Technology is wonderful – how great it is to be able to keep meeting even in times like these! However, sometimes technology can let us down and fuel frustration rather than allow conversation. Below are some pointers to help solve common problems on digital meeting platforms.
At the outset it is important to note that these are general fixes which should be applicable to most digital meeting platforms. If platform specific help is needed, find the developer’s troubleshooting documentation by searching for the problem you are having on Google. This should probably be your first port of call. That being said, what follows should be helpful quick fixes for most problems on most platforms.
Microphone and Audio Problems
- Ensure that your video and microphone are turned on in the platform you are using. This is normally done by clicking icons which look like a microphone and a camera towards the bottom of the window.
- Check your computer settings. If you have turned your video and microphone on within the platform but are still struggling with the audio and video, check your computer settings are allowing the platform to access your computer’s microphone and camera. To do this on a Mac go to ‘System Preferences’. On a Windows computer, click the upward facing arrow in the bottom right of the screen, right click the speaker icon and select ‘Open sound settings’.
- Mute microphones when not speaking. A common problem is struggling to hear other people speaking on the call. The most common cause of this is hearing background and feedback noise from other people’s microphones. If you are struggling to hear, ask everyone to keep their microphone muted when they are not speaking.
Other Problems
- Try another browser. There are lots of internet browsers available: Internet Exlporer, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari to name a few. If you are having problems with an online meeting platform that you are accessing through a browser, consider trying to access the meeting through a different browser.
- Turn it off and on again. Try turning the application, browser or even computer off and on again. Mysteriously, resetting like this often solves computing issues.
- Use another device. If you have another device available such as a smart phone, tablet or another computer and you are in a rush to join the meeting, switching to another device can be a short-term solution to getting online.
- Run updates on your computer. This is not the option to choose five minutes before your home group starts. If you are persistently having issues accessing a digital meeting platform and have tried all the advice above, you may need to run some updates on your computer.
