How Do I Enable the Join Before Host Option for Personal Conferencing In Webex?

How do I enable the Join Before Host option for Personal Conferencing?

How do I enable the join before host option for personal conferencing accounts in Site Administration?

How do I enable an attendee to join the Personal Conference before hosting in Site Admin?

The option to allow attendees to join before hosting is missing on my Webex site.

Notes:

Webex Personal Conferencing (PCN Meetings)

Personal Conferencing (PCN) in site administration

• The setting of ‘Join before Host’ should not be enabled for any PCN user unless you have fully understood the security implications of it as well as needing it.

  • Important – Due to the possibility of fraudulent telephony misuse that can occur when using Join Before Host with PCN, Cisco does not recommend this practice as a best practice. Here is a link that will give you more information about the project:

    WebEx Best Practices for Site Administrators and Hosts: Ensure that your meetings are secure by following these instructions

• A personal conference can be controlled and accessed by means of two 8-digit access codes, which are randomly assigned to the host and attendee of the meeting (a host access code and an attendee access code). This type of code is one that is static and is always accessible without needing to schedule a time in advance. An invitation is sent to the host of a PCN meeting if it has been scheduled in advance, and it includes both the host’s access code and the attendee’s access code, while a separate invitation is sent to the invitee if it has been scheduled in advance.

• Attendees can only join a meeting by dialing the Webex Access number and entering the host access code and Audio PIN, if the ‘Join Before Host’ option is disabled (recommended).

  • In Site Administration, attendees can enable the option to join before the host by default. Hosts scheduling PCN meetings with this setting disabled will not see this option.

• A meeting can be joined before the host is present if ‘Join before the host’ is enabled. A key result of enabling this setting may be the misuse of teleconference minutes resulting in unintended consequences.

• Only standard Webex sites are affected by this setting. Common Identity (CI) sites are exempt from this policy.

Personal Conferencing security for hosts

• Protect your audio PIN by creating a strong one.

• To prevent unauthorized access to your personal conferencing account, you must enter your Audio PIN. PCN meetings cannot be started without the Audio PIN if someone gains unauthorized access to the host access code. Protect your audio PIN and don’t share it.

Solution:
It is possible to speak with other participants in the audio conference before the host joins the call, using the Join Before Host (JBH) feature of the audio conference.

There is an option to join before the host on the Personal Conferencing account. However, if this setting is not enabled, attendees will be required to wait on hold while the host starts the teleconference. The host has yet to arrive, so please stand by the moment the message appears on the screen: ‘The host has not yet arrived, please stand by’. Personal Conferencing is not set up with a maximum amount of time an attendee may be held for while awaiting the start of the teleconference by the host.

There is no longer an option to control the Join Before Host option at the level of an individual host. In Site Administration, it is now possible to enable or disable the Join Before Host option on a global basis.

Site administrators only

For accounts with Personal Conferencing capabilities, the Join Before Host option can be enabled as follows:

• You will be taken to a page that allows you to manage your Webex site.

• You will find the option to configure your site under Configuration > Common Site Settings > Options.

• The Cisco Webex: Webex Meetings subsection of the Security Options section can be found by scrolling down.

• It is essential that the Attendees are allowed to join the audio portion of Personal Conferences before the host is able to do so:

• Once you have scrolled down the page, you will see a button that says Update at the bottom.

The next step after you enable this option on your site is to ensure that each host that is going to be able to use this feature is awarded the permission ‘Allow attendee to join audio of Personal Conference before host’.

A host account can be enabled to join before hosting by following the steps below:

• Please log in to the Webex Site Administration page by clicking here.

• In the User Management section, click on the Edit User button.

• The User name: or the Email: fields should be filled in with search criteria for the host account. Click the Search button to find the host account.

• The host account can be accessed by clicking on the account’s name link.

• The section entitled Privileges can be found by scrolling down.

• In the Webex Meetings: Make sure the Attendees may join the audio portion of the conference before the host box is checked in the Personal Conference subsection:

• To update the page, scroll to the bottom and click the Update button.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I enable Webex join before hosting?

Admins can enable Join Before Host by following these steps:

You can access the options by clicking Configuration > Common Site Settings > Options. The Meetings: section can be found under the Security Options section. (Meetings, Training and Events): Check Allow attendees and panelists to join before hosting.

How do I give host privileges to a Webex before a meeting?

Visit My Personal Room under Preferences on your Webex site. Cohosts can participate in my Personal Room meetings if they are checked in the Cohosts section. Enter the email address of each attendee you want to be a cohost for my Personal Room meetings by selecting one of the options that appear: Let me choose cohosts for my Personal Room meetings.

Can people join Webex meetings without the host?

Participants can join the meeting before the host is present if ‘Join before Host’ is enabled. In addition to teleconferencing minutes being misused, enabling this setting may cause unintended consequences. Only standard Webex sites are affected by this setting. In the case of Common Identity (CI) sites, it does not apply.

Can anyone join a Webex personal room?

Whenever others click on your contact card, they will be able to easily join your Personal Room. Using the Hybrid Calendar, you can schedule meetings in your Personal Room by including @webex in the Location field.

How do I change Webex host settings?

A meeting can be changed by assigning a new host and staying or leaving. Visit the participants list to change the host and remain in the meeting. Click Make host beside the name of the new host then click More options. Cohosting the meeting becomes the original host’s responsibility.

All images and contents credit goes to help.webex.com