Getting Started with Sametime

Imagine that you are talking to a coworker who is halfway across the world. You are talking without using a telephone, and you can see each other as though you were in the same room. Now imagine that your coworker opens a document that you are both working on, and you can see it and make changes to it. Without a fax machine. Without e-mail.

You can stop imagining.

With IBM^® Lotus^® Sametime^®, you can meet with anyone, anywhere, anytime. You can collaborate with your coworkers in many ways, including:

Sending instant messages and transferring files to your coworkers in real time

Communicating with computer audio and video

Editing shared files and saving your changes

Sending Web pages and poll questions to meeting participants

Recording your meeting so that other people can view it later

Sametime Features

Read the Lotus Sametime User's Guide to learn more about the following components of Sametime.

The Sametime Welcome Page: Includes links to all of the components of Sametime. To reach the Sametime Welcome page, enter the following address in a Web browser: http://servername, where servername is the name of the Sametime server.

Tip You must enter the fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) name of the server. For example, if your server is http://www.sametime.com, you must enter the full name; you cannot enter "sametime" or "sametime.com." (See your administrator if you do not know the fully qualified DNS name of the server.)

The Meeting Center: Allows you to schedule and attend Sametime meetings.

The Meeting Room: Allows you to participate in a meeting. The Meeting Room includes a list of meeting participants, an area for shared information (such as a presentation), an area for computer audio and video, and an area to send chat messages, view poll responses, and view Web pages sent by the Moderator.

IBM Lotus Sametime Connect: Allows you to chat with your online colleagues. You can also start instant meetings and transfer files from Sametime Connect.

Sametime Discussions and TeamRooms: Allow you to organize your projects before attending an online meeting. For example, you can keep all of your documents for a project in an IBM Lotus Sametime TeamRoom^®, or you can use a Sametime Discussion to keep track of your online conversations about a project.

Sametime Meetings

Although there are many differences between a Sametime meeting and a face-to-face meeting, the same principles apply to both. Everyone in the meeting needs to:

Prepare for the meeting.

Ensure that the meeting is effective.

Complete any necessary tasks after the meeting has ended.

The Lotus Sametime User's Guide helps you ensure that your online meeting is easy to conduct and as effective as a face-to-face meeting.

Preparing for a Meeting

Before using Sametime for the first time, you should:

Make sure your computer includes the required hardware and software.

Make sure your browser works with Sametime.

Review information about logging on to Sametime and working with passwords.

Attend a test meeting to make sure that Sametime is working properly. If you have audio or video equipment, you should test it during the test meeting.

Download the Meeting Room and handle any security warnings during the download.

Make sure you are comfortable working with Sametime Connect.

Review the information about working with Sametime meetings.

For more information, see "Using Sametime Connect," "Preparing to Use Audio and Video," and "Working with Sametime Meetings."

Having an Effective Meeting

Most meetings have a leader who conducts the meeting and makes sure it goes smoothly. Others in the meeting are usually observers who occasionally contribute to the meeting through conversation or presentations. The meeting leader and the participants play different roles in ensuring an effective meeting.

In Sametime, the leader of a meeting is known as the Moderator. The Moderator is responsible for conducting the meeting and sending information to the participants. See "Moderating a Meeting" for more information about a Moderator's tasks and responsibilities.

Everyone else in a meeting is a participant. Participants might contribute to the meeting by using the available tools in the meeting to interact with the other participants. For example, participants can present information with the whiteboard (a blank board that allows you to present files or sketch designs) or screen sharing (a feature that allows you to share your screen or a program on your computer). See "Participating in a Meeting," "Presenting Information in a Meeting," and "Communicating in a Meeting" for more information.

Finishing a Meeting

The necessary tasks for finishing a Sametime meeting depend on the choices that were available for the meeting. For example, you might want to save a whiteboard presentation from the meeting. After the meeting is over, you might be able to view a recording of the meeting or listen to a recorded telephone conference call.

Sametime Discussions and TeamRooms

Sametime Discussions and TeamRooms allow you to keep track of your documents and team discussions. You might want to use a Discussion or a TeamRoom to supplement your Sametime meetings.

Note The Sametime User's Guide also contains information about the Enterprise Meeting Server (EMS). The EMS is not a part of Sametime 3.1. See your system administrator for more information.

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