Webinars are similar to meeting events, but allow you to stream live natively in Gradual and bring attendees on screen as panelists. This resource walks through the assigned roles in a webinar, and actions a host can take within the event to go live, bring attendees on and off screen, and end the webinar for their viewers.

The assigned roles in the webinar are similar to those in a Meeting room but vary slightly with who is on screen and live. These roles are assigned from the event dashboard in the Webinar Room tab or live during the event by the host.

Hosts can be on video and audio in the event, and have the most elevated controls during the live event:

Panelists can be on video and audio in the event, but have limited controls during the live event:

Staff members are NOT on video and audio in the event, but have elevated controls during the live event:

All other registrants are assigned attendees. Attendees are NOT on video and audio in the event but can be promoted to panelists to come on video and audio by hosts or staff.

Hosts, staff, and panelists can log into the webinar ahead of attendees, set up & test their cameras and microphones, and prepare to go live to the general audience using the Live Event Environment link.

The audience of attendees will not be able to see or hear the hosts and panelists until the 'Go Live' button is pressed. If you want to allow your attendees to join early, before the start time, adjust the admin attendees' time in the event dashboard.

The 'Go Live' button will admit attendees into the webinar and they will be able to see and hear the hosts and panelists. This button is only visible to hosts and will appear once the event has begun.

If the webinar has begun, but the host has not gone 'live', attendees will see a waiting screen within the event. They can post in the chat, ask questions in Q&A, and explore the profiles of the hosts and panelists in the event as they wait for the event to begin.

Attendees will not see or hear hosts and panelists until the 'Go Live' button is pressed.

To bring an attendee on-screen during the webinar, they must be promoted to 'panelist'. This can be done in the dashboard by an admin in the Webinar Room tab, or live during the event.

2. Or, attendees can raise their hand, and from within the Raised Hand pop up, select 'Promote to Panelist'

Once an attendee is promoted to panelist, they will receive a notification pop-up where they will be prompted to allow access and configure their camera and microphone to come on screen.

Once an attendee is added as a panelist, they will receive a notification pop-up where they will be prompted to allow access and configure their camera and microphone to come on screen.

To take an attendee off-screen during the webinar, they must be demoted to an attendee. This can be done in the dashboard by an admin in the Webinar Room tab, or live during the event.

Once an attendee is demoted from panelist to attendee, they will receive a notification pop-up, and will drop from the video feeds.

Once an attendee is removed from the panelist list in the dashboard, they will receive a notification pop-up and they will drop from the video feeds.

The host can leave a webinar without ending it, end the webinar for attendees only, or end it for everyone. The options available when leaving depend on whether the webinar has gone live.

Before selecting ‘Go Live’, selecting ‘EXIT’ will immediately remove you from the webinar room. You will not be prompted to end the webinar.

Leaving during this preparation period does not end or cancel the webinar. The webinar remains scheduled, and you can return to the webinar room when you’re ready.

Panelists, staff, and attendees can also leave without ending the webinar.

After the host has selected ‘Go Live’, selecting ‘EXIT’ opens the ‘Do you want to leave the webinar?’ window. From here, the host can:

Selecting End for attendees only or End for everyone requires an additional confirmation before the webinar is ended.

Select End for attendees only when you want to finish the attendee-facing portion of the webinar while keeping hosts, panelists, and staff in the room.

Attendees are removed from the webinar and cannot rejoin. Hosts, panelists, and staff remain in the webinar and will see an ‘Attendees have left the webinar’ message.

After attendees have left, the host can select ‘EXIT’ again to either leave while keeping the webinar running for the remaining hosts and panelists, or select ‘End for everyone’ to end the webinar completely.

Select End for everyone when the webinar is completely finished and everyone should leave the session.

This ends the webinar for everyone. Attendees cannot rejoin after the webinar has been ended.

Closing a confirmation window, selecting ‘Cancel’, pressing the Escape key, or clicking outside of the window will return you to the webinar without ending it.