OpenTalk 26.3: Less obstacles to planning, access and participation

Monday morning, 9 am. The team meets for their weekly regular meeting. The meeting is firmly scheduled in the calendar, everyone knows where they need to be, and nobody wastes time on organisational details. Shortly afterwards, the discussion gets underway: ideas are shared, questions are clarified and decisions are made. Ideally, the technology is barely noticeable.

The new OpenTalk release 26.3 clears away minor hurdles in several areas that repeatedly cost time or attention in day-to-day work: from planning a meeting, through access, to actual participation.

A fixed venue for meetings

Regular meetings are part of everyday working life for many teams. Anyone planning them via Outlook can now link an OpenTalk room directly to a recurring appointment series. All appointments in the series use the same meeting link. Access is also simplified: instead of different links for registered users and guests, there is a single meeting URL for all participants. Guests retain their existing access options, whilst organisers have fewer different links to manage and share.

Access is also more flexible for meetings with enhanced security. Guest access and the option for a very high level of security can now be enabled independently of one another. This means that guests can also join meetings for which this additional security is enabled.

And if a room is to be used not just for a single appointment but on a permanent basis, organisers can create a personal meeting room with its own name. This name serves as an easy-to-remember alias for the meeting ID and is suitable, for example, for consultation hours, team meetings or regular coordination sessions. The personal room can be enabled or disabled on a per-meeting basis; if it is disabled, the room remains accessible via its meeting ID.

Share your screen and stop just as quickly

If you have to search for the right function in the middle of a presentation, you’ll quickly lose the flow of the conversation. Frequently used functions, in particular, should therefore be immediately intuitive.

The screen-sharing icon has been made more distinctive so that it can be recognised more quickly. Stopping the screen share has also been made easier: a single click on the button is all it takes to stop the current screen share. If you’d prefer to share a different screen or window instead, you’ll find this option via a separate selection menu. The operating principle thus more closely resembles the already familiar controls for the camera and microphone: the most important action is directly on the button, with further options behind it.

Less attention on the tool, more on the conversation

Release 26.2 brought a fundamental change beneath the surface of OpenTalk with the new RoomServer. With 26.3, the focus shifts more strongly to what users experience immediately before and during a meeting.

Whether during planning, when joining, or in the middle of a conversation: the new features streamline processes and make functions more accessible. As a result, the technology demands less attention, leaving more focus for the actual meeting.

The highlights of OpenTalk 26.3 at a glance

Release 26.3 introduces several new features that simplify the planning, access and participation in meetings:

• One meeting URL for everyone: Guests and registered users access a meeting via the same link.
• Personal meeting rooms: Rooms can be given their own name and serve as a permanent address.
• Guests in highly secure meetings: Guest access and a very high level of security can be enabled independently of one another.
• Simpler screen sharing: Screen sharing can be ended with a single click.
• Recurring Outlook appointments: The Outlook add-in supports appointment series where all appointments use the same OpenTalk room.

→ You can find all changes and technical details regarding OpenTalk 26.3 in the Release Notes.