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.
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. To use this text, copy the text between the lines into the Description dialog box.
Join the meeting using the Zoom Client or Browser (Preferred. Includes screen sharing, video):
Url: https://nena-org.zoom.us/j/nnnnnnnnn
Login: Click on the Zoom link, enter your complete name, and agree to the Code of Conduct & IPR. You may choose either computer audio or make a separate voice call (below). You will be placed in the waiting room until a meeting host admits you to the Zoom session.
For Zoom help and tutorials, click here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200101697
Dial-in Instructions (voice only):
Meeting ID: nnn nnn nnnn
United States access phone numbers:
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Numbers for other locations and countries: https://nena-org.zoom.us/u/kbcG6nTQC4
After connection to the selected number, when prompted, enter the Meeting ID (nnn nnn nnnn) and #. When prompted for Participant ID, press #. You will be placed in the waiting room and you will hear annoying music until admitted to the session by a meeting host. Use *6 to mute and unmute your line. Identify yourself to a host so that they can add your name to the participant's list.
After the text is pasted into the Description dialog box,you should:
- Replace nnn nnn nnnn and nnnnnnnnnn with your assigned Meeting ID number.
- Check to see that the URLs in the text are configured as links. To do that, copy the URL, select the link tool (1) in the Description header, and paste the URL (2).
You may also want to change some of the text formatting as shown in this example:
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
Do not enter information in this section. 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. If it is changed, email notices for each meeting will be sent to registered participants. If changes must be made in the Location section, you should 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 the first meeting in a series, you will see a Cancel Series confirmation. Please note that when you delete a series, you may also delete the attendance database history.
Click Yes in the Cancel Series box.
If you chose any meeting but the first one in a series, you will see this Cancel Event confirmation:
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.