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Virtual Town Hall Meetings

ACEND® has hosted a monthly virtual meeting to answer stakeholder questions about ACEND®'s work on the accreditation standards. These virtual town halls will now switch to quarterly calls on the second Tuesday of the month at 11 a.m. (Central time). The next virtual town hall sessions will be held on:

  • July 9 at 11 a.m. (Central time)
  • November 12 at 11 a.m. (Central time)

All stakeholders are invited to participate.

The town hall discussions will be held through the Cisco WebEx Meeting Center Application Software. If you are logging into a WebEx meeting for the first time, please read the following instructions to set up WebEx on your computer. (A PDF of the instructions is also available.)

Joining the ACEND® Virtual Town Hall

  1. Launch the town hall website.
  2. Enter your name and email address.
  3. When prompted for preferred audio connection, choose "Call Me" and enter your phone number (area code and number) and "Connect Audio" – the system will then place a call to the phone number you have indicated. When you answer, you will be given directions to connect to the audio portion of the meeting. The visual portion will automatically be on your computer screen.
  4. If you are unable to connect with the "Call Me" feature, click the "I Will Call In" option, dial the conference call number given (415-655-0002) and then enter the conference code (742 753 866) when prompted.

Navigating in WebEx during the Virtual Town Hall

Move your cursor on the screen to make the centralized meeting control bar appear. These meeting controls auto-hide when not in use and will reappear as soon as you move your mouse. Descriptions of the buttons are noted below.

  • Mute/Unmute Your Phone: You can mute your phone while you are listening and not speaking by clicking on the microphone button. Also, if you open the participants' list in the right hand side panel, next to your name when the microphone icon is red and has a black line through it, your phone is on mute. To unmute your phone, click on the red microphone and your phone line will be unmuted and you will be heard by others on the call. Please note that it is important to mute your phone line whenever possible to avoid any noise distraction to the other participants.
  • Participants' List: Clicking on the participant list button will open the participant-list window. When the participants-list window is open the button will turn blue. The list of those participating in the virtual town hall should show on the right hand side of your screen.
  • Chat: The system has a chat feature that allows you to send a message to the presenter. Clicking on the chat balloon button will open the chat window. To send a message, at the very bottom of the screen, select host as the person to send the message to (using down arrow "V"), type in your message where it says "Enter chat message here" and hit ENTER to send the message.
  • End the WebEx Session: To end your WebEx session, click on the red X button to close the WebEx connection and hang up your phone to end the call.
  • Raise Hand (no button. In Participant panel): ACEND® will use the raise hand feature to facilitate discussion and reduce multiple people trying to talk at once. If you want to ask a question, join the discussion or offer a comment, click on the raise hand icon that appears on the Participant panel. Having your hand activated/"raised" will alert the host to call on you. When you have finished speaking, click on the hand icon again to lower your hand. You must click on the hand icon again to lower your hand, it will not do this automatically. Note: The Raise Hand button is not an option for users who join from a Mobile Device.

Instructions for WebEx Set Up

When logging into a WebEx meeting for the first time, you will be prompted to update any applications on your computer, if necessary. If you have not already installed the Cisco WebEx Meeting Center Application Software, you will be prompted to install it. When downloading the application, "select always run on this site." If you are using an IPad, you will be prompted to download the Cisco WebEx Meetings App which is available in the App Store.

If the system does not prompt you to download the Meeting Center Application Software, please use the links below:

  • Meeting Center Application: To start or join a meeting you will need to download, install, and configure the WebEx Meeting Center application. The first time you join or start a meeting, the Meeting Center application will automatically be prompted to install; however, you can also manually download and install it.
  • Note: If you are not using a home computer, you may need administrator privileges on your computer to use this installer.
  • Note: There is no cost to download the Cisco Webex Meetings for Android app, or to attend any Cisco Webex meetings you've been invited to join. You do not need to sign up for a host account.

Meeting Center applications:

System Requirements

We suggest that you use the latest versions of your internet browser, whether it is Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. If you are using Internet Explorer, version 9 or 10 is recommended as the earlier versions are only partially supported which may cause you to experience some issue when logging into a meeting.

If you are prompted to install a plugin, please do so and follow the prompts for the meeting setup. This should only occur the first time you attempt to attend a WebEx meeting.

Note: if you are using a MAC, you may experience an issue with joining a meeting. If so, follow these steps to update your computer.

If you have any questions, email ACEND® at ACEND@eatright.org or call at 800/877-1600, ext. 5400.

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