Best Practices for Amazon Chime Meetings - preparing, scheduling, during and common questions

We want you to have a great Amazon Chime meeting. Below are some common questions with recommended solutions to assist in improving your experience.

Proactively prepare for your Amazon Chime meeting

Your machine

1. When was the last time you rebooted your computer? It doesn't hurt to reboot occasionally - especially if you have a big meeting coming up.
2. Make sure your computer can connect to Amazon Chime by running the Readiness Checker. See this article for all the details. https://amazonchime.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/39750965804059-How-do-I-resolve-failures-when-I-run-the-readiness-checker
3. Keep your Amazon Chime client up to date: (Help > Check for Updates). The Amazon Chime web app is always kept on the latest version.
4. Ensure you have a good network connection and you are close to the network wifi access point. Plugged directly into the network is even better.
5. Close or Quit music, video, and other meeting applications before getting on an Amazon Chime call.
6. Make sure your machine/device has some available CPU - you may need to close browser tabs or pause software updates running in the background.
7. If you have an Apple MacBookPro, if you have the option, make sure your machine is powered using the connection on the right side - this saves CPU.

Audio

1. Use a USB headset or earbuds. If Bluetooth use the USB dongle and make sure your device is charged.
2. Plug your USB headset or earbuds directly into your computer, not a docking station or USB hub. Docking stations can cause audio packets to be delayed, cause call drops, and echo.
3. Keep your headset firmware and device drivers up to date. This is often done by running the software that accompanied your computer or audio device.
4. Remember, if you use the web client (https://app.chime.aws), the audio and is controlled by the operating system Sound controls. Make sure your device is selected as the default and make sure to set your input and output levels to 60%. Too low and you might not be able to hear others or they might not be able to hear you. If you use Firefox, your speaker is controlled by the OS.
5. Amazon Chime provides integration with many USB devices. Please see https://amazonchime.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/38959080661531-Headset-Call-Control for details. You may need to install the headset manufacture’s device management software to change settings.
6. To avoid echo, make sure to join with your mic & speakers disabled if there is more than one audio source, such as an in-room video system, already being used.

Video and Screen Share

1. Use video when you can, studies show that interpretation of a message is 55% visual. Use an HD webcam and join from a bright, evenly lit location - avoid back lighting.
2. Make sure you don't get interrupted by Amazon Chime notifications when you are sharing your screen by opening the User menu (clicking on your name) and navigating Settings > Meetings > Notifications and check the Suppress all Amazon Chime notifications while screen sharing option.

Scheduling your meeting

1. Who has access: When scheduling your meetings, choose the option that best meets the confidentiality and security of the meeting while continuing to offer easy join options for experienced and first-time Amazon Chime users. See this article for more details.
   Note: If meetings include attendees from subsidiary companies, make sure you allow access for external registered attendees.
   Note: If an attendee is not allowed access, they will receive a warning that the meeting is locked.
   Note: You cannot change the access rules after a meeting ID has been created - not during the meeting. You should re-generate a meeting ID and distribute it to attendees.
2. Global participants: When you schedule a call with global participants, make sure you don't just invite a distribution list but also include email address(es) of specific Amazon Chime users in the different countries so that Amazon Chime can use the user's normal region to locate the best region to host the meeting - if your company has regions enabled, we will choose the region in the middle.
3. Auto-call: When you invite meet@chime.aws to your meetings, Amazon Chime will ring attendees who are invited with their work email and are signed in on all their devices a minute before the scheduled start time. If you make changes to your meeting attendees or schedule, be sure to choose to Send updates to all attendees so that Amazon Chime knows who to auto-call for the meeting.
   Note: distribution lists must be expanded if you want Amazon Chime to auto-call attendees.
   Note: auto-call is not supported when scheduling on a shared calendar. Attendees can join by clicking on the link or manually entering the meeting ID. If you try to schedule on a shared calendar or use another Amazon Chime user's meeting ID, you will receive an email indicating that the meeting scheduling failed.
4. Delegates: If you are scheduling a meeting for another Amazon Chime user, be sure they have marked you as a delegate and that you use their meeting information. If you need to include your information (e.g. they have not added you as a delegate yet or you are using a shared calendar) you can use your information, but do not invite meet@chime.aws.
5. Generate new ID: It is recommended that meetings are scheduled using one of the options that will Generate a new ID. This reduces challenges associated with back to back meetings and unwanted attendees guessing the meeting ID.
6. Distribution lists: If you invite distribution lists to the meeting, Amazon Chime does not auto-call members of the distribution list. If you want auto-call to work, expand the distribution list or make a note in your invite that attendees should join the meeting by clicking the meeting link or typing in the ID.
7. Large Meetings: Amazon Chime supports up to 250 connections and a maximum of 300 attendees in the invite. If you are scheduling a large meeting, please see https://amazonchime.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/38804088265883-Conducting-large-meetings-using-Amazon-Chime for best practices.

During your meeting

1. If you are having challenges joining your meeting when dialing in, please see this article for mobile device settings that may interfere with the joining experience. https://amazonchime.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/39751417917211-Reducing-Invalid-PIN-errors-when-joining-Amazon-Chime-calls
2. If you find you are having challenges during your call - dropping, red mic, video being blurred, you can do a few things to help improve your experience.
   1. If you are dialing in, try using a different phone number that is provided (for instance, don't use the US toll 206 number, try the US toll 929 number)
   2. Pause some video tiles (hover over the tile and choose Hide this video).
   3. Close some Chrome browser tabs.
   4. Close other media applications like music, other web conferencing apps and videos.
   5. Quit other applications that are running and not needed.
   6. Try moving closer to the WiFi router.
3. If the meeting is large or you want to manage who can share their video and screen, the host or their delegates can choose to Enable Event Mode (from the More menu).
4. On desktop clients, choose Feature this video for tiles to increase the size or to pin to the top of the video display. Undock the video tiles and arrange the meeting media across multiple monitors.
5. To reduce network bandwidth, choose the Hide all video option.

Common Questions and Suggestions

The person I am talking to says they can hear themselves when they talk - I think I am causing echo.

Note: The person that is causing echo is the one that does not hear the echo when they are talking. Watch the roster - if your mic is going up and down when you are not talking - your device is the source of the echo.

1. The fast answer is mute yourself when you are not talking.
2. Make sure you are not connected to two audio sources in a single room.
3. Try using a headset (USB or analog headphones preferably).
4. Disable audio and dial into the call from a phone. You can stay on the client with Video and Screen Share, just use dial-in for audio.

My audio keeps breaking up.

1. If you are using a Bluetooth device, your batteries may be low. Dial in or change headsets.
2. Your network may be saturated or your connection may be weak. Make sure you are close to the wifi access point or plugged into the network.
3. Make sure there are no background processes running that could be interfering with the meeting content.

I can’t hear the other person talking but they can hear me.

1. Make sure that your volume is turned up.
2. Ensure that your speaker is set to the correct device (remember you can use your operating system Sound preferences to choose Input and Output devices).
3. Choose a different Speaker.
4. Restart the Amazon Chime app.

I am on a call, but I cannot see or hear anyone else in the meeting.

1. If your client is flashing or your audio is not clear, don't be afraid to Leave the meeting, quit the Amazon Chime app and join again.

I keep getting a message that indicates I am reconnecting.

1. Make sure your USB headset is plugged into your computer and not a docking station or USB hub. You might need to unplug it and plug it back in.
2. Make sure to close all non-essential applications.
3. Close all media applications (music apps, video apps, etc.).
4. Make sure you don’t have too many browser tabs opened.
5. Try dialing in or choose a wired audio device rather than Bluetooth.
6. Try disconnecting from the VPN.