If you have encountered trouble in using your microphone over the last two days, or you’re concerned about attempting to use it for fear that others have run into problems, here are a few simple checks you can complete that will ensure we can hear you.

When you enter the webcast, a box will appear asking you whether you want to join an “Integrated VoIP conference.”  We discussed this earlier, and you have been correctly clicking “yes” to enable the audio through this prompt.  But the next steps are just as important.

The audio setup wizard opens automatically after you enable the audio.  The first box looks like this:

Click next.  Then, you will see a prompt asking you to check your speakers.  Make sure they’re turned on, and then click the test or play button to ensure the audio is clear.  This way, you will know you can hear Matt and the other presenters before we’ve said a word.  Note that you can use the horizontal slider in this box to raise the audio level, if necessary.

Once your speakers are ready, click next.  Then — and this is the most important step in making sure you can speak to us — take a look at the options in the microphone test box:

Note that you can select the “input device” — or, your microphone, whether it’s an internal mic, as in many laptops, or an external device you have plugged into your microphone jack or USB port.  As with the speakers, you can also raise the microphone volume.  It’s a good idea to raise the microphone volume to the very top, as I have above for our presentations.  Once this is set, click next.

And when the final prompt appears, click Finish to save your settings.

To speak a question or comment during the session, remember that you have a few options for letting me know you would like to take the floor.  You could simply text me a note through the chat box, or click the raise hand or “ask for mic” buttons, which will cause an alert to pop-up on my screen.  Those buttons are located at the bottom of the participant box, on the right side of the screen:

And that’s it!  If you have a microphone connected or built-into your computer, then there’s nothing holding you back from joining the conversation.

Just email me with any questions: warren@gilderlehrman.org.