Using Microphones

Turn off the microphone when not talking.

It is good practice for a number of reasons to switch off when not actually speaking:

    It prevents any private conversations being shared accidentally with the other participants

    It saves transmitting "noise" across the network. This gives the other traffic you want to be transmitted more chance of getting through by reducing the overall load.

    Echo and feedback are common problems. These are reduced by turning the microphone off.

    Some systems are voice activated and switch the camera to endpoints where there is noise, this can mean that even a door shutting can cause others in a conference to see you unexpectedly.

Turn on the microphone before talking.

This might seem like an obvious point, however as it is good practice to tunn microphones off when not talking remembering to turn it back on when you do have something to say is required.