UC Connect
Table of Contents
Prerequisites Overview Participant Guide How to join a Video Meeting How to join via phone How to raise your hand during a conference call Spotlight someone's video or screen share in a meeting How an organizer or moderator can use Spotlight What is an "Active Speaker" and How Does it Work How Can I Manage My Call Online Why am I hearing hold music in my conference? 1. You have the Waiting Room feature active 2. There is only one person on the conference call 3. There is a participant who has call waiting or perhaps has hooked their linePrerequisites
- UC Connect requires an account to access UC Connect features at to initiate meetings on the platform. This account requires an add on purchase.
- You don’t need an account in order to join a UC Connect Video Conference! You only need a computer or mobile device with an internet connection or a phone to call with.
- Google Chrome V96 is the browser supported for System Users.
Overview
UC Connect is an enterprise video conferencing and unified communications platform designed for organizations requiring Canadian data sovereignty and professional-grade collaboration capabilities. This WebRTC-compliant platform serves as both a standalone video conferencing solution and an integrated communication hub within existing productivity ecosystems, delivering seamless meeting and collaboration capabilities.
The system features intuitive meeting scheduling and joining, real-time participant status monitoring (displaying active speakers, connection quality, and engagement states), breakout room management, and integrated calendar synchronization through Outlook, Google Calendar, Office 365, and third-party scheduling platforms. UC Connect delivers enterprise-grade video collaboration with superior audio reliability specifically optimized for business-critical communications.
The solution is available in multiple deployment options to meet diverse organizational needs: a full-featured edition for enterprise teams using cloud-hosted infrastructure with Canadian data residency, enabling rapid deployment with centralized user management and administrative controls. All meeting data, recordings, and transcripts are stored exclusively on Canadian servers, ensuring compliance with PIPEDA and federal data sovereignty requirements without cross-border data transfer.
With support for multiple languages, including English and French (the official languages of Canada), as well as Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and others, UC Connect provides a complete, unified communications solution for Canadian organizations that require professional video conferencing, screen sharing, recording, AI-powered transcription, and collaboration capabilities. The platform integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments while maintaining independence from ecosystem lock-in, offering transparent CAD pricing with 15-30% cost savings compared to US-based alternatives.
Participant Guide
Supported Operating Systems |
Minimum Browser Specifications for Participants |
|---|---|
|
Windows 10 + Mac OS X 11 + Android 11 + iOS 15 + |
Google Chrome V96 +
(ideally, the latest version)
|
How to join a Video Meeting
- Open your email invitation or navigate to the calendar entry, then click the meeting link.
- If prompted, enter the provided secure passcode.
- Type in the name you want displayed for yourself in the meeting (this option will not appear if you have an account and are logged in).
- Allow the browser or application to access your camera and microphone when prompted.
- Verify your camera and microphone, and disable them if preferred.
- Click 'Join Meeting'
How to join via phone
- Call the dial-in number listed in your invitation
- When prompted, enter the access code provided, followed by the pound/hash key (#)
- If prompted, state your name to be played for the meeting host
How to raise your hand during a conference call
To raise your hand during a video call, please click on the "Raise" button on the bottom bar of the online meeting room.
Once a participant raises their hand, there are several indicators that there is a hand has been raised:
- For the participant, the "Raise" button will go from grey to the conference room theme color
- Other callers would be able to see a hand indicator on the participant tab and on the participant's tile when a hand was raised.
- The moderator and the caller who raised their hand would see the raised hand on the participant tab. They can then tap it to lower it.
For callers who accessed through dial-in, please dial *2 to raise or lower your hand.
Spotlight someone's video or screen share in a meeting
Moderators now have the option to ‘spotlight’ any participant (including themselves). Activating this feature will change the layout to ‘speaker view’ for all participants and moderators, with the ‘spotlighted’ participant’s video or screen-share taking over the main window. This will override active-speaker, gallery view, and any individual pin settings.
How an organizer or moderator can use Spotlight
- Click the pin icon on your tile or on a participant's tile.
- Select "Spotlight - pin for everyone".
- Click the pin icon again, then select End Spotlight to deactivate this feature.
What is an "Active Speaker" and How Does it Work
An active speaker shows you exactly who is speaking in the online meeting room.
- The tile associated with the person talking will highlight yellow.
- In speaker view, their video/shared screen will be displayed large in the main window
- Their icon will move to the top of the participant list on the right of the meeting room
Use the 'pin' feature to deactivate the active speaker if you want to choose one person's video/shared screen to be always displayed, regardless of who is talking
Moderators can override the active speaker using the Spotlight feature described above.
How Can I Manage My Call Online
To manage or moderate a meeting - whether or not you are taking part in the conference - just log in to your account from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
- If you don't want to connect audio and just want to moderate the meeting
Select the arrow next to 'Start' and choose 'Without audio."
- If you don't want to connect audio and just want to share your screen in the meeting
Select the arrow next to 'Start' and choose 'Screen share without audio."
- If you want to connect your audio and manage the meeting online, just select 'Start.'
Why am I hearing hold music in my conference?
There are two main reasons you might hear hold music during your conference call, and one less common reason.
1. You have the Waiting Room feature active
When the Waiting Room is turned on, all participants will hear hold music, and the call won't begin until someone joins your meeting as a moderator. This means that someone must call in using their moderator PIN, or the meeting organizer must be logged in to their account before joining via the internet. If you don't need the Waiting Room active, you can easily turn it off for future calls in the 'Settings' section of your account.
2. There is only one person on the conference call
With any conference call, the first participant will always hear hold music. Even if the moderator calls in first, the music will play until at least one other participant joins the meeting. If you prefer, there is no hold music when only one participant is on the line; you can turn this off in the 'Settings' section of your account under 'chimes & name announce'.
3. There is a participant who has call waiting or perhaps has hooked their line
On rare occasions, a participant may receive another call on their phone and place the conference line on hold. This means their own hold music will play for all participants. This is easy to fix while a call is in progress. Just press *7 as a moderator to mute everyone. Then have the individuals who need to speak press *6 to unmute their own lines. You can also mute the caller, which can cause interference in the online meeting room.