How do I create a conference in a course?

[#1]

You can create a conference in a course to hold virtual office hours and speakers. Conference invitations are sent out when the conference is created. To alert invitees about upcoming conferences, you can create course events in the Calendar.

Conferences can be created with as many users as needed, though the recommended guideline is a limit of 100 users. You can create multiple conferences, which are listed in chronological order by the date they were created. The most recently created conference will appear at the top of the list.

Notes:

• Creating a conference is a course permission. If you cannot create a conference, your institution has restricted this feature.
• Users invited to a conference will not receive a notification in Canvas. However, depending on the user's notification settings, they may receive a notification via email and/or push notifications. To notify users of a conference in Canvas, consider adding an announcement, assignment, or calendar event.
• For more information on web conferencing options in Canvas, view Web Conferencing Resources.
• The Course Navigation link for your web conferencing tool reflects the name of the web conferencing tool. The link may display as BigBlueButton, Adobe Connect, or the name of the web conferencing tool your institution uses.

Note: If your institution is likely to need more than 10 concurrent Conferences powered by BigBlueButton, consider upgrading to Premium BigBlueButton or exploring alternative conferencing solutions Canvas partners with, such as Zoom, Hangouts, Teams, and other video conferencing tools who are offering free or discounted services.

Open Conferences

In Course Navigation, click the link for your web conferencing tool. The link name reflects the conferencing tool used by your institution.

Add Conference

Click the Add Conference button.

Add Conference Details

To create a new conference, type a name for the conference in the Name field [1].

If you want to set a time limit on how long invited members are able to join the conference, enter the number of minutes in the Duration field [2]. The time limit will begin when the presenter starts the conference. Once the duration has expired, new participants will be unable to join and the conference will continue until the last person leaves the conference room or the conference organizer concludes the conference.

If you want to enable recording options for this conference, select the Enable recording for this conference checkbox [3].

If you don't want to set a time limit for the conference, you can create a long-running conference by selecting the No time limit (for long-running conferences) checkbox [4]. This option will remove the time limit in the duration field.

To create a description of your conference, type a description in the Description field [5].

Invite Course Members

You can add any user in your course to your conference. However, once a user has been invited, the user cannot be removed from the conference.

By default, all members in the course will be invited to the conference [1].

To remove all course observers from the conference invitation, select the Remove All Course Observer Members checkbox [2]. When this checkbox is selected all course members except observers are invited to the conference.

Note: Conferences can accommodate as many users as needed, though the recommended guideline is a limit of 100 users.

Invite Sections, Groups, or Individual Members

If you want to select specific sections, groups, or members of your course, deselect the Invite All Course Members checkbox [1].

To invite one or more course sections, click the checkbox(es) for the section(s) [2].

To invite one or more groups, click the checkbox(es) for the group(s) [3].

To invite one or more individual members, click the checkbox(es) for the member(s) [4].

Update Conference

To save the conference settings, click the Update button.

Note: Students invited to a conference will not receive a notification in Canvas. However, depending on the student's notification settings, they may receive a notification via email, text, and/or push notifications. To notify students of a conference in Canvas, consider adding an announcement, assignment, or calendar event.

View Conference

View your created conference.