Podium Tech - Join a Teams meeting from a TBL hall, the Auditorium, or Media Room

TBL halls, the Auditorium, and the Media Room may join a Teams meeting using the Poly/Polycom RealConnect service.  This allows the speakers, microphones, HDMI inputs, and camera in the room to be used natively in the Teams meeting.  Joining the meeting is accomplished by placing a call within the Video Conference tab of the podium touchscreen control.

Prerequisites

• A Teams meeting must be scheduled beforehand. Open the Teams meeting invite or calendar event, and look at the “Join Microsoft Teams Meeting” block at the bottom.  Note the VTC Conference ID.  You will be required to input this ID when connecting to the meeting.
  

• A laptop running the Teams client is NOT required to join the room to the meeting, and we do not recommend running the Teams meeting on a computer at the podium. The computer at the podium should only be used to share content (such as a PowerPoint), just as you normally would when presenting in the room.
  
• If there are any computers in the room that are participating in the Teams meeting, they must mute their speakers and microphone to avoid feedback and confusion.

Connecting to the meeting

1. At the room podium, turn on the A/V system and navigate to the Video Conference Under the Address Book button, press the entry entitled RealConnect and press Dial to begin the call.
   
       
   
   The center projection screen should show the call progress and indicate when it is connected to the Poly(com) RealConnect Service.

2. Once prompted, use the dial pad on the touch screen to enter the VTC Conference ID from the Teams event followed by the pound sign (#).
   
   

3. The room should connect to the Teams meeting, which will be shown on the center projection screen. If the connection is not made correctly, press the End button to end the call.  You may then begin the connection process again.

Participating in the meeting

1. Once connected to the meeting, proceed to the Local Content Left/Right Screens section under the Video Conference tab on the touchscreen. Then, use the input and screen controls to display your desired content or views within the room. (The screen below is from TBL – Auditorium and Media Room may vary.)
   
   

2. Any content shown on the center projection screen will be shown to the Teams meeting participants.
3. Room microphones may be turned on and off for use in the meeting.

Disconnecting from the meeting

1. To disconnect, press End on the Video Conference tab of the touchscreen, or simply turn the system Off

Troubleshooting

1. The room is muted: If remote participants in the meeting cannot hear in-room participants speaking, first check that the room microphones are not muted on the touchscreen.  If the issue persists, the Teams meeting may have become muted accidentally.  To fix this issue:
   1. On the room touchscreen, navigate to the Video Conference tab and press the Address Book.
   2. On the dial pad, press #6 (pound + six). The room should un-mute immediately (there is no confirmation of this action, but participants should be able to hear you).

For further assistance with RealConnect features, contact IT Support at 269-337-4409 option 2.