Videoconferencing Service

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Service Description

Video conferencing is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method of providing users with the ability to communicate and collaborate interactively from across many different geographical locations.

The range of purposes includes meetings, research, teaching, staff development and recruitment panels.

At Ulster University, we provide hardware-based video conferencing rooms, of varying sizes, that are enabled for SIP connection to external guests, but also work in conjunction with Teams and the Teams web app.

This affords Ulster staff, students, and external guests the flexibility to choose the most suitable connection method for each scheduled video conferencing meeting.

Ulster University has several video conferencing room types to cater for different meeting types.

1. Immersive Telepresence Suites

These suites allow for a true immersive experience across the campuses, where connected participants are displayed on screen in true life size format to simulate live discussion across a table. Users can also share content with internal and external participants by connecting their device to one of the HDMI cables provided in the room.

The Immersive Telepresence rooms can be found on the following campuses:

The Immersive Telepresence rooms can be found on the following campuses:
Campus	Location	Occupancy
Belfast	BA-02-012	21
Coleraine	H113a	21
Derry/Londonderry	MD008a	21

2. Standard videoconferencing Suites

These spaces have a standard V-shape or straight table layout, with boundary microphones, speakers, and large format display screens. They give users the ability to video conference across the 3 campuses or with external partners and share content by connecting their device to the HDMI cable provided.

Standard videoconferencing Suites rooms can be found on the following campuses:
Campus	Location	Occupancy
Belfast	BD-03-019	12
Belfast	BD-03-036	6
Coleraine	H215	20
Coleraine	J611	20
Derry/Londonderry	MD112	20
Derry/Londonderry	MC114	12

Business Process

Video conferencing meetings are scheduled by the user/organiser, from within their Outlook Calendar.

As the video conferencing rooms are heavily used, University staff are encouraged to schedule their video conferences as far ahead as possible to avoid disappointment.

We would also advise a minimum of 5 days' notice where external guests are being invited, to allow them time to liaise with their technical staff and test their connection method. This will increase the chance of having a high quality, successful video conference meeting.

Supporting Materials

Additional support, such as Frequently Asked Questions, may be found within the Knowledge Articles accessed through the Self-Service Portal or available on our Service Catalogue FAQ pages.

How to obtain help

Users will schedule their conferences through their Outlook calendar, so may make their own amendments and cancellations, but may also avail of the following support during normal working hours*:

Self-service portal: may be used to pre-book technical support for a conference presentation that you are scheduling. Please allow a minimum of 24 hours' notice.
Email: servicedesk@ulster.ac.uk with booking/scheduling queries or general Video Conference enquiries.
Telephone: 028 9536 7776 if you require urgent help during a conference or need to report a fault. Please have at hand the Conference ID, exact symptoms and locations involved.

* Monday - Thursday: 9:00-17:00 and Friday: 9:00-16:30. Faults reported to 028 9536 7776 outside of these times will be logged by our Out of Hours IT Service Desk.

How to contact the Service Desk

You can also Live Chat with a Service Desk team member. When a team member is available you will see a button on the bottom right of this screen. If the button is not visible, you can still contact us via the methods above.