[HOW-TO] How to use Cisco Webex for hosting an event

To use this app, you need to sign up by clicking ‘Sign up free’’. After you create your account, you will need to confirm it via your e-mail address, and then you will be able to create a password. If you already have an account, simply sign in.

After that, you will be redirected to the site (picture above). On the left side of the screen, you have the following options: Home (main), Meetings (information about the upcoming and completed meetings), Preferences (Time zone, Language, Region, Sign-in accounts, My Personal Room info, Audio and Video, Scheduling), Insights (joining for a meeting or searching for meeting/transcript), Support (Help and Contact Support), Downloads (for downloading Cisco Webex Meetings desktop app) and Feedback. 

You can buy a premium plan in the upper right corner of the screen, but the price is not specified on the site itself so you should contact sales to get the information.

Right next to the ‘Buy Premium Plan’ button you have the option to choose the language. Clicking the top button with your nickname will provide information about your profile, contacts, etc. 

Meeting

To create your meeting, you have two options on the main (Home) screen: Start a Meeting and Schedule.

The first option is used to instantly create a meeting. You just need to share the above link to your colleagues, attendees, and presenters. The second option is used to create a meeting with precise duration, date, and time. You can also add a meeting type, meeting topic, password, meeting template, e-mails of attendees, and meeting recurrence.

There is also an advanced option:

Finally, you need to click the schedule button.

You will start a meeting by clicking ‘Join from your browser’ (if you don't have an app installed):

The screen of the meeting is shown in the picture above. The mute button is displayed in the lower left corner. In addition to the mute and unmute option, you can choose the speaker, microphone, volume and change audio connection (computer, phone, etc.):

By clicking the next button, you can pick which camera you wish to use and the ‘settings’ option enables you to see yourself on the camera before you start the video:

The screen sharing option first asks you if you want your content to be optimised for text and images or for motion and video. You can also choose whether you want to share the entire screen or just one application:

We can also use 8 emojis that depict our emotions:

Next to the emojis, there is a button for switching audio and video systems, and for the meeting controls:

‘Switch audio’ has the same function as the ‘Mute’ option. ‘Raise hand’ is used if we want to say something without interrupting the speaker. ‘Participant privileges’ enables users to control and grant privileges to participants.

1. Chat and view:

2. Audio

Other features include:

• ‘Lock meeting’ - prevents others from joining the meeting (usually after the meeting/lecture has started);
• ‘Enable breakout session’ -  enables users to create breakout rooms;
• ‘Health checker’ - enables users to test the quality of the meeting and report problems.

Hosts can see the number of meeting participants on the right side of the screen. They can mute/unmute all of them or just some of them, grant more privileges to particular attendees, etc. The button next to ‘Unmute all’ enables users to mute others upon entry and enables attendees to unmute themselves. There is also a ‘checklist’ next to the search button where hosts can sort the participants by raised hands and names.

Chat is used for sending messages, and participants can choose whether to send them to everyone or to one person.