list of participants, a list of those who have confirmed their intention to attend, and those who will not be attending.  These lists can be printed and the list of those attending includes name, work phone number and the phone number they will be using for the teleconference.

Manage Agenda, Order Agenda items, Manage Minutes, Manage Apologies, and Manage Notes
All these functions are managed in the same way - choose your community from the list.  Choose the relevant meeting you wish to attend.  Agenda items can be added, edited, deleted, or have the order changed.

Manage Resources
Choose your community from the list.  Choose the relevant meeting you wish to attend.  Resource items can be added, edited, deleted, or have the order changed.  Resources can be Links to web sites, Upload a file to the server for downloading or Paper References to non-digital resource materials. 

The list of resources is embedded in the meeting agenda page for the user.  To add/edit/delete any type of resource, choose the appropriate button.  You will then be directed to Resource Control.

Set Meeting User Rights
Choose your community from the list. A list of users who have access rights to the meetings area will be displayed in order of their access level.  Choose a user's name to update their details or add new users to the meeting system.

Access Levels
All participants can add agenda items, apologies, notes and resources to a meeting but do not have editing rights unless they have been granted manager or scribe status.

Meeting Manager
The meeting manager can manage all aspects of all meetings including setting permissions for other meeting participants.

Scribe
The scribe can participate in a meeting and add/edit minutes to agenda items.

Participant
Anyone with participant access can participate in a meeting.  All participants can add agenda items, apologies, notes and resources to a meeting, but have no editing rights.

Who was at a meeting?
Choose your community from the list. A list of users who logged into the meeting on the server will be displayed.  Choose a user's name to update their details in the system.