Connecting with Parents for Conferences

There are a few non-traditional options for meeting with parents.  While face-to-face is always the best route, here are a few other ideas you could utilize to communicate with parents:

1.  Cisco WebEx
Another Cisco product! This one is for video conferencing.

To schedule a WebEx:

  • Go to smsd.webex.com
  • Login. My login username is haydenferguson@smsd.org.  There's an option to reset password if necessary.
  • Select "Start a meeting"
  • You can either copy and paste the meeting URL into an Outlook Meeting or into an email with a specified time.  It's up to you to start the meeting at the designated time.
  • Parents can join by going by following the URL you emailed them or entering the meeting ID
See even more information in the district ICT newsletter.


2.  Google Voice
"Google Voice is a voicemail service from Google that enables users to send free text messages, customize their voicemail, read voicemail text transcript, and more."

 Google assigns you a phone number so while you are actually speaking into your personal cell phone, the number is disguised as the Google number.  

 To get Google Voice:

  • Go to voice.google.com  
  • Connect using your ih Gmail account
  • Choose an available number
  • Connect your cell phone to Google Voice by entering the code texted to you
To make a call using Google Voice:
  • Complete above steps
  • Select the phone icon and then "make a call."
  • Type in the number you wish to call
  • Select "call"
  • Choose "phone to call with" as "Phone 2"
  • As stated, Google will first call your cell phone.  Once you pick up, it will immediately dial the phone number you requested.

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