Recently in Centra Central Category
We all know that to use your microphone with a PC in a Centra session you must hold down the CTRL (Control) key while speaking. When you press the CTRL key, your microphone icon to the left of your name turns yellow.
This key-command on a Mac computer is different. To use your microphone while on a Mac computer you will need to press the "Option" key (the one that is two keys to the left of the space bar). Pressing this key will activate your microphone (and turn your microphone icon yellow) and allow you participate in the session.
It's a good idea to remind people of an event beforehand. Depending on your participants, you may want to remind them a couple of days before, the day before, and then even the morning of an event! And emailing also gives you the opportunity to attach some pre-event reading material, or an agenda of topics, or share a URL for participants to visit before the event.
If you're enrolled in the event as the leader, you can get to the list of attendees by going to My Schedule, and clicking on the View Enrollment link of the specific event. There you'll see a link with the words Email Enrollees, that will do just that when you click it. It will launch your email application and start a new message addressed to the email addresses of those enrolled in your Centra event. Just compose the message, attach a file, include a URL... and send the message.
Remember that you can use Centra for more than internal professional development and meetings. Not that it's not great for that- it is- but it can be used for so much more. Meetings with volunteers. Bringing in a guest speaker from afar to present, either to a room full of people or to rooms full of people at their own computers. Bringing you, as a speaker, to a remote location, to meet or to present, without traveling from your office.
With Centra you can save time, money, and do more with less. In more ways than you might have known.
Breakout rooms are so cool in Centra-you've gotta try 'em!
Just like you'd use a physical breakout room... to have two (or more) groups discuss and/or work on different things for a time, then come back together and share-or not. Whatever works for you. Luis Saldana has used 'em. When will you??
To learn more about lending centra and using breakout rooms download the meaty Leader Guide PDF at http://eit.tamu.edu/Centra/C7_Leader.pdf. The breakout room info starts on page 133.
Listen to more about guest attend in Centra
Centra doesn't have to be used for just internal audiences! You can present virtually, volunteers can meet virtually, you can teach 4Hers virtually... with centra. With non-employees, though, you don't need them to set up an account and register for an event. It's better for you to create the event then email them a URL (a long ugly one but at least it's clickable) for them to click to attend. Once the event has been created and someone (you?) has been enrolled and set as a leader, go get the URL to paste into your email message. Go to Manage Events, find the event you just created (you did put it in a topical folder, right?!) and click Modify. About 2/3 of the way down the page you'll see a Guest Attend URL. Told you it's long and ugly! You can drag thru it and right click copy (or CTRL C) then open a new message, enter some info about the event and the words "click this URL to attend" then right click paste (or CTRL V) the URL in.
Simple!!!
