Hosting a live webinar

This guide covers the live part of a built-in webinar: the host studio, going live, what attendees experience, and finishing so the replay shows up. Setting up the event itself (type, registration page, emails, offer, replay settings) is in Creating events.

Before the day: run a rehearsal

Open the event, choose Host studio, and join the stage. Check the microphone and camera pickers, share your screen, and try each layout. You can even press Go live and open the attendee page in a private browser window to see exactly what registrants will get.

When you press End webinar before the scheduled start, the studio asks whether this was the real webinar or a rehearsal. Choose Just a rehearsal, keep the schedule: registrants keep their countdown, nothing is emailed, and the rehearsal recording is not attached to the event.

The studio at a glance

Going live

If the studio still says Starting after about 90 seconds, the broadcast did not connect. Press Cancel start, check your camera and connection, and press Go live again.

What attendees see

• The live room in their browser, with the video and, if enabled, chat and questions beside it. No downloads and no meeting link.
• Their registered name on anything they post. Guests who registered with just a name and email can chat, ask, and vote without creating an account.
• Your notices as a banner over the player, and the offer in the rail when you show it.
• A reassuring waiting screen if you drop off: "The host lost their connection, please stay on this page." They are never sent away.

If your connection drops

Losing wifi does not end the webinar. The broadcast stays open for up to 30 minutes without you, and attendees see the waiting screen rather than an ended screen.

• You lose your connection or refresh the studio tab: the studio shows You are live but off the stage and rejoins on its own once the network is back. If it does not, press Rejoin the stage. Attendees pick up where the stream resumes.
• The stream itself drops: a red banner appears with Restart broadcast. Press it; attendees' players recover automatically and the recording continues as one file.
• Switching to a phone hotspot works the same way. Send a notice such as "Give me two minutes, reconnecting now" so attendees know.

If nobody rejoins within 30 minutes, the webinar ends by itself and the recording archives as usual.

Ending the webinar

Press End webinar. Attendees see the ended screen, the recording archives to your video library, and when automatic replay publication is on, the replay appears on the event page a few minutes later with the follow-up emails sent according to the event's email settings.

If you end before the scheduled start time, the studio asks:

• This was the webinar, end it for good. The event's date moves to when you actually went live, attendees see the ended screen, and the recording becomes the replay.
• Just a rehearsal, keep the schedule. Registrants keep their countdown and the recording is not attached to the event.

After the webinar: results

The event's Results tab shows how it went: the funnel from registered to attended to stayed to the end to clicked the offer, with where the registrations came from; the audience over time, minute by minute, with your offer and message moments marked; how each email performed; and, for evergreen webinars, which session slots people pick and actually show up for. A recurring series adds a per-date roll-up.

Review monthly webinar usage

After the first webinar activity of the month, the Events manager shows a compact usage card with webinars run, attendee-hours used, and the room's seat limit. Hover or focus the card for the live, replay, and evergreen portions plus the peak audience. When usage warnings are enabled for the website, review them before scheduling another large session.

Related

• Creating events for webinar setup, registration pages, emails, offers, and evergreen playback.
• RSVPs and attendee experience
• Managing events