Polycom 8 manual Participant Roles

Chapter 7 - Conference Types

Participant Roles

Conference participants can have different functions: a standard participant, a chairperson, or an operator.

•Standard participant - takes part in the conference, performing operations via the telephone using the touch-tone signals (DTMF codes). Participants can control their broadcasting and listening volume, mute or unmute their line, request operator’s assistance, invite new participants to the conference, vote and ask questions. The functions that participants can perform are defined in the DTMF table. In some cases, a standard participant can have the same privileges as the chairperson.

•Chairperson - takes part in the conference but is also the meeting’s organizer. The chairperson interacts with other participants in the same conference, and can control the conference using a Web browser or the DTMF codes. Chairpersons perform all the functions of the standard participant but have additional privileges. They can start a voting session, grant the floor to participants who wish to ask questions, mute and unmute participants, connect and disconnect participants, define a participant as the conference speaker while muting all other participants and place participants on hold. Some chairperson functions can be performed only via the Web browser. Functions that can be performed using the DTMF codes, are determined in the IVR Service.

•Operator - can perform all the chairperson’s functions and additional operator-specific functions. The operator can control and monitor all On Going conferences simultaneously as well as perform general configuration and maintenance operations, but does not have to participate in a conference in order to control it. During On Going conferences, the operator can move participants from one conference to another, assist participants who need help, terminate the conference before its scheduled time and join the conference. In addition, operators can identify participants as VIPs, move them up or down in the Q&A queue, and give them special attention. Operators perform all activities via the MGC Manager or the MGC WebCommander.

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