Online meetings involve audio and video content being transmitted between all connected participants.​  There are various ways to host a meeting at the University depending on your situation and requirements including: -

• Using a technology-enabled meeting room; useful for pre-arranged meetings requiring multple local partipants and available for use on a self-operational basis
• Using an NUIT managed facility; useful for pre-arranged, high stakes meetings, as our team will book and support the videoconference  
• Using Zoom or Teams with your own device from anywhere; useful for pre-arraged or ad-hoc meetings where you are the only local participant or it is a 1-1 meeting

Webinars (sometimes referred to as web-conferences or webcasts) are typically used to deliver events such as remote training sessions or promoting and marketing goods and services to a wide audience. ​

There is usually one or a small number of local presenters that broadcast audio and visual content live to a large number of connected remote participants.  Video and audio is transmitted one-way only however remote attendees can generally interact via text chat.  They are an ideal solution when little or no audience interaction is required. ​

We recommend either simulating a webinar using Zoom Meetings​ or trying Microsoft Teams Live Events​, both of which have functionality which can be used to deliver a webinar-style experience.  The decision on what one to use is often just down to personal preference or the number of expected attendees.

How do I request a Zoom webinar?

If simulating a webinar using Zoom Meetings​ or Microsoft Teams Live Events​ is not suitable for your event, you can request a Zoom webinar license via a self service request in NU Service.

Please select the category for "Request a Zoom Large Meeting/Webinar Add On". 

​​Please note: Limited support is available for Zoom webinars, however there are lots of helpful resources available on the Zoom Support pages

Further Support

• How to emulate a webinar using Zoom meetings (for up to 300 participants)
• Microsoft Teams Live Events (for up to 10,000 participants)

​Both Zoom and Teams can be used effectively to support delivery of remote teaching. 

There is comprehensive pedagogical information on how best to achieve this at the Flexible Learning 2020 web pages​.

​

Current situation

Our teaching spaces across campus are currently provisioned to provide a traditional experience where all participants attend in-person.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick and easy way to reprovision them as professionally equipped, hybrid-enabled teaching or conference spaces. 

A pilot project has set up 17 venues across campus as Inclusive Hybrid Learning Spaces (IHLS).

We would strongly recommend one of these 17 venues is booked to host any Hybrid sessions. 

More information on IHLS can be found at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/learning-and-teaching/effective-practice/ihls

Options

1. Book your event in one of the 17 Inclusive Hybrid Learning Spaces 

Contact Room Bookings (bookings.ncl.ac.uk) and host your event in one of the following venues:

Armstrong 2.98 & Armstrong 3.38

Cassie 2.32

DMBB G01

FDC 1.16, 1.17 & 1.18

HDB G13, 1.02, 6.16

Herschel LT1

Merz L201, L202, L301, L302 & L303

NUBS 2.03

2. Use a Teams / Zoom enabled laptop

By connecting a laptop to the venue AV system using the available HDMI cable (or wireless system where installed), your laptop screen can be projected to the in-venue large display, and the sound from the laptop will be routed via the in-venue audio system.

Once your Zoom / Teams call is connected any remote participants will be able to see the local presenter (via the laptop webcam) and hear them via the laptop microphone.  The local audience will also see the remote presenters on the large in-venue display and hear them via the in-venue audio system.

3. Use ReCap Live Broadcast

ReCap live broadcast can allow presented digital content and in-venue audio to be live streamed to a remote audience.  Presenter video (talking head) is not streamed, and remote audience participation is by text chat only.

Note: ReCap Live Broadcast can currently only be used to live stream one-off events and conferences, it is not available to stream scheduled teaching sessions as the infrastructure is not optimised to handle volumes of concurrent streams.

Considerations

It’s worth noting that there are also many operational and management aspects to consider outside of the technicalities when trying to run a successful hybrid event, such as: -

• Who is the presenter delivering to, the remote or local audience?  Splitting attention between local and remote audiences’ places significant cognitive load on those presenting and can ultimately result in a degraded experience for all participants
• How do you facilitate Q&A from local and remote participants effectively?  Not all venues are equipped with wireless microphone systems so it may be difficult for remote participants to hear questions asked locally
• Remote participants having poor internet connectivity resulting in a degraded experience. If presenters are joining remotely, it is strongly advised to have a backup recording of their presentation and/or arrange a dress rehearsal with them using the same device and internet connection that they will be using on the day.

We would also recommend you arrange support from colleagues to assist in managing the online elements and handling Q&A etc.

Support

There are thousands of online events being delivered each day, and it would be impossible for NUIT to provide dedicated resource to support each one. 

We are however happy to schedule a demonstration with you in advance of your session at a mutually convenient time, to provide you with the knowledge and experience you need to ensure your event runs smoothly. If you would like to arrange a demonstration with a member of our team in advance of your online event, please contact the IT Service Desk (it.servicedesk@ncl.ac.uk)

There are also established Teams and Zoom communities available for users to share problems and ideas as well as many online resources to provide you with useful information in advance.