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You can schedule a Microsoft Lync Online meeting by using the Online Meeting Add-in for Microsoft® Lync™ 2010 in Microsoft® Outlook®. You can also use Lync Online to start an unscheduled meeting to discuss something that requires immediate attention.

What do you want to do?

Schedule an online meeting

To create an online meeting invitation, follow these steps:

  1. In the Microsoft® Outlook® Calendar, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Online Meeting(in Microsoft® Outlook® 2010) or Online Meeting (in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007). New Online Meeting button in the Outlook Calendar

  2. In the meeting request, in the To box, type the email addresses of the people you want to invite to the meeting, separated by semicolons.

  3. In the meeting request, in the Subject box, type a subject for the meeting.

  4. (Optional) In the body of the meeting request, above the Join Online Meeting link, type additional meeting details.

    Do not modify any of the existing text in the meeting request. Doing so may prevent people from joining the meeting.

  5. (Optional) In the meeting request, on the Meeting tab, in the Show group, click Scheduling Assistant. Use the Scheduling Assistant to ensure that everyone is available during the time you choose.

  6. In the meeting request, in the Online Meeting group, click Meeting Options, and then accept or change the default options as required.

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Set meeting access and presenter options

The default online meeting options are best for small meetings or sharing and collaboration sessions with people inside your organization. If you are scheduling an online meeting with people outside your organization or your meeting is unusually large, use the Online Meeting Options dialog box to help you determine the following:

  • Who should wait in the lobby before being admitted to the meeting? (This is available only for meetings using VoIP audio.)

  • Who should have presenter privileges during the meeting?

To set access and presenter options do the following:

  1. In the meeting request that you created, on the Meeting tab, in the Online Meeting group, click Meeting Options. Meeting Options button in the meeting invitation

  2. In the Meeting Options dialog box, select the Customize access and presenters for this meeting check box.

  3. Under Access and Presenter, choose the options appropriate to the size and type of meeting that you are scheduling. For guidance, see the screenshots and tables at the end of this procedure.

  4. Click Audio and Phone, to view your meeting audio conferencing information. If you do not see the Audio and Phone option, this means your meetings will use VoIP audio only and that PSTN (public switched telephone network) audio conferencing is not enabled for your organization. For more information, contact your IT administrator.

Access options control which participants must wait in the lobby before being admitted by a presenter.

Lync Meeting Access options

The following table describes each option in detail.

Access option

Who waits in the lobby

When to choose this option

Organizer only (locked)

Everyone

You don’t want people viewing your handouts or Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides before the meeting.

People I invite from my company

People who don’t have an account on your network, and people who weren’t invited

You’re discussing something sensitive or confidential.

People from my company

People who don’t have an account on your network

All the participants have an account on your organization’s network.

Everyone including people outside my company (there are no restrictions)

No one (default condition)

You’re inviting outside participants.

People dialing in by phone bypass the lobby

N/A

This check box is off and inoperable when the meeting is “locked” (option 1); off but selectable with options 2 and 3; on by default when there are no access restrictions (option 4, shown here).

Presenter options control which participants are automatically given presenter privileges when you schedule the meeting.

Set presenter options

The following table describes each of these options in detail.

Presenter option

Who is a presenter

When to choose this option

Organizer only

Only the person who schedules the meetings

For presentations where the participants don’t need to interact with the meeting content. Note that you can designate additional presenters during the meeting.

People from my company

Everyone you invite who has an account on your network

For group work sessions where the participants work at your organization and can share and modify meeting content.

Everyone including people outside my company (there are no restrictions)

Everyone you invite

For group work sessions with people who don’t have an account on your network.

People I choose

You and the participants you choose

For presentations with more than one presenter.

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Start an unscheduled meeting using Meet Now

 To start an unscheduled meeting by using the Meet Now command, follow these steps:

  1. In the Lync main window, click the Show Menu arrow Options arrow, and then click Meet Now. Start a Meet Now online meeting or conference call

  2. In the group conversation window, click the People Options menu Lync People Options button, and then do one of the following:

    • To invite people from your Contacts list, click Invite by Name or Phone Number, select one or more contacts and then click OK.

    • To invite people by sending an email message, click Invite by Email, copy the meeting information, and then fill out the meeting request.

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Join a scheduled online meeting

To join a scheduled meeting, follow these steps.

  1. In the Outlook Calendar, open the meeting you want to join.

  2. In the meeting request, click Join online meeting.

Communicator

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Join an unscheduled meeting

You may be invited to an unscheduled or Meet Now meeting or to a meeting that is already in progress:

  • In the notification that appears in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar, click Join.

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Connect to meeting audio

You can configure Lync to connect to the meeting audio the same way every time or to prompt you for a choice.

Choose an audio connection option the first time you use Lync Online

The first time you join a Lync meeting or conference call, the Join Meeting Audio dialog box appears.

Be aware that you might see different choices depending on how Lync is configured in your organization.

Join Meeting Audio dialog box

To connect to the meeting audio, follow these steps:

  1. In the Join Meeting Audio dialog box, select the option you want. For details, see the table at the end of this procedure.

  2. (Optional) Select Don’t show this again to use your audio connection choice for every meeting.

  3. Click OK to join the meeting.

Join Meeting Audio option

When to choose this option

Do not join audio

You’ll dial in to the meeting using the phone number supplied by your ACP.

Use Lync (integrated audio and video)

You’ll use the computer audio and video integration that is built into Lync.

Call me at:

You want the Microsoft® Lync™ Server 2010 communications software to call you. You can specify a new phone number in the text box or use one of the numbers displayed. These numbers are those that you entered in the Phones options in the Lync - Options dialog box.

Change your default audio choice

  1. In the Lync main window, click the Options button Lync Options button.

  2. In the Lync - Options dialog box, click Phones, and, under Joining conference calls, in the Join meeting audio from box, do one of the following:

    • To use integrated computer audio during meetings, click Lync.

    • To have your audio conferencing provider call you, choose a phone number from the list.

      Note:  This option is not available in the current release of Lync Online.

    • To use a phone to call into meetings, choose Do not join audio.

      Options dialog Phone tab--Joining conference calls

  3. (Optional) Under Joining conference calls, select the Prompt me before joining to confirm or select another audio source check box. Choose this option if your audio preferences change frequently.

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Invite people who don’t have Lync installed

People inside or outside your organization can join a Lync meeting from a computer that does not have Lync installed.

When the person you invite opens the meeting request and then clicks the Join online meeting link, they see one or more of the following choices, depending on how your organization—or the organization of the person you’re inviting—is configured:

Join option

Alternate meeting client

Join the meeting using your web browser

Microsoft® Lync™ Web App

Important:  Lync Web App requires the most current version of the Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in. If Silverlight is not already installed, you must have administrator privileges to install it.

Download and install Lync Attendee

Lync 2010 Attendee

Use Communicator

Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 R2 or Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007

For details, see Join from a computer without Lync Online installed, in the Lync Online Help at Office.com.

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