Conference Rooms

Conference Rooms are persistent, dial-in audio bridges: a fixed room number that callers join to talk together, protected by an optional PIN and moderated by a “marked user” (leader). Use them when a team needs a standing meeting bridge that anyone can dial into from a desk phone, an IVR/Voice Menu, or an external line - without scheduling anything in advance.

As an alternative to Conference Rooms you can use Thirdlane Connect Channels for both audio and video conferencing. Connect channels add video, screen sharing, and chat; Conference Rooms are best when participants join from ordinary phones.

The Conference Rooms list shows every room you have defined. Where a room’s calls have been recorded, the Recorded Calls column links to the list of recordings for that room.

Create/Edit Conference Room

Conference Room

Conference Room. Conference room number, which identifies the Conference Room.

Description. Short description of the Conference Room.

Maximum Participants. Maximum number of participants that are allowed to join a conference.

PIN. PIN required for joining this Conference Room.

Administrator’s PIN. PIN that when entered makes the user the “marked user” and also gives the user administrative rights.

Owners. Users who will have permissions to manage this Conferenece Room.

Conference Room Settings

Wait for a leader (marked user). Wait until the marked user enters the conference. If set will make users wait for a marked user. In Configuration Manager a user who enters administrator’s PIN is the marked user.

End conference when a leader (marked user) exits. This option will end the conference for everyone after the last marked user exits.

Play music for a single caller. If set, will enable music-on-hold even when conference the has a single caller.

Music-on-Hold. Music-on-hold associated with the conference which plays when users are waiting for a marked user.

Enable menu. If set, will allow a voice menu. The options presented are dependent on whether it is a regular user or an administrator who presses the key and includes muting and unmuting, increasing or decreasing volume, etc.

Announce user count on joining. If set, will play announce a user count to users joining the conference.

Announce when users join/leave. If set, will play an announcement every time someone joins or leaves the conference.

Set talker detection. If set, will send information about the current talkers to the management interface (required to see who is talking in Manage Conference screens).

Record conference. If set, then the conference will be recorded. Use this with caution as the recordings can be quite large.

Entering Conference Rooms

Callers can enter Conference Rooms from anywhere - Inbound Routes, IVR/Voice Menus, but typically they enter Conference Rooms by dialing a Feature Code associated with a “conference aware” Action Script.

As an example, in the default Thirdlane configuration, Feature Code 603 provides access to Conference Rooms. This can be changed if needed.

Best practices

Set a PIN on any room that carries sensitive discussion, and a separate Administrator’s PIN so the leader can mute participants and control the conference.
Use Wait for a leader (marked user) together with End conference when a leader (marked user) exits for scheduled meetings - participants hear music-on-hold until the host arrives, and the bridge closes when the host leaves so it is not left open.
Enable Announce when users join/leave for small, confidential meetings; leave it off for large all-hands calls where the announcements would be noisy.
Turn on Record conference only when you actually need a recording - recordings can grow large quickly.
Set talker detection is required if you want to see who is currently speaking on the Manage Conference screen.

Feature Codes - the dialable code (default 603) that sends callers into a room.
IVR/Voice Menus - offer a conference as a menu selection.
Music-on-Hold - the audio played while participants wait for a leader.