Need some help hosting your GroupMic event?

Here you can read full usage guides on hosting a GroupMic event.

Setting up your GroupMic event

Before you begin your GroupMic event, you'll need to connect your smartphone to your venue's PA System first so your audience members' voices can be heard from venue audio equipment.

When you create a GroupMic event, the smartphone belonging to the audience member speaking sends audio to your smartphone, since you're the event host. GroupMic will immediately play the audio out from your smartphone. If your phone isn't connected to a PA system, mixing board, or loudspeaker, the audio will only play out of your smartphone's built in speakers, which is far too quiet for an event in a large room!

Before your event, you MUST check the PA system or mixing board at your venue. Determine what kind of input hardware or cable the system requires and plan accordingly.
You must also ensure that the venue has a stable, reliable, and FAST Wifi connection, as GroupMic will need it to be able to stream voice data between smartphones.
Keep in mind that there is a slight delay in the transport of voice data to your speakers. If your venue's network latency is exceptionally poor, the delay will increase. The higher the transport latency, the higher the echo. If needed, adjust your PA system's volume settings to mitigate any echoing problems.
You'll need a cable adapter that can connect your PA System to a simple 3.5mm cable. Check your PA system to see if the Audio In port on the system uses TRS, RCA, XLR, or other input method.
Connect one cable end into your smartphone's headphone jack. If your smartphone doesn't have a headphone jack, you can use a headphone jack dongle adapter.
- For iPhones, a lightning to headphone jack adapter can be purchased if you don't already have one.
- For Android phones, a USB-C or USB-B headphone jack adapter can be purchased if you don't already have one.

Creating a GroupMic Event

1. Go to Settings and tap 'Change your name'. Enter your name.

Your name will display under the name of the event that you create on the home screen, if you decide to keep your room set as Public.

2. Connect your smartphone to your event's PA or speaker system via headphone jack, then return to the main screen and tap 'Create Room'.

The audio coming from audience member's smartphones is streamed to your phone. If no PA system is connected, the audio will simply play out your smartphone speakers. Make sure a speaker system is connected so that the whole event can hear the voices of other audience members.

3. Enter a name for your GroupMic event in the space provided, then tap 'Create New Room'.

Unless you set your event as Private beforehand (see option 'Always create a public GroupMic room' in Settings), the name that you enter will appear to your audience members if they are connected to your same network. Make sure you keep it simple, and avoid using special characters.

Hosting a GroupMic Event

While you present and speak at your meeting/event, keep your smartphone close to you and use GroupMic to manage audience members who wish to add to the discussion - without passing around a wired microphone.

1. Room Information

If you're using an Android device, the green status bar at the top indicates that your GroupMic event is Public. If it is red, this means your event is Private.
The title text at the top is the name of your GroupMic event that you entered in the previous section. Touch the text to display it.
The PIN of your room is also shown here. GroupMic randomly generates your PIN. Your audience members will need to this number in order to join the room.
Tap the 'Room Information' button at the bottom to view more information about your GroupMic event.

Tap the far left card to toggle between Public and Private event modes.
The middle card tells the name of the Wifi you are connected to. Your audience members should be on the same Wifi network, so be sure to let your audience know the correct Wifi to connect to. Tap the Wifi card to go to your smartphone's network settings.
The far right card tells the name of your GroupMic room. If your event is Public, then those wishing to join your event will see this name show on their smartphones. Tap the card to display the name of the room in larger text.

2. Managing your audience and their Speak Requests

A Speak Request is the digital equivalent of raising one's hand. At any time during your event, forum, presentation, or discussion, if an audience member wishes to ask a question, answer a question, make a comment, or add to the discussion in any way, they can send a Speak Request from their seat in the venue.

Your audience members are shown in a list. There are 4 user states that each member can be in:
1. Idle: This audience member is sitting idly and listening to the discussion.
2. Speak Request: This audience member just sent a Speak Request. Tap their name to allow them to speak.
3. Speaking: It's this person's turn to speak. Their voice will be streamed to your smartphone and played out event speakers momentarily, so make sure your smartphone's volume is turned up. They may not be actively talking, but the 'Tap to Speak' button is displayed on their smartphone. Should you wish to end their turn and move to the next person in line before they manually tap 'Done' on their smartphone, tap their name.
4. Wait: This person has sent a speak request, but it isn't their turn to speak yet. GroupMic won't allow you to accept 2 people at once.
Longest standing speak requests stay closer to the top of the list, and the speaker will always have their name at the very top.
Press and hold to remove a user.

We have discovered that more modern smartphones have stronger Wifi capabilities and therefore less latency troubles. If you have an smartphone more than 4-5 years old, you may be at a higher risk of encountering latency and echo problems.