Conferencing. Digium Asterisk Appliance 50 AA50, AA50

Chapter 3: Telephone System Configuration

Conferencing

Every company reaches the point of needing more people on a phone call than it can effectively include through three-way calling. Asterisk conference bridges allow you to include more people as well as project a professional image.

Figure 8: Conferencing

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Chapter 3: Telephone System Configuration

The configuration of the conference bridge and standard features is very straightforward. Select the New Entry option in the Extensions window and click New to design a conference bridge. The GUI auto-populates the extension with the next available extension in sequence, but you can always change it to any extension number you want.

After establishing the extension for the bridge, you need to specify the password settings for the conference. Assign the PIN Code used by participants to enter the conference as well as the Administrator PIN

Code used by the moderator of the conference to open the conference bridge.

Now that you have established the conference bridge extension and password codes, you can set your conference room options. The next three options are hospitality features which allow the caller to feel more welcome, as follows:

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Play hold music for first caller - Checking this option makes music play for the first caller entering a conference until another caller joins.

Some people don’t like sitting in a quiet room — even a virtual room

—alone, and this feature prevents anyone from being in that position.

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Enable caller menu - This feature allows callers to access the Conference Bridge Menu by pressing the asterisk (*) key.

Announce callers - All new callers to a conference are identified when they arrive when this feature is selected.

The remaining configuration features provide some great functionality and heightened control over your conferences. If you are bringing together sales teams or vendors on a conference, it is preferable to keep them from chatting amongst themselves before the host arrives. These features allow you to handle the following requirements:

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Chapter 3: Telephone System Configuration

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Quiet Mode - You may choose this feature for a conference bridge with room override because it allows all users on the bridge to have listen-only access to the conference. Establishing two access points, with one group of people using the main extension while the other remains in quiet mode allows a controlled environment in which to deliver information while the second group listens.

Wait for Marked User - This is a feature that keeps all participants in quiet mode until a special participant, using a unique extension, arrives. Only after the marked user arrives is the audio activated so that all of the participants can speak to each other.

Set Marked User - This option works in conjunction with the Wait for

Marked User feature. Checking Set Marked User makes the individual arriving from this extension the Marked User. If the CEO of the company, for example, doesn’t want anyone chatting in the conference bridge until he or she arrives, these options are set to keep everything quiet. The main conference extension of 6003 is configured with Wait for Marked User selected. Everyone in the conference arriving from extension 6003 remains silent until the CEO arrives.

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