Help for Setting up Meetings and Conference Calls in NWS

This page shows how to set up, change, and cancel NWS (NENA Workspace) meetings and conference calls. The process also includes automatically registering your group members as RSVP.

Setting up Meetings and Conference Calls in NENA Workspace

NENA Development Group meetings and conference calls are scheduled and entered as calendar events in NENA Workspace (NWS). The "Add Event" process places the meeting information on the NWS calendar and sends notification emails to the NWS "Community" members (often an NDG Working Group).

Here is an example of a completed "Add Event" form: NWS Add Event Sample.

Adding an Event

Community administrators can add events for their community.

To add an event, navigate to your community's home page and click on the Settings button.

Click on Manage Events.

Click on the Add Event button.

Complete the elements in the Add Event dialog box

Title

The Title is a required field and should describe the event. An example of a recurring event title is References Working Group Weekly Conference Call.

Event Type

If the Event Type field didn't auto-populate, choose NENA RSVP Conference Call - Repeating or Single.

Description

Enter the meeting details. This information should contain all the information needed by an attendee to join the Zoom session, from either a web client (preferred) or from a phone.

Here is an example of text for a typical recurring Zoom meeting. If you want to use a format like this, configuration steps are provided after the example.

How to configure NWS Meeting Information with this format:

1. In the Description dialog box, select HTML. An HTML Source code editing box will open.

2. Delete any code in the Source code editing box, then copy and paste the HTML Text (below) into the Source code box and click Ok.

HTML Text

<hr style="height: 2px; border-width: 0; color: gray; background-color: gray;" />
<h2>Web Access Instructions:</h2>
<strong>Zoom Url Link (Includes Passcode):</strong> <a href="uuuuuuuu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zoom Link for &lt;Your Committee&gt; Meetings</a><br /><br /><strong>(If Required for manual login)</strong><br /><strong>Meeting ID: mmm mmm mmmm<br />Passcode: pppppppp<br /></strong><br /><strong>Login:</strong> Click on the Zoom link.  You may be asked to enter your name.  If so, <strong>enter your complete name.  </strong>You may also be asked to agree to NENA's Code of Conduct &amp; IPR.  You may choose either computer audio or make a separate voice call (below).  <br /><br />For Zoom help and tutorials, click here: <a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200101697" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Getting Started – Zoom Help Center</a><br /><hr style="height: 2px; border-width: 0; color: gray; background-color: gray;" />
<h2>Dial-in Instructions (voice):</h2>
<strong>Meeting ID: mmm mmm mmmm</strong><br /><br /><strong>United States access phone numbers:</strong><br /><a href="tel:+16465588656" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 646 558 8656 (New York)</a><br /><a href="tel:+13017158592" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 301 715 8592 (Washington DC)</a><br /><a href="tel:+13126266799" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 312 626 6799 (Chicago)</a><br /><a href="tel:+16699009128" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 669 900 9128 (San Jose)</a><br /><a href="tel:+12532158782" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 253 215 8782 (Tacoma)</a><br /><a href="tel:+13462487799" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 346 248 7799 (Houston)</a><br /><br /><strong>Canada access phone numbers:</strong><br /><a href="tel:+17789072071" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 778 907 2071</a><br /><a href="tel:+12042727920" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 204 272 7920</a><br /><a href="tel:+14388097799" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 438 809 7799</a><br /><a href="tel:+15873281099" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 587 328 1099</a><br /><a href="tel:+16473744685" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 647 374 4685</a><br /><a href="tel:+16475580588" class="number_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">+1 647 558 0588</a><br /><br />Numbers for other locations and countries: <a href="https://nena-org.zoom.us/u/kbcG6nTQC4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://nena-org.zoom.us/u/kbcG6nTQC4</a><br /><br />After connection to the selected number, when prompted, enter the <strong>Meeting ID (mmm mmm mmmm)</strong> <strong>and #.</strong> When prompted for <strong>Participant ID, press #</strong>.   Use <strong>*6</strong> to mute and unmute your line.  <br /><br /><strong>Please identify yourself and your phone number to a host so that they can change your phone number to your name.</strong>

3. To edit the Zoom Url Link, select Zoom Link for <Your Committee> Meetings text and click the Insert/edit link tool (A). An Insert link dialog box will open.

4. For Url (B), add the Committee's Zoom meeting link with embedded Passcode. This link is generated by Zoom when the Passcode is configured and is in this form: https://nena-org.zoom.us/j/mmmmmmmmmm?pwd=zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The embedded Passcode URL can be found in the Committee’s Zoom account:

• Sign into https://zoom.us/
• Under the Meetings page, go to the Personal Room tab where you will find the Invite Link URL (click the overlapping squares following the URL to copy the link), the Meeting ID, and the Security Passcode (select Show to display the Passcode).

5. In Text to display, replace <Your Committee> with your Committee's name (C).

6. Click Ok

7. Replace the three instances of mmm mmm mmmm with the Committee's Zoom meeting ID (2), (4), and (5).

8. Replace the one instance of pppppppp with the Committee’s Zoom meeting passcode (3).

Optional link for external websites

Warning! Do NOT fill in the "Optional link for an external website with more details about this event" field as it overwrites other system generated links related to meeting attendance. Please leave this field empty.

Date & Time

For recurring meetings, enter the date, time and repeating event information. Schedule calls for no longer than 24 occurrences. This is a typical example of a weekly recurring call:

Location

Warning! Do not enter information in this section. Any changes in this section, including removing content or just clicking within a box without making any changes, will generate multiple email calendar notices. Calendar applications assume that this is a physical location.

Contact Information

When you click on Insert My Contact Information, check the fields and make sure they are correct:

Send Invitations

If you want your members to know about the meeting, select Yes here:

Registering Roster Members for Repeating NENA RSVP Conference Calls

Group members must be registered for scheduled meetings so that they receive meeting notices with links to indicate attendance.

Registrations for Existing Meetings

For repeating NENA RSVP Conference calls that were previously scheduled and conducted, the registration process described here must be applied to the first scheduled call, even if it was scheduled in the past. To find the first scheduled call and change the settings, click on the repeating event icon in the Events tab:

Click on the first event in the Repeating Event Series:

Then, follow the instructions below for Registering All Roster Members.

Registering All Roster Members

To register roster members for all scheduled repeating RSVP Conference Calls, on the first event in the sequence, click on down arrow next to the Edit button and then Manage Roster.

In the Registrant Roster box, click on the Manage button, then Add Registrants.

In the Add Registrants box, select your group:

The Add Registrants box will show a list of community members. Click on the Select and register all community members for this event check box. Then click on the Add button at the bottom of the list:

You should see that the Registrant Roster is now populated with the roster members:

Changing Meeting Information

Important Note: This section assumes that the Location section in NENA Workspace Edit Event page will not be changed (it should be empty if the instructions above were followed). If it is changed or even if you just click within the box without making any changes, email notices for each meeting will be sent to registered participants. If you need to remove information in the Location section, consider adding a new Event and canceling the remaining Recurring Meetings.

This sections describes how to change Meeting Information in all remaining Recurring Meetings.

In NENA Workspace, navigate to your group's home page and select the Events tab. It will show you a list of future scheduled recurring meetings.

For repeating NENA RSVP Conference calls that were previously scheduled and conducted, the changing information for future meetings described here must be applied to the first scheduled call in a recurring series, even if it was scheduled in the past. To find the first scheduled call and change the settings, click on the repeating event icon in the Events tab:

Click on the first event in the Repeating Event Series. It should be in the past.

Click Edit. In this example, a series that previously used TurboBridge and join.me will be changed to use Zoom.

In the Edit Event dialog box, change meeting information. Many fields cannot be changed. In this example, the Description and Location sections were changed.

When edits are completed, click on Save & update all events in this series.

Click on OK.

Notifying Participants

Since NENA Workspace will not send out email with Recurring Meeting updates, you should notify participants with links to calendar updates.

Canceling a Meeting

Individual meetings in a recurring series may have to be canceled. If all of the remaining meetings in a series have to be canceled when replaced by a new updated Recurring Meeting Series, future meetings should be canceled one at a time.

Here is how to cancel an individual meeting.

Select the meeting you want to cancel. There are several ways to do that. One easy way is to double-click on the NWS Home page calendar. Another way is to select meetings from a list of future schedule meetings:

Navigate to your community's home page and click on the Settings button.

Click on Manage Events.

Select Active/Upcoming Events (1), NENA RSVP Conference Call... (2), Start Date - Earliest (3), and then Apply Filter (4).

Find the meeting you want to cancel. Click the Edit Down Arrow (5), and Cancel Event (6).

If you chose any meeting but the first one in a series, you will see this Cancel Event confirmation:

Click Yes in the Cancel Event box.

If you chose the first meeting in a series, you will see a Cancel Series confirmation. Please note that when you delete a series, it will also delete the attendance database history. Do not cancel a recurring NENA Workspace meeting if previous meetings in that series were held.

Canceling a Recurring Meeting Series

Important Note: Do not cancel a recurring NENA Workspace meeting if previous meetings in that series were held.

Canceling a recurring NENA Workspace meeting deletes NWS attendance data from past meetings.

Here is how to cancel a recurring NENA Workspace meeting series. This might be necessary when creating a new series (before any meetings have been held) to change incorrect meeting information.

Navigate to your community's home page and click on the Settings button.

Click on Manage Events.

Select Past Events (1), NENA RSVP Conference Call... (2), Start Date - Earliest (3), and then Apply Filter (4).

Find the first meeting of the series you want to cancel. Click the Edit Down Arrow (5), and Cancel Event (6).

Click Yes in the Cancel Series box.