Zoom Webinar has several features and behaviors that are different from Zoom Meeting. The major differences are sited below. If you are unfamiliar with Zoom please visit our Zoom Meeting Guide before proceeding to through this article.
Panelists and Attendees:
Zoom Webinar handles participants differently than Zoom Meeting. Webinars provide two panels for participants: "Panelists" and "Attendees". Host and co-host roles remain unchanged in Zoom Webinar from Zoom Meeting.
1. Panelists tab: The panelists tab will contain those assigned the "panelist" role along with the "host" and "co-host" roles.
A. Panelists: Panelists have very similar rights to a participant in Zoom Meeting. They have the option to mute/un-mute their microphone or video. They also can see host and panelist chat along with Q&A. Panelists can also be empowered to share their screens if deemed appropriate by the host.
B. Hosts and co-hosts: Hosts and co-hosts are given many different management options in a webinar as opposed to a meeting. Individual rights will be assigned based on the user's role in the webinar.
i. Audio options: Hosts and co-hosts can set various options such as muting or un-muting panelists or giving panelists the option to un-mute themselves.
ii. Lock webinar: Much like meeting this option prevents additional panelists or attendees from entering the webinar until it is unlocked.
iii. Start video: Hosts, co-hosts and panelists can start their video if the "Allow Panelists to Start Video" option is checked. This is not on by default and must be enabled by the host.
iv. Attendee options: Hosts can give certain options for attendees such as allowing them to raise their hand for questions or to view the amount of people in the webinar. The default view of all attendees can be set as well. For most webinars at FSU the "Gallery" view will be selected. While in gallery view attendees will only be able to see panelists, hosts and co-hosts who have their video turned on, while panelists, hosts and co-hosts will see everyone in the panelist view. If no video is currently on, it will display the name of the active speaker. This is significant since those in the panelist window will have a very different view from those in the attendee view. It is recommended that all hosts test out the attendee view before any major webinar event.
2. Attendee tab: This tab will have all the attendees that are viewing your webinar. Their access is very limited.
A. Attendees: Attendees have far more limited rights in a webinar than a participant does in a meeting. They are initially limited to view only access to the presentation, to raise their hands, type in question and answer, type in chat, and to use their microphone if these features have been enabled by the host. Hosts have the option to deny any or all of these features from attendees. There is NO video option available for attendees.
i. Allow to Talk: Hosts may allow an attendee to use their microphone, one at a time, if they wish to allow the audience to engage in audio feedback or an "open-mic" question and answer session. As this can cause issues in larger groups, FSU does not currently recommend this option if it can be avoided.
Question and Answer:
The Question and Answer section is an exclusive feature to Zoom Webinar. It allows attendees to ask written questions that can be reviewed by hosts, co-hosts and panelists. Questions can be asked by name or anonymously, depending on the settings chosen by the host.
1. Open questions: All questions asked by attendees will be placed in the "open" queue in the Q&A section. All hosts, co-hosts and panelists can view open questions, while attendees cannot. Typically a panelist is assigned to manage the Q&A section of a webinar.
2. Answered questions: One reviewed questions can be "answered" in one of two ways: either by typing an answer directly to the question, which once submitted will make the question and its written answer visible to all attendees, or by selecting the "This question was answered live" option. This will make the question visible to all attendees and have the answer "this question was answered live" indicating that it received an audio response. An attendee would have to review the recording (if applicable) if the answer was missed.
3. Dismissed questions: Questions that are either duplicates, unclear or determined to be inappropriate can be dismissed. Dismissed questions are moved out of the open queue and will not be visible to attendees.
Chat:
Zoom Webinar chat is very similar to Zoom Meeting chat. However there are a few differences:
1. Audience: In Zoom Webinar, panelists can chat with attendees, other panelists, hosts and co-hosts individually or as a group.
2. Attendee options: Hosts can set the chat options for attendees. FSU recommends that chat be disabled in webinars as it can require considerable management.
Other Features:
1. Raise hand: Raise hand gives attendees the option to give a non-verbal signal to panelists that they have a question or comment. This feature can be turned on or off at the hosts convenience. This feature should remain off if the host does not plan to assign a panelist to watch for raised hands.
2. Live streaming: Zoom Webinar gives a host the option to stream their webinar to an outside platform such as Facebook and YouTube. A separate account will be required with these platforms to utilize this feature. FSU does not currently provide support for streaming to platforms not within the control of ITS.
If you have further questions about running something in Zoom Webinar, please select the "Zoom Consultation" option within the service catalog under "Webinar".