Rogers' (formerly Shaw) audio conferencing service allows you to run conferences at a low per minute per caller rate, and includes an Internet management component.
About Rogers Business Audio Conference Service
The Online Conference Centre allows the moderator to keep track of, manage, and monitor who is in the conference call. Once set up, the audio conference is ready for you to use whenever, and as often as you need.
Contact Business Sales or Technical Support to set up a new conferencing service.
- Billing is $0.06 per minute, per participant.
- To allow for multiple simultaneous conferences, or manage billing by conference type or moderator, you can request multiple conference accounts.
- Once created, a confirmation email will provide you with your moderator code and default participant code. Don't forward this email or give out your moderator code to participants, as it should be kept private for only moderators to use.
How do I start a Rogers Business audio conference?
To start an audio conference, follow these steps:
- Call in to join the conference.
- Toll free access: 1-888-433-2192
- International access: 1-778-945-1044
- Enter your conference code.
- Participants: Enter the code given to you by your conference's moderator.
- Moderator: Enter your unique moderator code that you don't share with anyone else.
- Maximum number of participants: 40 (including the moderator)
- Your conference and billing begins when the moderator and at least one participant has called in (participants can call in ahead of the moderator, but they'll only hear music until the moderator joins).
- During a conference, use Phone key commands.
- Moderators can also see the Additional online functionality section for information on recording a conference, screening new participants, and more options to help manage conferences.
Hang up to drop off the conference call.
Conference Notes
Conference greetings and other prompts are not customizable.
Phone Key Commands Use these commands during conference calls:
Moderator/Participant
| General Commands | Key |
|---|---|
| Mute self (toggle on/off) | *1 |
| Decrease speaking volume | *2 |
| Increase speaking volume | *3 |
| Raise hand (toggle on/off) | *4 |
| Put self on hold (toggle on/off) | *6 |
Moderator
| Moderator Command | Key |
|---|---|
| Enter moderator menu | *0 |
| Mute participants on join (toggle on/off) | *01 |
| Mute all non-moderators | *02 |
| Unmute all non-moderators | *03 |
| Lock conference (toggle on/off) | *04 |
| Place all non-moderators on-hold | *05 |
| Take all non-moderators off-hold | *06 |
| Keep conference recording (toggle on/off) | *07 |
| End the conference | 0 |
How do I manage the participants?
To help manage access or recognize participants better, you can set up new participant codes online. A few key points:
- The original participant code cannot be deleted. To better control access and security, only provide new codes you've created yourself.
- Multiple people can use the same participant code.
- Use different codes for each person, or for each new conference. This can be helpful to manage temporary participants to a project or employee turnover, and generally controlling access.
- Create and delete codes as needed at any time.
How to manage participant codes
- Log in to conferencing.shawbusiness.ca
- Select the Manage Codes tab.
- Current Participant Codes: Displays any custom codes already created, and allows deletion of unneeded codes.
- Add Participant Code: Allows creation of new participant codes.
- Code alias: Enter the name to associate with the code (the actual code number will be randomly generated and can't be chosen).
- Expiry date: Optional selection to use for temporary codes. Click in the field and a calendar will pop up (you can delete a participant code at any time, even if the expiry date hasn't passed).
FAQs
Does anything need to be setup ahead of time?
No, short of organizing a time for your participants to call in, there's no need to arrange times to use the service. It's ready for you to use whenever, and as often as you need.
Do moderator and participant codes expire?
- No, simply continue to use the same codes each time. This is why it's important to not divulge the moderator code and why the service use and billing only starts with the moderator calling in. You can also setup alias codes to give out instead of giving out original participant codes.
Additional options and online functionality
While conferences can be made without ever accessing the online tool, moderators can find many additional functions only within conferencing.shawbusiness.ca. These functions include:
Active conference: Manages your currently active conference call, including the following:
- View and manage all connected participants.
- Removing a user will cause the user to hear "You have been kicked from this conference", but is otherwise identical to the user hanging up.
- Record conference (must be selected during active conference to keep audio recording).
- Control conference by muting participants.
- Control access by enabling green room.
- View raised hands.
Past conferences: View details of previous conference calls. You can even download and listen to recordings of past conference calls (available only if recording option was selected online during that conference).
Manage codes: Control participant access with customized participant codes.
Help: Additional helpful details are provided so you can get the most out of your conferences.