Collaboration

Skype for Business has many options for collaboration during conversations and scheduled meetings. You can show your entire desktop or just selected programs. In addition, you can give over control to others, which will enable them to control what’s being shared oF your computer. You can conduct polls, share interactive whiteboards, and hold Q & A sessions.

Keep in mind that you need to be a presenter to share presentable content. By default, all meeting invitees and conversation participants will be designated as presenters. If the sharing option is grayed out, ask one of the presenters to give you presenter access.

Note: Meeting attendees who join using the mobile app will not be able to see collaborative content.

You will find all of the presentation options by clicking on the present icon.

• Present Desktop when you have to switch between programs, or work on documents from different programs. If you are using multiple monitors, you can choose to share one or both monitors.
• Present Programs when you want to present specific programs or documents, and you don’t want people to see anything else on your computer.
• Present PowerPoint files when you to give a more formal presentation using PowerPoint slides. Presenters will be able to cycle through the slides independently and share annotations.
• Click More... to
  • Present a whiteboard when you want to collaborate on something visual or brainstorm. You can also copy and paste meeting notes into a whiteboard and participants will be able to add to them. When you’re done, you can save the whiteboard as a PNG.
  • Create and conduct a poll to gather quantifiable feedback from all online meeting participants. Polls are anonymous, and you can choose to hide results from attendees.
  • Add Q & A (question and answer) to provide a structured environment for answering questions during the meeting. This can be especially helpful in large meetings with multiple presenters. Attendees can ask questions, which appear for presenters to answer.

Presenting content

NOTE: While you are sharing, your Skype for Business status changes to Presenting, and you won’t receive instant messages or calls.¹⁵

1. In a meeting or conversation, select the present icon  at the bottom of the window.
2. Choose the option that you'd like or select More... to see more options. 
3. You should now see the presenter’s toolbar at the top of the window if you are sharing your desktop or program.
4. On the sharing toolbar, at the top of the screen, use any of these options:
   • Click Give Control to share control of your desktop or programs with the participants. For details, see Give and take control of a sharing session.
   • Select the blue pushpin to hide the toolbar and have more space. To un-hide the toolbar, move the mouse to the top of the screen. When the sharing toolbar appears, use any of the controls or click the pin again to keep the toolbar visible.
5. Choose Stop Presenting in the presenter’s toolbar to stop sharing.

If you want a meeting attendee to share their screen, give them  presenter access, so they can use the controls. If they don’t use Skype for Business, they can still log in and use the web interface to present.

Share primary, secondary or all monitors:

If you have more than one monitor, you can select the present icon and choose Present desktop... You will see a preview of your monitors, and you can choose which one or both to share. When you share All Monitors, the sharing toolbar opens on your primary monitor.
 

Share a program

How to share a program:

1. Launch the program you’d like to share.
2. Select the present icon and select Present program...
3. Skype for Business will display all of the programs you currently have open. Select the program you’d like to share.
4. You will now be presenting the program. The window with the program will appear to have a yellow outline, and you’ll see the presenter’s toolbar at the top. You can use the options on the presenter’s toolbar to give control to others and end the presentation.

Give and take control of a sharing session

If you want another meeting participant to change a document, help you present, or demonstrate something, you can grant control to that person. You’ll both be in control of the sharing and you can take back control at any time.

1. On the sharing toolbar, click Give Control.
2. Select the name of the person you want to give control to.

Skype for Business sends a notification to that person to let them know you’re sharing control.

1. To take back control, click Give Control on the sharing toolbar again, and then click Take Back Control.

TIP: You can enable people to automatically take control of your sharing session at any time, by clicking Give Control Automatically on the sharing toolbar. We recommend that you select this option only in small and casual meetings. To take back automatic permission, click Give Control on the sharing toolbar, and clear Give Control Automatically.

Share a PowerPoint

Giving a PowerPoint presentation is an effective way to get your ideas across. It lets you present your ideas visually and organize them in highlights to make them more memorable.

Use the meeting controls such as annotation tools, presenter notes, and switching presenters, to help you during your presentation. You can even make the slides available for downloading to all attendees to review after the meeting.

To upload your PowerPoint presentation:

It’s a good idea to upload your presentation in advance and practice with the presentation tools so you’re comfortable using them in the meeting.

1. Select the present icon and choose Present PowerPoint.
2. Find your presentation, and double-click it to upload in the meeting.
3. To move the slides, use the arrows at the bottom of the meeting, or the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also use the Thumbnails.
4. Click Notes to see your presenter notes (visible only to you).
5. If a slide contains a video, pause on the slide to unhide the video controls, such as Play, Pause or Stop. The audio plays for participants who used computer audio when joining.
6. Any animations in the slides play just like they do outside the Skype for Business Meeting.
7. Press F5 on your keyboard to go to full-screen view, and Esc to go back to normal view.
8. Click the Annotations button on the right side of the slide to unhide the tools and draw, stamp, highlight, and so on. See later in this article for more information.

To view slides privately:

If someone else has uploaded and started sharing a PowerPoint presentation, you can move ahead or back to view the slides privately, or take control of the presentation. Please note that you must be designated as a presenter to do this.

1. Tap or click the slide, then use the arrows at the bottom of the meeting to move through the slides.

This won’t interrupt the meeting, and you’ll be able to return to the slide that the presenter is currently showing at any time. Just select Return to Presenter’s View.

Create a whiteboard

A Whiteboard is a blank page that you can use to work together with other meeting participants by being able to type notes, draw, or import images. When your meeting is over, you can save the Whiteboard with the data from the participants’ collaboration.

For more on interactive whiteboards, see Microsoft’s website.

Create and conduct a poll

Conducting a poll is a great way to get measurable feedback on a question. Polls are anonymous, and you can choose whether to hide or show results to attendees. You can export the results as a PNG.

1. Select the present icon.
2. Choose more and select Poll.
3. Give your poll a name.
4. Type a question to ask with the poll.
5. Provide choices.
6. Select Create to distribute to everyone in the session.

TIP: You can join your meeting and create a poll before your meeting starts.

Enable Q&A

Enabling Q&A (question and answer) provides a structured way for collaboration during the meeting. Any presenter can initiate the Q&A session. Attendees and presenters can ask questions, but only presenters can answer.

Note: When you initiate a Q&A session, meeting instant messaging will be turned off until the Q&A is over.

1. Hover over the monitor icon and choose Q&A. If there are no other content presented, the content stage opens and displays the Q&A manager for all participants. If other content is active, the Q&A tab displays as a new tab next to the Presentation tab.
2. When a question is submitted, any of the presenters can click Answer and type a reply. Then press Enter on the keyboard to post the answer.
3. If you’re presenting content when a question is submitted, you’ll see a notification about the new question. You can click the Q&A tab at any time to answer the question, and then go back to Presentation tab to continue your presentation.
4. If you start typing an answer and change your mind, click Cancel to answer later, or for another presenter to pick up the question.
5. Click the Unanswered tab to filter for the questions that haven’t been answered yet.
6. At the end of the session, click Stop Q&A. When Skype for Business asks if you want to enable IM, click Allow All Meeting IM, or click X on the notification if you want to keep the IM off.
7. If you want a record of the Q&A session, click Save As, type a name and save the file on your computer. Q&A is saved in Notepad and contains the questions, answers, time stamps and the names of attendees and presenters who participated.

How to send and receive files:

7. Pause over the monitor icon and select the Attachments tab.
8. Select Add Attachment.
9. Browse your computer, select the file, and select Open.

Record Meetings

When you record a Skype for Business Meeting, you capture audio, video, instant messaging (IM), screen sharing, PowerPoint slides, whiteboard, and polling. Any of the presenters can record a meeting and save it on their computers.

Please note:

• You’ll need to plug into a power source to record a meeting.
• Unlike with Adobe Connect, the recording of the meeting is saved on your local computer. Once the meeting is finished, the video will need to process. To share the video, you’ll need to upload it to a host, such as mediahub.ku.edu to be able to share with a URL.
• When you begin recording, all attendees are notified.

To record a meeting or conversation

Before beginning to record, plug in to a power source.

1. In the meeting window, click More Options , and then click Start Recording.
2. Use the controls at the bottom of the meeting room to pause, resume, or stop the recording.

After the recording is stopped, Skype for Business will process the recording and save it in a format that plays in Windows Media Player.