Overview  

This document assumes you are now familiar with Creating, Preparing and running a Meeting.  One of the initial steps you will take when starting a meeting is to have all members Sign Into their Member App. It is the Member App that streamlines and establishes coordinated participation of all members in the meeting.  It also allows Members to be fully active in a meeting, even if they are participating remotely outside the meeting room for any reason.  Members may run the Member App on a Windows PC/Laptop, an Android or Apple Tablet. Any size device works (phone or tablet), but we often recommend a 7”’ to 10” tablet for ease of viewing.      

We’ll assume here that you’ve picked a meeting from the Home / Select Group / Meeting screen within the Meeting Manager. If you have any questions about preparing, or loading/starting meetings, please see the following links: 

• Meeting Preparation 
• Meeting Prep – Create New Meetings 
• Meeting Prep – Load & Start a Meeting 
• Conduct Meeting – Run a Basic Meeting  

Details / Sequence of Events 

Once you’ve selected your meeting in Meeting Manager, you’ll be presented with the following screen.  Here you will see Step 1: Configuration Setup, Step 2: Load Agenda and Step 3: Load Meeting options on the left as shown below. Always quickly review that you have indeed selected the correct Configuration & Agenda. You may also edit your agenda here, for any last-minute changes. 

Load Meeting 

Select the green Load Meeting button (shown above). 

Upon selecting Load Meeting, you will see the Start Meeting screen appear (below). You DON’T need to start the meeting until the Chair and all Members are ready to start. However, with this screen present, you can request Members to Sign In to the Member App, to be certain they are all connecting to the meeting.  

Members Start the Member App 

Each voting member (as well as those you have designated as RTS-only, such as staff members who participate in discussion) will have a device (PC or Tablet) with the Member App loaded. This should have been set up during OpenMeeting Training and in coordination with your IT support team.   

Request all Members to open the Member App on their devices. 

The following Sign In screen will appear:   

Before having the Members Sign In, you might remind them to confirm that his/her Username is being displayed in the upper left corner of the screen above.

Now ask Members to select Sign In.

If all settings are properly pre-set, each Member will see the following screen appear and see their full name and the blue note, stating “Please wait until Roll is called”. 

Your organization logo and meeting details will also display.    

If the above screen has appeared on all Member Apps, you are ready for the meeting to begin. 

NOTE that the above will happen whether the Member is located in the meeting room or remotely (home, office, etc.).   

Troubleshooting – Signing Into the Member App 

If there is a problem with the Member App signing into the Meeting, you will see a System Alert message, similar to that shown below. 

In most cases, this is due to a Username or Password not being correct, but may also be other settings as well. Normally these can be checked and fixed quickly by going to the Settings Screen in the Member App. Select the “gear” icon in the lower left of the Member app Sign In screen (shown above via the red arrow).

The following screen will appear. Here, you can check that all the proper settings are established. In some cases, you may need direction from your IT or A/V specialist, if they are available. 

Member App Login Settings 

Check each of these settings, IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER: 

• Username: Confirm the Username provided to the Member is correctly entered. This field is case sensitive so if the assigned Username uses upper & lowercase letters, they must be used here. 

• Password: Confirm that the Password provided to the Member is correctly entered. This field is case sensitive, as well. 

• NOTE:  You can look-up Usernames & Passwords in the Meeting Manager for the Chair and any Members.  See the instructions further below. 

• NOTE that certain special characters are not usable in the Username and Password field. To understand the use of special characters, please see the following document link: 

• Use of Special Characters in Usernames and Passwords

• Local & Remote IP:  Both of these are technical settings (addresses) that are established by your IT staff during training and before your first meeting.  Generally, these do not change. Therefore, don’t change the values inserted here without first checking with your IT support team.  Using either a Local IP address or a Remote IP address, will also be established by your IT support team. Consult them if you feel the IP addresses are incorrect.   

SAVE – Always select Save when any changes are made in settings.  

CLOSE & RESTART the Member App – IF you have made changes and pressed OK, but a Members is still not connecting to the meeting, have the member Close and then Re-Open the Member App. In some cases, this will allow the system to recognize the changes you’ve made and allow entry to the Meeting, as long as the changed settings have been keyed correctly.        

Lookup Usernames & Passwords in Meeting Manager

The Clerk can confirm any Member’s Usernames and Passwords from within the Meeting Manager, if needed.   

In the Meeting Manager  

Select the 3-Bar Menu at the upper LEFT: 

Menu options will display on the left side of the screen as shown below. 

Select Meeting Settings and the meeting roster of members will display.

This will show you each members proper Login ID/Username and Password.  

Start the Meeting  

Assuming all members are signed into the Member App, and the Chair wishes to start the meeting, you can;

Select Start Meeting as follows:  

If you need a refresher on the basics of conducting a meeting after selecting Start Meeting, or you need to understand how the Member App operates during a meeting, please see the following document links: 

• Conduct Meeting – Run a Basic Meeting  
• Member App – Operation 

Notes / Special Situations  

If you are having issues that are not successfully addressed above, or you are not successful signing into Meeting Manager, please call OpenMeeting Customer Support at 320.249.0555.   

NOTE:  As stated above, if you are having issues that just don’t seem to allow a Member or multiple Members, sign into the Member App, after checking that the Username and Password being used is correct, first request help from your IT support team with regard to the LOCAL and REMOTE IP addresses.  They will understand what these should be.  In most cases, these will be established with your IT team during initial training & set-up, and once set will generally never change.  Signing on to the Member App should be automatic, without issue for every meeting.   

• NOTE that certain special characters are not usable in the Username and Password field. To understand the use of special characters, please see the following document link: 

• Use of Special Characters in Usernames and Passwords

We recommend, that you start a practice meeting an hour or so prior to your live meeting and check that the Public Display, Discussion Manager and the Member App are all working / connecting normally to the Meeting.  This way, you will not have to do troubleshooting during the meeting.