hotComm CL Help

hotComm CL is a Windows program that you can use to connect to a multi-media room as a Guest, a Presenter, or a Moderator.

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Basics

To use hotComm CL:

Double-click the hotComm CL startup icon on your desktop.

Note: hotComm CL minimizes to a tiny headset icon in the lower-right corner of your entire Windows desktop. Right-clicking on this icon gives a menu of options. See Icon Menu.

Wait while hotComm CL connects to the 1stWorks Network. When the earphones on the tiny headset icon change from white to Red and blue, you are connected (online).

Offline (white earphones)

Online (red and blue earphones)

Each room, webinar and conference has its own instructions for how to connect. Please see the instructions for the specific event.

Passwords - Guest, Presenter, Moderator

The password determines the level of features available to you during the meeting. If you are clicking a weblink and are not prompted for a password, then you are a guest.

If you are ... Then ...

Guest You view presentations, and communicate by voice and text chat.

Presenter In addition, you can present visual content.

Moderator In addition, you can control the session.

You then participate in the session.

Connected to session

Hear audio and see charts, slides, or other materials when they are presented.
Type messages in the lower white panel.
Read the message transcript in the upper white panel.
Present using Microphone, Sounds, Audio recording, hotCam (charts, slides, presentation materials) and webcam. See Middle Toolbar Features.
For status information and emoticons see Bottom Toolbar Features.
To change identity or exit hotComm CL, see Icon menu.
For display options, see Toolbar menu.
For sending Private Messages, see Invited List.

Close and exit

Action	Description
Exit hotComm CL	To completely close hotComm CL, right-click the hotComm CL headset icon in the lower right corner of your desktop, and select Exit.
Close session	To close the session but leave hotComm CL running, click the Close button (piece of paper with a red X) in the hotComm CL toolbar.
Close window	To close the hotComm CL window but leave hotComm CL running, click the Windows Close button in the hotComm CL window.

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Invited List

This panel lists the Identities of the people who are in the session.

The little icons next to their Identities tell you several things:

Icon	Meaning
Microphone	Person has their microphone turned on.
Green dot	This is you. Each person sees themself with a green dot.
Red headphones	The Room server robot or remote SysOp.
Blue headphones	hotComm Standard/Pro moderator
Green headphones	hotComm Standard/Pro user
Pink headphones	hotComm Standard/Pro with OUT/DND status
Yellow L	hotComm Lite user with "In" status
Pink L	hotComm Lite user with "Out" status
Blue Lc	hotComm CL moderator
Blue L with Yellow c	hotComm CL presenter
Yellow Lc	hotComm CL user
J	A Java client guest
J or L with red hook	Firewalled user

Private Message. To send a private text message to someone in the session, double-click their name in the Invited List, type the message and click Send now. Only you and they can see the message.

Moderators and Presenters right-click menu. Moderators and Presenters can right-click on a name and see a menu of options for managing the individual guests.

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Middle Toolbar Features

These are the Middle Toolbar features. Note that these may be disabled by the moderator:

Microphone

You can talk, using VoIP (voice over Internet). The microphone is set by the moderator to work one of these ways:

Stays on
Click the Microphone button to turn the microphone on. It stays on until you click the button again.
Push-to-talk
Press-and-hold the Microphone button while you record a message. The message is played when you release the button.

VoIP Settings: To change microphone settings, right-click the microphone button.

More information: See Audio in the online User Guide.

Sounds

CL provides a set of sounds that you can send during a session. You can hear the sounds, and see text such as <Applause!>.

To send a sound, click the Send Sounds button (Ear) and select a sound from the menu.

More information: See Sounds in the online User Guide.

Record
Audio

To record the audio portion of the session, click the Record Audio button. To stop recording, click the button again.

The recording is stored as a WAV file in the T'SCRIPTS folder on your Windows desktop. It can be played with any standard WAV file player.

Close
Session

To close the session, click this Close button.

Note: Although this closes your session, hotComm CL continues to run. To completely exit hotComm CL, right-click the headset icon in the lower right corner of your Windows taskbar and select Exit.

Help

To access help, click this button.

hotCam

See Presenter Features.

WebCam

See Presenter Features.

Whiteboard

See Presenter Features.

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Bottom Toolbar Features

These are the Bottom Toolbar features:

hotPointer

If your Timed Camera is on, you can use the hotPointer as a visible cursor. Left-click to start using it. Right-click to select a different cursor design. By default, hotPointer starts when Timed Camera starts. Moderators can turn off hotPointer through Preferences.

Collaborator

If your Timed Camera is on, you can click this icon to bring up the Transparent Collaborator to mark over the image. A Selections toolbox gives you a choice of colors, line widths and some other characteristics.

Mic Status

Look in the Mic Status area for information about the session -- for example, to see if anyone is speaking, or if the mic is silent.

Audio-On

Click Audio-On to control what you hear:

Option	Description
Audio-On	All sounds and voice are heard.
Mute-Gun+	Sounds (such as the gunshot and applause) are muted, but you can still hear voice.
Mute-All	All voice and sounds are silent.

Emoticons

To post an emoticon at the end of a message, right-click on the smiley face icon and then left-click on an emoticon icon.

Encryption

The padlock icon indicates that all transmissions are encrypted.

Word or Line typing

Click on Word or Line to control how you send messages:

Option	Description
Word	Send one word at a time
Line	Send the entire message when you press your Enter key.

Online or Signed-Out

This describes your connection to the 1stWorks Network. You must connect to the 1stWorks Network before you can connect to anything else.

Status Description

Online-Direct You are connected directly to the 1stWorks Network. This is the preferred status.

Online-Tunnelled You may be connecting through a satellite, a restrictive firewall or a proxy server. Note: If you are connecting through a satellite, you may be able to change to Online-Direct: Click the Online-Tunnelled message, check Directly, click OK, exit hotComm CL (right-click the headphones icon) and then restart hotComm CL.

Signed-Out You are not connected to the 1stWorks Network. If you have connected successfully in the past, exit hotComm CL, delete temporary Internet files or clear cache, and try again. If you have not connected successfully before, check your firewall settings to make sure that they allow hotComm CL to access the Internet.

Identity
(name)

This shows your current identity, as seen by the others in the session.

To change your identity, click the name. In the next window, change the identity and click OK. Then, exit and restart hotComm CL.

Raise Hand

Click to post the Raise Hand icon, showing that you want attention.

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Presenter Features

Presenters have additional features. In some rooms, these features may be available to guests.

hotCam Still and Timed Camera

(Still)

(Timed)

You can use the hotCam virtual digital camera to show still or moving content, such as changing charts or PowerPoint presentations. Note: in some rooms, guests do not have this feature.

Right-click on the icon and select a camera type.

Option	Description
Still Application	Single snapshot of a window.
Still Window	Single snapshot of one window in a multi-window application.
Still Collaborative	Single snapshot of a window, with a drawing toolbar attached for marking up the snapshot.
*Timed Application	Updated snapshots in timed intervals. This looks to many people like video.
*Timed Window	Updated snapshots of one window in a multi-windowed application, in timed intervals.

* Timed Camera is not available to guests.

Left-click on the icon. The icon changes color and lifts up.

Move the icon to the window you want to send as a snapshot, click the window's title bar to bring the window to the front, and then click anywhere in the window to take the snapshot.

Use the hotPointer cursor (an arrow) as a pointer on the screen. You can turn the cursor off and on by clicking the arrow icon on the lower left corner of your hotComm CL window.

In the right-click camera menu, you can also select:

Option	Description
Set Timer Interval	Select the number of seconds to use as the interval for the Timed Camera updates.
Start hotPointer on Timed Camera	The hotPointer is a colored arrow that displays your cursor movement. Select this to start the hotPointer automatically when you start the Timed Camera. Note: you can start the hotPointer later by clicking the arrow on the left side of the bottom line of your hotComm CL window.

More information: These basic instructions don't even scratch the surface of what you can do with hotCam and presentations. Please see information in our Support area, including the online User Guide, and in Training with Professor hotComm.

Webcam

If the room is webcam-enabled, you can send full-motion video through webcam. Left-click the webcam icon in the middle toolbar to start sending video.

More information: See Webcam in the online User's Guide.

hotWeb

Use hotWeb to send a webpage. Type the address in the hotWeb toolbar, or select a page from your Internet Explorer favorites list.

The webpage opens in a hotWeb window. You can navigate from page to page, or you can select Transparent Collaborator from the Collaboration menu, and draw on top of the display.

Whiteboard

Use the WhiteBoard to draw and type onto a plain white background. A Selections toolbox gives you a choice of colors, line widths and other characteristics.

To send or email a screenshot of the Whiteboard (with mark-ups) to all session users, select Send Screenshot or Email Screenshot from the hotWeb Collaborate menu.

More information: See Selections Toolbox in the online User's Guide.

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Moderator Features

In addition to having all the Guest and Presenter capabilities, Moderators have these features:

Preferences

To set presentation preferences, right-click on the middle or bottom toolbar and select Preferences.

Preferences

Feature	Description
ThruVu	You can make the hotComm CL window transparent. First, set the opacity level of the hotComm CL window. Then right-click the hotComm CL icon in the lower right-corner of your Windows taskbar, and select Enable ThruVu on S1 Window (see Icon Menu.)
Capture every..	Select the number of seconds to use as the interval for the Timed Camera updates.
Bring to Front	If checked, Timed Camera windows will appear in front of other windows.
True Color	If checked, Still and Timed Camera screenshots will use True Color. Note that this sends a larger graphic, so do not use True Color if you are presenting to low-bandwidth users.
Start hotPointer on Timed Camera	The hotPointer is a colored arrow that displays your cursor movement. Select this to start the hotPointer automatically when you start the Timed Camera. Note: you can start the hotPointer later by clicking the arrow on the left side of the bottom line of your hotComm CL window.

AE Settings

You can create, change, and delete Abbreviation Expansions (AE). These are key sequences that expand into longer strings. An AE can include text that posts into the transcript, webpages that display in separate windows, and sounds.

More information: Abbreviations in the hotComm online User Guide.

Session Control Toolbar

Use the Session Control toolbar options to control what guests can do in the room. Click each icon to toggle between enabling and disabling the feature.

To control these features, click the button in the Session Control toolbar. To release them, click again.
	Privatize Keyboard.	Typing by guests can be seen only by Moderators and Presenters. Guests cannot send pre-defined sounds.
	PM Disable	Disable Private Messages between Guests.
	Isolate Users	Guests cannot see other guests in the Invited List, see their typing, or hear them speak.
Note: Using Privatize Keyboard, PM Disable, and Isolate Users at the same time effectively means that Public users are aware of the Moderator/Presenters only, and can interact only with them.
	Whiteboard, hotWeb, Gimmickry	Disable whiteboard, hotWeb, and the features controlled through Gimickry.
	File Xfer Disable	Disable drag-and-drop file transfers.
	Camera and DD Disable	Disable Camera use.
	Video Disable	Disable Webcam use.
	Normal/Push-to-talk Toggle (left microphone button)	Change between normal microphone mode (hands-free) to push-to-talk mode. Normal (left microphone button out): Public users click their microphone button to turn their mic on or off. The microphone stays on until turned off. Push-to-talk (left microphone button in): Public users hold their microphone button down while they talk. When they release the button, their mic is turned off.
	Open Mic Disable (right microphone button)	Allow an open session with multiple microphones on, or restrict it to only one microphone on at a time. Open session (right mic button out): Multiple people can speak at once. One at a time (right mic button in): Only one Public user can speak at a time. When the Public user clicks their mic button, the Moderator/Presenter sees a request from that person to speak.
	Record Disable	Disable recording and copying, saving, or emailing transcripts.

The combination of microphone button settings offers more options (On means in, Off means out).

Left Mic button	Right Mic Button	Result
In	In	Disable all microphones.
Out	Out	Allow an open session. Multiple people can use their microphones in normal mode (always-on).
In	Out	Microphone mode is Push-to-talk, but multiple people can use the microphone at the same time.
Out	In	Microphone mode is normal (always-on), but only one person can have a microphone on at a time.

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Icon Right-click Menu

The icon menu contains options for managing your hotComm CL. To see the menu, right-click the hotComm CL icon (headset) in the lower right corner of your Windows Taskbar.

The options are:

Option	Description
Restore	Opens a hotComm CL session.
Exit	Exits the hotComm CL program.
Change Identity	Select this to change your Identity. Then, close and restart hotComm CL.
Clear Bad IP List	Clear the list of users who have been blocked by moderators. Only moderators have this feature.
Auto Start hotComm CL	Select this to start hotComm CL automatically when Windows starts.
Cascade Windows on Primary	Puts all hotComm CL windows in the center of your primary monitor. Use this if you are having problems with window sizing or location, or to re-dock the transcript.
Set S1 window On-Top	This keeps the hotComm CL window on top of any other windows.
Set S1 window ThruVu	Make the S1 window background transparent so you can see through it to the underlying windows.
About hotComm CL	Shows revision number and copyright information.
hotComm CL	Goes to the hotComm CL website.
Help	Opens this help file.

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Toolbar Right-click Menu

The Toolbar Right-click Menu contains these options. To see the menu, right-click anywhere in one of the hotComm CL toolbars (for example, right-click on Audio-On).

Display options. Click the option to turn it on or off.

Feature

Description

Preferences...

See Moderators.

AE settings ...

See Moderators.

Auto-typer(AE)

Types out a longer phrase when you type a shortcut. For example, if you type "BRB", it types "be right baaaack!!!!" The shortcuts are pre-defined.

Gimmickry

Enables or disables a combination of features including:

Sounds (ear with music notes)	Raise-hand
Emoticons	Language tags
Indent Transcripts

Note that room moderators can disable Gimmickry in the room.

Language tags

In the transcript, display a tag to show the Windows language setting of the person typing, such as <EN> for English.

Indent Transcripts

In the transcript, indent everything except for the first line of a post.

Use System Color

Change the background color for the Invited List.

Word-by-Word

When checked, each word you type is displayed after you type it. When unchecked, your typing is displayed when you press the Enter key.

Other features in the Toolbar right-click menu:

Feature	Description
View Emoticons	Opens the Emoticons window. Click an emoticon to post it in the room. Note: you can move the emoticon window.
View Playback Bar	Opens the Session Recording Playback Bar. Use this to playback full session recordings. Note that this does not play back audio-only recordings.
Text-to-Speech	If Microsoft's text-to-speech SAPI interface is installed on your computer, you can select a voice that reads the text to you. You can select: The voice, such as Microsoft Mary. What to read, such as transcript, private messages, your own typing. VoIP Priority: whether a presenter's audio has priority over the text-to-speech.

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Basics Invited List Presenters Moderators
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Basics
	Passwords - Guest, Presenter, Moderator
	Guest
	Presenter
	Moderator
	Close and Exit
	Exit, in Icon Right-Click Menu
Invited List
	Invited List
	Private Messages
Audio, Sounds, Recordings
	Microphone, in Middle Toolbar Features
	Sounds, in Middle Toolbar Features
	Record Audio, in Middle Toolbar Features
	Mic Status, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Audio-On, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Text-to-Speech, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	Word-by-Word, in Toolbar right-click Menu
Still Camera, Timed Camera
	hotCam, in Presenter Features
	hotCam, in Middle Toolbar Features
	Still Camera, in Presenter Features
	Timed Camera, in Presenter Features
	Timed Camera Setup, in Moderator Features
	hotPointer, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Collaborator, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	True Color, in Moderator Features
Transcript and Typing
	Emoticons, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Word or Line typing, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Raise Hand, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	AE Settings, in Moderator Features
	AE Settings, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	Auto-typer (AE), in Toolbar right-click Menu

Connection and Identity
	Online or Signed-Out, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Identity, in Bottom Toolbar Features
	Change Identity, in Icon Right-Click Menu
	Encryption, in Bottom Toolbar Features
Other Presenter Features
	WebCam, in Middle Toolbar Features
	WebCam, in Presenter Features
	hotWeb, in Presenter Features
	Whiteboard, in Middle Toolbar Features
	Whiteboard, in Presenter Features
Other Moderator Features
	Preferences
	ThruVu Setting
	Session Control Toolbar
	Clear Bad IP List, in Icon Right-Click Menu
hotComm CL window display
	Gimmickry, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	Language tags, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	Indent transcripts, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	Use System Color, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	View Emoticons, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	View Playback Bar, in Toolbar right-click Menu
	On Top, Set S1 Window
	ThruVu, Set S1 Window, in Icon Right-Click Menu
Other
	Auto Start
	Cascade Windows on Primary

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Basics Invited List Presenters Moderators
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For more information, see the hotComm Support web site.

Please send comments about this document to Support@1stWorks.com.