University of South Alabama
Innovation in Learning Center
USAILC.ORG
GETTING STARTED WITH WEBEX
Updated 04/01/2015
What is WebEx?
WebEx is a dynamic web-based conferencing tool that allows users to engage in a myriad of
activities with few software/technological requirements. An internet connection is the primary
need; only the host of the meeting needs to have a WebEx account.
WebEx facilitates developing connections with students and colleagues who are not available to
attend face-to-face meetings. Participants may join around the globe via use of a computer or
mobile device.
Access to WebEx
1. USA faculty have free access to the university’s WebEx account. To request an account,
please navigate to https://southalabama.webex.com/ and click Log In at the top right of the
screen. On the login screen that appears, click Sign Up under the “I do not have an account”
heading to request a login using your faculty email address. You should receive an email
within approximately one business day with your login credentials.
2. Once you have your login credentials, navigate to https://southalabama.webex.com/, click on
Log In at the top right of the screen, and use your username and password to log in under
the “Log in to your account” heading as shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. The WebEx Log In Screen
3. Students or other meeting attendees do not need WebEx account credentials in order to
participate in meetings. They will join meetings by navigating to a meeting URL furnished to
them by you as the meeting host.
4. At the present time, USA’s WebEx subscription does not support telephone access. Audio is
available only through laptops, desktops, or mobile devices, and headphones with
microphones are suggested.
Learning to Use WebEx
1. A variety of instructional aids are available online for learning to use WebEx, including onscreen help, video tutorials, job aids, user guides, and self-paced online courses. In each
Center, you may access the instructional aids by clicking New User Reference, User Guides,
and/or Training.
Figure 2. Location of Online WebEx Instructional Aids
2. The WebEx interface provides access to four Centers: Meeting Center, Event Center,
Support Center, and Training Center. Faculty members are granted access to all but the
Support Center which is reserved for use by technology support personnel only.
3. Each of the Centers have similar interfaces but significantly different functions and
applications. A comparison of the features of the Centers appears at the end of this
guide.
4. Because the Meeting Center is the most often used interface for interactive meetings
and instructional sessions, this introductory guide is based on the Meeting Center tool.
Scheduling and Hosting WebEx Meetings
1. On the WebEx Meeting Center page, you may schedule an “instant” meeting by clicking
on Meet Now under the Host a Meeting Heading. By providing the URL or Meeting
Number generated by clicking Meet Now, attendees can instantly join your meeting.
2. Basic instructions for scheduling and hosting a meeting are provided in Figure 3. A
“Getting Started” guide can be found under New User Reference on the WebEx page.
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GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx
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Schedule and start a meeting.
Log in to your WebEx site.
Under Host a Meeting, click Schedule a Meeting.
If you see the Advanced Scheduler page, click Quick Scheduler.
Select a Meeting Type, enter a Meeting Topic, then enter and confirm the
meeting password.
Specify the Date, Time and Duration. (Setting duration is for planning only
— the meeting will continue until you end it.)
Enter the email addresses of people you want to invite.
Click the green Start button to begin the meeting now or click Schedule
Meeting if you changed the time or date.
To start a meeting you scheduled, click My Meetings, then locate the
meeting and click Start.
Share content in your meeting.
1. Click the button at the bottom of the sharing panel on the Quick Start tab.
2. Select what you want to share with everyone in your meeting, such as a
whiteboard or file.
3. Use Annotation Tools if you want to highlight or mark on shared content.
You can also enable the tools for others. From the Participant menu, select
Assign Privileges and check the box next to Annotate.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Share your video feed.
From the Meeting menu, select Options to check that video is enabled.
Click the video button next to your name in the Participants panel. (If you
have an external camera in addition to a built-in one, click the gear icon to
select one.)
Double-click the speaker's video to display it in full screen.
To stop sharing your video feed, click the video button again.
Figure 3. Instructions for Scheduling and Starting a Meeting
Best Practices for WebEx Meetings
1. As Meeting Host, you will need the email addresses of all meeting participants in order
invite them to the event. You should inform participants that they will need to attend
the conference via a reliable internet connection in a quiet environment with a computer
equipped with audio for both listening and speaking (i.e., headphones with microphone,
earbuds with microphone, or laptop). If you plan to include video in the meeting,
participants will need to be informed that they will need to also have a webcam available.
2. Ideally, you might suggest that attendees attend a test meeting in order to verify that
their hardware and software are working properly with the WebEx interface. Instructions
to give to attendees for joining a test meeting are shown in Figure 4 below.
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GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx
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To join a test meeting:
Click on the following link to access a test
meeting: https://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html.
Enter your Name and Email Address, then click Join.
Follow the instructions that appear on your screen to download
WebEx.
Your test meeting will load.
This is followed by a dialog box stating 'The host has not yet joined
the meeting'.
Click OK to close the dialog box.
At this point, you have joined successfully, and the WebEx
Meeting Center client for the test meeting is successfully installed.
6. Click on the File menu, and choose Leave Meeting.
If you are unable to join or having difficulty running the test,
please contact WebEx Support at 866.229.3239 Option 1 or
visit support.webex.com for helpful support information.
Figure 4. Instructions for Joining a Test Session
3. Additionally, you may want to schedule the first meeting of a group as a short “Practice
Meeting” in order to be sure that everyone has a chance to solve connectivity issues
before you conduct your first content-rich WebEx meeting with a new group.
4. You, as Meeting Host, will need to have all materials you intend to share during the
Meeting prepared and available on your desktop.
5. If you intend to save documents (such as whiteboard annotations) while the meeting is in
session, you may want to create a destination folder for the meeting on your desktop
prior to beginning the meeting.
6. If you would like to record the meeting, open the Meeting menu in the upper left and
select “Start Recording.” The session will be stored as a link on the WebEx site. To
access your recorded session, while logged in to WebEx, navigate to My
WebEx>MyFiles>My Recordings. You can share the link with attendees and/or with
others who did not attend the session. If you need to convert the session to an .mp4 file
format, please contact the ILC at 251-461-1888 for assistance with the file conversion
protocol.
WebEx Product Comparison Chart
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GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx
Product Comparison
Cisco WebEx Meeting
Center
Description
Usage Scenarios
Present
information,
share
applications, and
collaborate on
projects.
Streamline the
meeting process
with a centralized
space for
managing
activities and
information.




Recommended
number of
attendees
Collaborative
sessions
Internal and
external
meetings
Product and
project
coordination,
demos
Sales
presentations
Cisco WebEx
Training Center
Cisco WebEx Event
Center
Cisco WebEx Support
Center
Deliver highly
interactive and
effective online
training and elearning.
Stage large-scale
online events.
Deliver efficient,
personalized
customer service
and IT support.

Employee,
partner, and
customer
training

Webinars

Marketing
events and
conferences

Product
rollouts

Product
launches

Certification
and IT
training

Employee
communications

Distance
learning

Remote
employee and
customer IT
support

Personalized
customer
service
through the
Internet
Up to 500
Up to 1,000
Up to 1,000;
additional capacity
available
Up to eight
concurrent sessions
with five
participants in each
Cisco WebEx Meeting
Center
Cisco WebEx
Training Center
Cisco WebEx Event
Center
Cisco WebEx Support
Center
Real-time desktop,
application,
document, and web
browser sharing
Yes
Yes
Yes
Desktop and
application sharing
only
Whiteboards and
annotation tools
Yes
Yes
Yes
Annotation tools
only
Information Sharing
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GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx
Video streaming
only
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Text chat and
Q&A (managed
and moderated)
Text Chat
Yes
Yes
Text Chat
File transfer
Yes
Yes
Available on request
Yes
Audio and Video
Cisco WebEx Meeting
Center
Cisco WebEx
Training Center
Cisco WebEx Event
Center
Cisco WebEx Support
Center
Audio
Phone, VoIP,
WebEx Cloud
Connected Audio
Phone, VoIP,
WebEx Cloud
Connected Audio
Phone, VoIP,
audio broadcast,
WebEx Cloud
Connected Audio
Phone, VoIP,
WebEx Cloud
Connected Audio
Video
HD video;
multipoint; fullscreen view;
expanded fullscreen view
HD video;
multipoint; fullscreen view;
expanded fullscreen view
High-quality video;
multipoint; fullscreen video
High-quality video;
single-point only
Specialized Features
Cisco WebEx Meeting
Center
Cisco WebEx
Training Center
Cisco WebEx Event
Center
Cisco WebEx Support
Center
Polling
Instant only
Yes
Yes
No
Program and
campaign
management and
post-event surveys
No
No
Yes
No
Lead source
tracking and
enrollment scoring
No
No
Yes
No
Registration
management
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Testing, instant
grading, and
instructor scoring
No
Yes
No
No
Breakout sessions
and hands-on labs
No
Yes
No
No
Permissions-based
remote control
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Reports
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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GETTING STARTED WITH WebEx