Webex instructions

Monthly Telecons

The purpose of the monthly telecon is for members of our cluster to meet with one another, share ideas, and often to learn from a speaker or presenter. The monthly telecons are held on the WebEx platform (see here CISCO WEBEX for details). The envirosensing cluster holds our telecons on the fourth tuesday of every month, at 1 PM PST, which is 4 PM EST.

Walkthrough

• About a week before the conference, the fellow or a leader emails the list-serv with a copy of the information found here ESIPfed main page under Agenda. For example,

Data Stewardship
When
Fri, February 6, 3pm – 4pm
Description

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To Join the online portion of the Personal Conference meeting
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1. Go to https://esipfed.webex.com
2. Click the “Meeting Center” tab
3. Select the YOUR MEETING NAME
If a password is required, enter the Meeting Password: 23138372 

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To start the audio portion of the Personal Conference meeting w/ phone
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Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-877-668-4493
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): +1-408-600-3600
Call-in toll number (US/Canada)*: +1-571-918-6008
Global call-in numbers: https://esipfed.webex.com/esipfed/globalcallin.php?serviceType=MC&ED=9910728&tollFree=1
Toll-free dialing restrictions: http://www.webex.com/pdf/tollfree_restrictions.pdf
 
Attendee access code: 231 383 72

• the leader or fellow also emails the speaker to remind him or her of the meeting, particularly if he or she is not in the cluster or on the list serv.
• a day before the telecon, the leader or fellow emails the group again with the same above information. Additionally, they will pass along a specific meeting link, found at WebEx page for ESIP in the scroll down calendar. Each meeting has it's own special URL extension, such as ~/mw0401lsp11/, followed by a post request to get the meeting. These special extensions are contained in the specific meeting link so that users can log in directly. However, they will still need to enter the password from the email or the Agenda section of the ESIPfed main page .
• in the hour before the telecon, the leader or fellow "starts" the meeting on WebEx. The leader or fellow will appear as "ESIP host" in the telecon, with the screen "ownership"
• users will log into the meeting. It is usually standard to test one's audio (this will be a prompt when logging in). It is considered good practice to use the telephone method to connect if you do not have a headset, as this reduces feedback. Otherwise, connecting with a headset is easiest. An example of a headset is Example of a headset. After testing audio, greet the host and affirm that your microphone is working. It is then okay to talk before the meeting begins if you choose, but during the meeting if there is a single presenter, it is considered good practice to turn off the microphone so that local noises are not disruptive to others.
• the meeting will begin by some announcement from the host. Meetings for our group (and perhaps others) usually go like this:

• about 5 minutes- introduction, filling in, news points
• about 10 minutes - around the "table" greetings, introductions, introduction of speaker
• about 5 minutes - basic conferring of screen power to the speaker ("can everyone see my screen? okay. it appears to be small." etc.). ESIP host will pass the screen power to speaker.
• about 30 minutes - speaker gives presentation or a group discussion.
• about 10-15 minutes - questions to speaker or amongst group
• about 10 minutes - discussion for next meeting, reminders, etc., goodbyes

• after the meeting, the host will do as best as possible to quickly post an audio recording and/or a basic set of notes from the meeting to the wiki page under EnviroSensing_Monthly_telecons. Members can edit these notes and external parties can view them and changes.

Who we are

In the envirosensing cluster , we are a group of scientists, data professionals, and interested citizens from a variety of backgrounds. Most of us have some level of advanced degree in a hard science or in computer systems (although not all of us). Our day jobs are spread across academia, industry, and government positions. Many of us work with remote natural systems, such as forests, streams, oceans, snowfields, or deserts. Many of us are caretakers to very long-term data sets containing a variety of inconsistent sources. We have a variety of backgrounds with respect to programs and systems used, but we are all generally very comfortable with computers and with sensor data. We are concerned highly with quality control both on acquisition and on dissemination of the data. We are all open to learning new ideas and systems, but also concerned with maintaining the integrity of our existing systems. We recognize the importance of collaboration, and strive to bolster that amongst our groups and within our own institutions.

You, the speaker!

If you are the speaker, and wonder how a presentation might go, we have had much luck with presentations that:

• provide an overview of the topic or system being discussed
• develop a baseline knowledge of such topic or system-- what components does it use, how was it developed, where is it in use, what are its key features?
• delves into these topics one by one with a little more depth, in a systematic way
• presents demonstrations or real - life examples of this topic or system
• shows what features are "neat" or "relevant" to the speaker in particular-- you will speak better about a topic you are passionate on
• discusses areas that need further work, and the status and stability of the system (sometimes price is also relevant here)
• discusses clients and potential future clients
• incorporates audience feedback to highlight certain topics or dive into some topics outside of a standard "slide-by-slide" presentation.

In short, this is not an extremely formal, silent presentation such as one might observe at a conference in real life. Rather it is using slides or demonstrations to aid a discussion. If a topic is new to the group, we may have to "just listen" for a while, but ultimately feedback and group participation is usually a key component of the presentation. So, this is not anything to think will "go" one way or another, but rather a chance to share and talk.

ALSO, we say THANKS in advance. Many speakers are helping us without even being part of our group initially. We are very grateful. We can only learn of new things when we are exposed to them. THANK YOU!

Want to get involved?

• E-mail List: ESIP EnviroSensing Cluster
• E-mail Archives: ESIP EnviroSensing Archive
• Telecons: Fourth Tuesday of the month at 4:00pm ET
• Contact: Corinna Gries, Don Henshaw, Renee F. Brown, Fox Peterson
• Wiki editing: Wiki Markup Language

Feel free to check out the links above to learn a little bit more about us, or contact us for more information.