The following tips are to guide you in best practices for setting up and running your events that allow you to get the most out of the Double A platform while having some fun.
Check out the below sections:
Six Tips to Start Your Meeting
For many, using the Double A platform will be a new experience. To start your event, we recommend doing the following (6) Steps to quickly get familiar with the space and ready to engage.
Step 1: Learn to Move with a Game
Ask guests questions that they have to move to the correct answer, left side for yes/right side for no, etc. This teaches them how to move their avatar:
Example: Live Survey:
Step 2: Move and click on Clickable Item
Have at least (1) interactable and (1) embedded video in the room and ask guests to click on it. This will teach them to explore by clicking around while reinforcing that they are the only one that sees what they click on.
Step 3: Find a seat
Have guests move to a “seat” in the space or the designated viewing area to train them to now stand on top of presentations :)
Step 4: Pick an emoji and send a vibe
Emojis: Show guests where the emojis are in the room and have them all choose an emoji to test it out. This will train them to use emojis to give nonverbal feedback throughout the meeting, while also showing how they can “raise their hand” to ask questions.
Note: This is not available in spectator mode
Vibes: Explain to guests how to send vibes by hovering over another avatar and clicking the lightning bolt. Vibes are a fan favorite once everyone knows where they are.
Step 5: Zoom in/out & Find names
Zoom: If content is smaller or you want to see another’s avatar bigger, click on the + or - in the top right to zoom in/out.
Avatar Names: To see who is in the room or asking a question, click on a guest’s avatar for their name to appear. You can also view their profile.
Step 6: Try spatial audio
Lastly, adjust the room setting from room-wide to spatial audio so everyone understands the different room audio settings that will be used during the meeting.
Presentation Tips:
Engaging with the Audience
Questions: Encourage guests to use the waving hand emoji when they have a question to alert you (not available in spectator mode)
Post the presentation , have a microphone stand in the room for guests to line up to ask the speaker questions. The moderator can then put them on Speaker Mode.
Chat: Open the chat panel via the chat icon on the bottom right of your screen to review questions and comments from the audience.
Zoom in/out on content and guests: To see guests or content bigger, use the + and - buttons in the top right corner to zoom in and out.
Mouse: utilize your scroll wheel
Trackpad: utilize pinch to zoom
When Presenting…
Speaker Mode: Put yourself in speaker mode via the green megaphone on your action bar so guests know where to draw their attention during the presentation. This will make you larger than others in the room and let you be heard by everyone, regardless of spatial audio being on.
Moderator Tools: If guests forgot to mute or are on top of the presentation, you can click on their avatar for additional moderation tools to appear (Admins only):
Bring to Me: automatically moves their avatar next to yours
Send Notification: sends a private, one way message to the guest. They will be unable to respond back
Make a Speaker: put the guest into speaker mode until the moderator turns it off
Turn off Mic: mutes the guest (a guest can not be unmuted)
Turn off Webcam: turns off a guest’s webcam (an admin cannot turn on a guest’s webcam)
Screen Sharing: For best performance, the browser window containing the World needs to be “foregrounded” – it must be visible
When screen-sharing, both the World and shared content window must be resized to fit side by side (if you only have 1 screen) – toggling between tabs will negatively impact performance
If using dual monitors, share from the smaller of the two monitors
Only share static content (no videos, GIFS, or websites with animation running)
Share a Tab/Window/App instead of an entire screen
Keep shared window as small as possible while maintaining a 16:9 ratio
Size the window before sharing
Note: The screen share will pop-up in the center of the screen. Any user can move the screen share by grabbing the right corner of the screenshare box and move it. It will only affect that user’s view.
Kick from Room: To kick out a user from the room, whether to close down the room or remove an avatar for inappropriate behavior, type /kick [user’s name] into the chat window and it will automatically remove them. They will still be able to re-log in but it can be used as a warning. To get their username, click on the avatar.
Adjusting the Space for Your Programming
Space Settings can be adjusted in the Admin Panel at any time before or during an event. Here are a few elements to consider:
Avatar Sizes
Consider the total number of attendees and the style of your background to determine what size your avatars should be. Note: You can adjust these mid-meeting as needed.
There are 3 size options available for Avatars:
Small - Small is best when there will be more than 50 users in a room.
Medium is best when there will be 10 - 50 users in a room.
Large is best when there will be less than 10 users in a room or Spectator Mode will be in use.
To adjust the avatar size, go to the top right corner and click on the Settings icon then choose Admin Panel < Rooms < Select the Room you want to adjust the avatar size < then under Moderation Actions, change the avatar size:
Spatial Audio
Spatial audio refers to the ability to hear other users based on their proximity to you in the room. Choose what style of audio you’d like for your meeting or section of programming:
Double A has 4 settings for Spatial Audio:
No Spatial - All guests in the Room can hear each other, no matter where they are located. This setting is recommended when you want everyone to hear the entire room.
Mingling - Most participants will still be able to hear each other, the exception being that users are far from each other. This setting is recommended when you have 15 or less participants that break into groups.
Conversations - Guests need to be closer to each other to have optimal audio for conversations. This setting is recommended when you have 50 or less participants. It allows for breakout groups without your avatars having to be right on top of each other.
Quiet - Participants must be next to each other to hear each other. Great for large groups that need private conversations. This setting is recommended when you have 50+ participants. It allows groups of 4-6 to comfortably be near each other but limits the group size.
Spectator Mode
When having 100+ users, consider using Spectator Mode for the main presentation time. Guests users will join without their avatar represented but can use the Room Chat to engage with each other and clickables in the room to explore.
Anybody with a Contributor or above user role can join the room as an avatar, regardless of spectator mode being enabled.
How do I set it up?
Go to Settings / Admin Panel / Rooms then select which room you’d like to put into spectator mode.
Once selected, open the room settings by clicking Edit:
A dialogue box will appear. Toggle ON the Spectator mode at the bottom and reset the room limits to 0 if you want all guests to be spectators.
Note: You can have some avatar guests and some spectators. Choose the # of avatars you’d want max via the Room Limits. Once that number of avatars are in the room, all other guests will automatically be made spectators.
3. Hit Save to be taken back to the main Admin panel.
To turn Spectator mode back off, toggle it to OFF and put re-type in your room limits to 100 and hit SAVE.
Who can hear me/see my screen share and when?
In order for spectators to hear anyone talking in the room or see a shared screen, the presenter MUST be on Speaker Mode.
This will make you larger than others in the room and let you be heard by everyone, regardless of spatial audio being on.
Note: User role Presenter and above can enable their own speaker mode. All others will have to have an admin enable it for them.
If you’re an avatar talking to another avatar in the room in normal mode, spectators will not be able to hear your conversation. This is the same for screen share. Avatars in the room will be able to see what’s being presented, however, those in spectator mode will not UNTIL the presenter goes on Speaker Mode.
Once the main presentation is complete, users can then jump to other rooms for breakout sessions where their avatars are present and you can adjust the spatial audio settings.
Screen Recording
This is an admin only feature. Select the Record icon on the action bar to choose what TAB you’d like to record. We do not recommend doing a Window..
Make sure to select “share tab audio” via the check box in the bottom left. This is required to capture other users' audio in your recording.
When finished recording, click the red record button to stop it. You will be asked where you’d like the file to be saved. This will save in a webm format.
Technical Setup
Minimum Device Requirements
Latest version of Google Chrome - v117 or newer
Latest Mac OS - Ventura 13.5.2 or newer
5 GHz WiFi or LAN-connected internet
30 MBit/s internet speed (run a speedtest)
Tech Tips for Presenting
Set up in a private, quiet location
Headphones or headset recommended for audio to prevent feedback
Close/quit any programs or websites not being used for the event
It's helpful to clear cache and restart computer/device prior to event
Once in the virtual world, check your audio/video settings and make sure to allow your browser access to your mic/camera
Computer/device is charged and plugged in
Turn off notifications or use do not disturb mode