Webinar Event Dashboard Settings

Webinars are Gradual's newest event type, which combines the experience of a livestream and a meeting event. They allow you to present and stream natively in Gradual and bring attendees to the stage to provide an interactive video call for a larger audience of attendees.

Learn more about how to build webinars and the dashboard settings below.

The webinar event type must be enabled in your dashboard. Reach out to the Gradual Team if this would be a solution for your community.


Creating a Webinar event

1
From the Gradual dashboard, select Events on the left hand side menu. Select +Create an event in the upper right hand side of that page.

2
Select Webinar and give your event a title, select the proper timezone, enter the scheduled start date and time, and the scheduled end date and time. Select ‘Submit’ at the base.
3
You will be directed to the Webinar Room page where you must assign the important roles in the event. Learn more about each role below. THe most important is a webinar host (or multiple hosts):

To add a host, select + Select Host. Hosts must be attendees or registrants of the event, so you can search for and select already registered attendees in this pop-up, or at the base of the page select + New Attendee As Host to register and add someone from your community as the host.

To save your work, click ‘Save’. 

If you want to add more or change hosts at a later date, you can access this feature within the event, in Webinar Room on the left-hand side menu.
4
Panelists are important in webinars as they can be on camera and audio and screen share.

To add panelists select + Select Panelist. Panelists must be attendees or registrants of the event, so you can search for and select already registered attendees in this pop-up, or at the base of the page select + New Attendee As Panelist to register and add someone from your community. To save your work, click ‘Save’. 

Note: Assigned Hosts and Staff can promote attendees to panelists live in the event as well.

5
Complete your event setup by selecting Event SetUp on the left hand side, and making sure all relevant details are listed in the General Info tab. You can upload an image, provide a description and also assign tags to the event.

Once that’s complete, you’re set to publish this event and start promoting it!
Click the ‘Publish’ button at the base of the left hand side menu when ready, and find the event link to share and promote the event in ‘Overview’.

Webinar Roles

These roles can be configured by admin in the event dashboard in the Webinar Room tab.

Hosts

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

  • Hosts can 'Go Live' and start the webinar and end the webinar for attendees
  • Hosts can promote attendees to 'panelist' to bring them on screen, live in the event
  • Hosts can control audio, moderate chat/Q&A, record the event, and assign breakout rooms
  • Hosts can screen share during the event

Panelists

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

  • Panelists can screen share during the event

Staff

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

  • Staff can promote attendees to 'panelist' to bring them on screen, live in the event
  • Staff can control audio, moderate chat/Q&A, record the event, and assign breakout rooms
  • Staff can end the webinar for attendees

Attendees

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.


Webinar Features

These settings can be configured by admin in the event dashboard in the Webinar Room tab.

Display attendee name

This controls if attendees can see the profile cards of other attendees during the event. If you'd like to keep the list of attendees private, toggle this off.


Chat and Q&A

Similar to other virtual events in Gradual, you can enable chat and Q&A tabs for attendees to engage with each other and the panelists.

Learn more about Q&A here.


Lobby/Waiting room

There is currently no waiting room or lobby feature in webinars. If a lobby or waiting room is critical to your event, you can host a meeting event for fewer attendees.


Ticket Types & Invitations

You can customize the type of tickets offered, the number of tickets or seats to the event, and the cost of tickets in the Ticket Types menu.

If you need to restrict access to certain ticket types or events, you can utilize Invitations and parameters during registration. Learn more about invite-only events and ticketing here.


Registration Form

Build custom registration forms by asking attendees to answer a series of questions before they confirm their attendance. Forms can be unique to different ticket types as well!


Agenda & Speakers

Promote the schedule of your event event by creating a detailed agenda and adding speaker profiles to the event.

  • Follow the steps here to create and customize the sessions and framework of your agenda.
  • Add speakers to your event and community to elevate your agenda and promote presenters and hosts.

Emails

Gradual can send out event confirmation and reminder emails automatically to your registrants. See examples of these emails and how to enable or disable them here.


Admit Attendees Early

By default, the 'doors' will open to the event at the time set in General Info. If you'd like to admit attendees earlier than that start time, you can set the specified time on the General Info page in Advanced Settings.

Note: Attendees will be able to enter the webinar environment, but will not see and hear the hosts and panelists until the host goes 'live'.

💡 Pro Tip: Invite your panelists and fellow hosts to the event ahead of show time to run through the agenda, ensure their camera and mic are working, and wait to 'Go Live' until everyone is ready. Attendees will not see or hear hosts and panelists until the 'Go Live' button is pressed.

Hosting a Webinar

Learn more about the actions and tips for hosting a successful webinar here.

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