Record new voicemail menus

When a caller reaches an extension with pseudos attached, the caller is given a menu to choose which pseudo they would like to leave a message at. A pseudo is a mailbox that does not have a direct extension. Every year these pseudos are assigned to visitors in residence at CES.

See List of phones. The pseudos are listed in menu order. Assign visitors to each pseudo in alphabetical order. Each extension has both a greeting and a recorded name. A greeting is a recording that is played when a call is not answered. A recorded name is used in the phone directory.

Recording a new greeting

1. Press the voicemail button on any Harvard Cisco VoIP phone, or dial 83999.
2. Dial *.
3. Dial the extension, then #.
4. Dial the PIN, then #.
5. Dial 4-1-1.
6. Record the message using the following template:

You have reached Busch Hall, office [Number]. To leave a message for [User 1], press 1. To leave a message for [User 2], press 2.

Tips for recording the greeting

• Speak more slowly than you think you should.
• Before starting the recording, have the phone near your mouth and your hand near the pound sign. This prevents silence at the beginning and end of the recording.
• The greeting message is intended to be understandable to an anglophone. It does not need to be authentic.
• Pronounce names as authentically as possible without affecting an accent.
• If the person's name is similar to the anglophonic pronunciation, such as Sebastian, use the anglophonic pronunciation.
• If the name is substantially different, such as Josef, use the non-anglophonic pronunciation.
• Avoid being comically wrong.
• Do not use guttural Rs or alveolar Rs.