Move your public bid openings online

In just 4 easy steps and at no cost, you can live stream your bid openings today!

 

Step 1 icon small Pick and setup your bid opening room

  • For best sound quality, select a room that has soft surfaces, such as carpeting, window drapes and soft-sided chairs.
  • Place your laptop or webcam in a location that captures the entire work surface and participants.
    • Consider using a separate webcam** (versus the laptop’s webcam and microphone) to improve video and sound quality.
    • **Vendor Registry will provide a free webcam with its online Vendor and Bid Management solution if needed (learn more)
  • Test lighting and sound quality prior to recording the official bid opening video.
  • You may feel more natural live streaming if you have a colleague in the room that you can focus on as the audience.

Step 2 icon small Schedule a Zoom live streaming event

  • Zoom is a great, free video and audio streaming option because of reliable streaming and ability for participants to join via desktop or mobile as well as call in for audio only.
  • Sign up for the Zoom Basic (ie, free) version, which allows for 100 participants and up to 40 minute long meetings.
    • The $14.99/month plan allows for 24hr meetings and recording
  • Sign into the Zoom desktop app and click “Schedule” to create a future event.
    Select a name, time/date and other settings for the meeting.
    • Advanced Options allow for muting participants on entry and automatically recording the meeting.
  • Click “Schedule” button to complete.
  • Next, Zoom will ask you to log into your calendar app so - if desired - the event will show up on your calendar and so you can add participants to the calendar invite.
  • Under “Meetings” in the top navigation of the Zoom app, find your scheduled event and copy the Meeting Invitation details for Step 3.
  • For future reference, check out Getting Started on Windows and Mac.

Step 3 icon small Share date, time and URL with vendors PRIOR to deadline

  • Log into your Vendor Registry system and click into your currently published bid.
  • Next, follow these basic steps:
    • Select the “+Addition” tab. Change “Type of Addition” to desired label.
    • Enter desired information into “Overview” field; in this case, the Zoom meeting invitation information
    • Select “Next/Add Documents”
    • Select “Save”
  • When prompted, click “Notify Vendors” button to notify vendors of this addition
  • Click “Send” to notify listed vendors of the addition

Step 4 icon small Start your Zoom video meeting

  • Ten minutes before the meeting, log into the Zoom desktop app
    • Found under Start for Microsoft users
    • Found under Applications for Apple users
  • Click blue “Start” button on the right of the home screen OR under Meetings
  • Click “Test Speaker and Microphone“
  • After the test, click “Join with Computer Audio”
  • If your camera is not already on, click the “Start Video” camera icon in the lower left
  • If it isn’t recording automatically, simply click “Record” if desired
  • The lower navigation allows you to easily invite participants, see who is participating, chat with participants, and share your screen.
  • When the meeting is concluded, click “End Meeting” in the lower right.

Hope you found this virtual bid openings checklist helpful! Click to see to see our checklist for Recording and Sharing Public Bid Openings.