Zoom Webinars

Overview

WSU Zoom webinar license allows you to create a webinar that will hold up to 500 participants. Can be created with your WSU personal Zoom account. TLT has the ability to create webinars up to 1000 participants. Some webinars can be streamed to YouTube or FaceBook. Contact TLT for more information. Department zoom rooms cannot create webinars.

Roles in a webinar

Host – can share your screen, video and audio Co-Host – can share your screen, video and audio Panelists – can share your screen, video and audio Attendees – are muted by default, cannot share screen or video

Figure 1

Scheduling a Webinar

Webinars can be scheduled with or without registration for your participants.  Passcodes can be required.  Note, if you plan to have the link and passcode listed in an advertisement, like a poster or newspaper, then it is best not to require Passcode.   Webinars can also be secured by only allowing authenticated users to join or the use of a waiting room.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal https://minnstate.zoom.us or open the Zoom Desktop Application, click on your avatar and then select My Profile

2. Click Webinars from the left nav

3. Click Schedule a Webinar (See Figure 1)

Figure 2

4. Choose the appropriate webinar settings which include: (See Figure 2 & 3)

• Topic - then name of the Webinar
• Description - provide some details
• Use a Template – webinar templates
• When - Date and Time
• Duration
• Recurring – will open more selections to configure
• Registration

Registrations requires attendees to complete a brief form before receiving the link to join your webinar. This enables the host to collect the names, email addresses and more from the attendees.  It is possible to automatically approve anyone who registers, or manual approve attendees.  

• Require webinar Passcode - or schedule without requiring a passcode
• Video- turn on or off for Hosts and Panelists
• Audio options
• Webinar Options

• 1. Q&A - participants ask questions during the webinar for the panelists, co-hosts and host
  2. Enable Practice Session - start the webinar practice session to test webinar controls
  3. Enable HD video for screen shared video (do not enable this if most are from the same location)
  4. Only authenticated users can join
  5. Make the webinar on-demand
  6. Automatically record webinar

Figure 3

5. Alternative Hosts - can start a webinar if host is not available, has full participant rights

6. Schedule the webinar

After you schedule the webinar you can add Panelist.

Inviting Panelist(s) to a Webinar

Panelists can view and send video, screen share, annotate and make use of the whiteboard.  A panelist must be assigned this role by the webinar host. The host can also disable some features for panelists, including starting video, screen share, and recording. Attendees are muted and cannot activate their camera or share their screen. (See Figure 4)

Sign into the Zoom web portal and click Webinars

1.    Click the topic of the webinar and you want to add panelists to. 

2.    In the Invitations tab, select the Edit button in the Invite panelists section.  

Figure 4

Inviting Attendees to a Webinar

Attendees are view-only partcipants who by default are muted but can be un-muted by the host. They cannot share their screen. Their view of the webinar is controlled by the host. Attendees can interact with the host and the panelists through the Q&A and the chat. There are three different ways to invite attendees to register: (see Figure 5)

• Copy the registration URL and share

• Click Copy the invitation to view and copy the invitation to send out to attendees, Panelists and Alternative Hosts

• Click Email me the invitation to receive a copy of the invitation that you can forward to potential attendees.

Figure 5

Figure 6

Panelists will receive an email inviting them to the webinar, but it is not a meeting invitation, it is just an email message. It is best practice to also send Panelists a meeting invitation for them to put on their calendars. You can use the link in (Figure 5) that has the link you can Copy Invitation to use in your meeting invitation.

Send an Outlook Meeting Invitation to all Attendees, Panelist and Alternative Hosts. You will not use the Scheduling Assistant for this meeting invitation.

If you have selected to "schedule a practice session", then you will want to send out an additional Outlook meeting invitation to the panelists and whoever needs to test out the webinar settings for this session. This is typically done right before the meeting, but can be scheduled anytime before the actual webinar starts.

Starting a webinar

There are three different ways to start a webinar: 

1)     Sign in to the Zoom web portal and click Webinars.  Find appropriate webinar and click Start.

2)     In the Zoom client, click the Meetings tab.  Find the appropriate webinar and click Start. 

3)     If you have added this to your calendar, click on the link displayed on your calendar reminder.  Make sure that you are logged into your Zoom account before clicking the link. 

Managing Participants

Figure 7

The Participants option in your webinar toolbar at the bottom of your screen manages the panelists and attendees in your webinar.  Options include promoting to co-host or panelist, demoting panelists to attendee, un-muting participants, stopping video of panelists. 

Panelists

Hover over the panelist name and click More.  (See Figure 7)

Figure 8

Attendees

Click on the Attendees tab, hover over the attendee’s name, and click More.  (see Figure 8)

Features running a Zoom webinar

Screen Sharing - Only the host, co-host and panelist can share their screen during a webinar. 

Polling for Webinars - Polling allows a host to create a single choice or multiple choice polling questions for a webinar.  Hosts can create these polls prior to the webinar, or during, and choose when to launch the poll during the webinar.  You can have up to 25 polls during a webinar. 

Raise Hand in Webinar - This feature allows attendees to click a option for raising their hand to indicate they need something from the host or panelist.  Hosts have the ability to Lower the hand and not address the attendee.

Question & Answers (Q&A) - The host can set up either anonymous questions or allow attendees to view either all questions or only answered questions. 

Enable a Co-Host - This feature can be useful when holding a large webinar. 

Recording - Can record to the cloud or locally. If recording to the cloud, the webinar will first be saved to Zoom cloud and then automatically saved to MediaSpace. This will take 24 hours to complete. Recordings will go to the Host's account.

Start a Practice Session

If you have checked to Enable Practice Session when you created the webinar, then if you start the webinar you will go into the Practice Session. Only Hosts and Panelists will be allowed to join. After you have completed your practice session, you can just leave the webinar and start it later of select to Broadcast the event to start the webinar.

Tips for running your webinar:

• Have a one or two people as Host, Co-Host or Alternative Host to manage the webinar.  These are not presenters.  They can upgrade attendees if needed and answer technical problems attendees may have. 
• Schedule a practice session for panelists to have a chance to get comfortable with the flow, content of the meeting, and the technology.  This is an option within your scheduled webinar. 
• Use registration if you need to secure attendance. 
• Use visuals to keep participants interested.  Consider Whiteboards and/or Annotation. 

For a complete listing of topics, select the Zoom category from the list below.