Inviting a Guest Speaker to a Video Conference
Last Modified on 10/07/2020 5:23 pm EDT
These directions work whether you're creating a new video conference in Canvas or editing a pre-existing meeting on the video conference tab of a Canvas Site.
Keep in mind that only the meeting owner can edit a meeting.
Inviting a Guest to a Video Conference Scheduled within Canvas
It is easy to share your video conference information with a guest speaker right from Canvas whether you're using BlueJeans or Zoom.
BlueJeans
If your BlueJeans meeting was scheduled using Canvas, you have two options:
- Sharing a link to the video conference.
- Adding the guest speaker to the meeting.
We recommend sharing a link via email, but either method will work.
Share a link from Canvas
To share the link to your class video conference via email with a guest speaker:
Finding the Virtual Meeting URL via Canvas
- Go to the Canvas course site for the class at which your guest will be speaking.
- Click on BlueJeans.
- Click the Join button next to the meeting you’d like to share with a guest in the "New BlueJeans Meetings" section.
- That will launch a BlueJeans meeting in a new tab. Your guest will need the URL displayed in the browser, which looks like this: bluejeans.com/123456789.
If you created the meeting, a moderator code will be appended to the end of the URL. Using the above URL as an example, if the link included a moderator code it would look like this:
bluejeans.com/123456789/2222 (2222 is the moderator code). Simply share everything before the final / with your guest.
- Select the URL and copy it into an email message to your guest. Send the email and when they click on the link they will be able to join the video conference.
Invite a Guest from within Canvas
You can also use Canvas to invite a guest speaker to your video conference. Following the below instructions will cause BlueJeans to send an email your guest with the video conference details:
- Scroll down to the bottom of the video conference creation window (for a new Meeting) or the detail window (for a pre-existing meeting) until you see the Members section:
- Click Add Invite under “External Guest Emails". Type in the guest speaker’s email address in the box that appears. If you want to invite more than one guest, click Add Invite again to add another; repeat as needed.
- Click Save.
The recipient will receive an email invitation to join the meeting (this cannot be disabled). Here's a sample of the email so you can tell your guest what to look out for:
The Scheduler’s name will show up in the “From” field of the Bluejeans invite so this should be considered when someone besides the instructor is asked to schedule the meeting.
Zoom
If you've scheduled your Zoom meeting within Canvas it is very easy to get an invitation link to share with a guest:
Inviting a Guest Outside of Canvas
BlueJeans
You can gather the information needed to invite your guest speaker to your video conference scheduled via meeting.wharton.upenn.edu:
- Log into meeting.wharton.upenn.edu with your PennKey username and password.
- Find the video conference you want to invite your guest to in your list of meetings.
- Hover over it with your mouse and click the "..." button.
- Click View Join Details.
- You can copy the meeting URL here or click the Copy Join Details and all the details, including the URL and the call in numbers, will be placed on your clipboard for pasting.
- Paste the URL or the join details into an email to your guest speaker. They will be able to use these details to join your meeting.
Video conference emails the meeting details to the meeting organizer by default. If you have that email you can copy and paste the details from there.
Zoom
You can gather the information needed to invite your guest speaker to your video conference scheduled via upenn.zoom.us:
Zoom meetings you scheduled via Canvas will also show up listed in upenn.zoom.us.
- Go to the upenn.zoom.us and log in with your PennKey username and password.
- In the "Upcoming Meetings" section, click on the title of the meeting the speaker should be invited to.
- Look for the Invite Link section.
- You can either copy the link that is listed or click the Copy invitation link which opens a window with the full Zoom invitation details (including dial in options). Click the Copy Meeting Invitation button.
- Paste the copied information into an email to the guest speaker.
