Pod Meeting

Getting Started

Pod Meeting provides audio and video conferencing over the internet, including web collaboration features such as screen sharing, whiteboard annotations, and presentation capabilities.

If you have set up Pod Desktop with Pod Meeting, you can invite any of your contacts to join you in a meeting, even if they do not have Pod Desktop!

Find Your Password

You will need your Pod CommPortal phone number and password to start using Pod for Desktop and Pod Meeting. If you don’t have this information, please contact your administrator.


Dowload and Install the Software

First, download Pod for Desktop here: https://commportal.connectbetter.net
When prompted, save the file, then find the file in your downloads folder and open it to begin the installation process.

Set Up a Pod Meeting

You can choose to start an instant meeting from Pod Connect for Desktop, from the CommPortal dashboard, or directly from your Outlook calendar.

Within Pod Connect for Desktop, you can send a meeting invitation:

- using the Pod Connect for Desktop File menu
- from your Contacts list or while viewing a contact’s details
- while chatting to a contact using instant messaging
- when you are in a call

When you start a meeting, you are prompted to select the contacts you want to invite to join you in the meeting. You can then start the meeting and contacts can simply click on the invitation to join your meeting.

Schedule a Meeting

You can use Pod Meeting to schedule a one-off or recurring meeting.

Select the Schedule A Meeting option from Pod Desktop, from the CommPortal dashboard, or directly from your Outlook calendar to launch the Schedule A Meeting window. Here, you can set the date, time, and length of the meeting, and specify various other audio and video settings for the meeting.

Then click Schedule to open the meeting invitation and select the participants you want to invite to the meeting before sending the invite. The Pod Meeting is added to the participant’s calendar.

Host or Participate in a Meeting

Join a Meeting

You can join a Pod Meeting by clicking on the on-screen invitation or by opening the Meeting URL in a browser.


Explore the Meeting Window

While a meeting is in progress, you will either see the participant toolbar or the host toolbar at the bottom of the Meeting window.


Set Up Your Audio

Use the Microphone icon to toggle your microphone on and off.

Click on to change your audio options.
- Select Join Audio to allow Pod to use either your phone or your computer’s microphone and speaker
- Select Leave Audio to prevent Pod from using your speaker and audio device.

Use the Video icon to toggle your video on and off.

Access the Settings Menu

Click on to access the Settings menu, where you can set up and test your microphone, speakers, and video. You can also use the Settings menu to specify where to save recorded meetings and to access additional application settings.

Invite Contacts to Join You in the Meeting

Click on and select the contacts you want to invite to join you in the meeting. The contacts you select are then sent a meeting invitation.

View Meeting Participants

Click on to see who has joined the meeting. You can access the following options from the Participant window.

- - let the meeting host know that you have something to say
- - change your display name

If you are the meeting host, click on Manage Participants to access the Participants window.

Meeting hosts can use the following additional options to manage participants:

- or or Mute to mute a specific individual.
- to prevent meeting attendees from sharing their screen.
- to access additional options, including:
Mute on Entry - mute all attendees as they join the meeting
Play Enter/Exit Chime when a participant joins or leaves the meeting
Lock/Unlock Meeting - no new attendees can join if the meeting is locked

The following icons provide additional information about each attendee.

  The participant is currently speaking.

The participant’s microphone is on.

The participant’s microphone is muted.

The participant’s video camera is on.

The participant’s video camera is off.

The participant has raised their hand.

Share Your Screen

Click on and choose the desktop or individual application window that you want to share.

Note: The Share Screen option may not be visible if the meeting host has selected to Lock Screen Share.

Once you are sharing your screen with meeting participants, you will see the Screen Share toolbar.

The Screen Share toolbar provides the following options:
- Pause/Resume screen sharing.
- Share a New Window - select a new window to share.
- Annotate your shared screen using a variety of shapes and highlight tools, including: a Mouse; Draw options (lines, shapes, and arrows); a Spotlight tool; an Eraser to remove selected annotations; and Undo, Redo and Clear annotation options. Note: The Annotate option may not be visible if the meeting host has selected to Disable Attendee Annotation.
- Mute - toggle your microphone on and off.
- Stop/Start Video - toggle your video sharing on and off.
- More - access Chat, Record, Settings, and Audio Conference options.

Click to exit screen sharing.

Chat & Record

Send a Message to Meeting Attendees

Click on to open a Chat window and send a message to another meeting attendee.

Click on to save the conversation to your local computer.


Record Your Meeting

Click on to start recording the meeting.

Click to end recording.

When the meeting ends, you will see a pop-up saying that the meeting recording is being saved and converted to mp4 format.
The directory containing the saved recording then automatically opens showing the recorded file, and the meeting will also appear in your list of recorded meetings within the Pod Meeting application.

You can specify the directory to save recorded meetings to using the Settings menu.

Note: The Record option may not be visible if the meeting host has disabled recording for the meeting.

Additional Meeting Window Options

extends the meeting display to a full-screen display.

exits the full-screen display.

displays the video for all meeting participants.

displays the video for the current speaker.

Leave the Meeting

Click on to leave the meeting.

If you are the meeting host, click on - this will end the meeting for all participants.