While automated webinars aren’t live broadcasts, they can still make use of the public and private chats and Q&A function. How you want to configure these depends on whether a team member can be present during the broadcast.
Chat during automated webinars
Both public and private chat is available for live webinars, though we only recommend using them if a webinar team member can be present for the broadcast, otherwise your audience’s messages may go ignored.
If there is no team member that can attend the automated webinar, we recommend using the ‘Restricted’ Q&A feature instead. Read more about that here.
Configure the live chat for an automated webinar
You can configure the live chat prior to the automated webinar. Keep in mind that we only recommend this if a webinar team member can be present for the broadcast! Follow these steps:
Select the webinar you want to edit.
Click on 'Edit webinar' to access the webinar settings.
Navigate to the 'Webinar' section.
Click on 'Chat settings'.
Select 'Use the live chat' in the drop down menu and click on the switch to turn the public/private chat on or off.
You also have the option to show simulated chat conversations during your automated webinar. You can find out how to do this here.
Open chat during webinar
Select the automated webinar from the webinar overview.
Click on the large orange button that says 'Open webinar as chat moderator'.
A moderator dashboard will open. You will receive all incoming conversations and messages here. In the top right, you can enable or disable private and public chat.
You can read all chat messages after the webinar in the 'Statistics' of the webinar.
Q&A during automated webinars
While automated webinars are pre-recorded, you can still answer questions your audience may have while watching the webinar. How you can answer these, however, depends on whether a webinar team member can be present during the automated webinar.
Automated webinars offer two Q&A options:
‘Public’ Q&A, for when a webinar team member is present
The ‘Public’ Q&A setting allows any webinar attendees to submit questions. This means that questions can be asked at any time when this mode is selected, which is why we only recommend this when a webinar team member attends the webinar. Simulated Q&A can also be used with this mode.
‘Restricted’ Q&A, for when no webinar team member is present
The ‘Restricted’ Q&A setting allows two types of questions: those submitted by webinar team members and simulated Q&A. Because viewers cannot submit questions by default, this is a safe setting to enable during unattended webinars. This mode can also be used as a question box.
Simulated Q&A
Every Q&A mode except ‘Disabled’ permits simulated Q&A during automated webinars, which allows you to add “fake” questions and answers to make the automated webinar feel more interactive.
Read more about simulated Q&A here.
Public Q&A during automated webinars
The ‘Public’ Q&A mode makes it so that any attendee can submit a Q&A question at any time. When someone submits a question, it appears in the Q&A tab for every attendee to see. Webinar team members can answer these questions with text.
Because these questions are submitted by “live” viewers, someone has to be present to answer them. That’s why we only recommend using this setting when a webinar team member can be around during the broadcast.
Read this article to find out how to answer Q&A questions.
Follow these steps to configure your automated webinar to use the ‘Public’ Q&A setting:
Click on your webinar to select it.
Click on 'Edit webinar'.
Navigate to the 'Webinar' section.
Choose 'Q&A' or the ‘?’ icon within the 'Webinar' section.
Select ‘Public’.
Read this article for more information about configuring the Q&A feature.
Restricted Q&A during automated webinars
The ‘Restricted’ Q&A mode makes it so that only webinar team members can submit Q&A questions. When a team member submits a question, it appears in the Q&A tab for every attendee to see. Webinar team members can answer these questions with text.
There is no need to worry about questions being ignored because only webinar team members can submit questions, which means it’s safe to enable this mode for automated webinars without moderation.
Follow these steps to configure your automated webinar to use the ‘Restricted’ Q&A setting:
Click on your webinar to select it.
Click on 'Edit webinar'.
Navigate to the 'Webinar' section.
Choose 'Q&A' or the ‘?’ icon within the 'Webinar' section.
Select ‘Restricted’.
The best part about the ‘Restricted’ Q&A mode is that it allows you to use simulated Q&A and a question box without having to worry about moderating the webinar. Read on to find more about the question box option and check this article to learn more about simulated Q&A.
Using Q&A as a question box during automated webinars
You can use the Q&A function as a question box during automated webinars, allowing viewers to ask questions that are forwarded to your email address so you can answer them later. Follow these steps to configure that:
Click on your webinar to select it.
Click on 'Edit webinar'.
Navigate to the 'Webinar' section.
Choose 'Q&A' or the ‘?’ icon within the 'Webinar' section.
Select ‘Restricted’.
Tick the box next to ‘Viewers can ask private question’.
Enter the email address that should receive the questions.
You can also read all viewer questions after the webinar in the 'Statistics'.
Changing the Q&A mode during an automated webinar
You can change the Q&A mode during the automated webinar, so there is no need to worry if a webinar team member can only attend the automated webinar for a limited time. Follow these steps to do so:
On the webinar page, click the Q&A tab.
Click the icon depicting a question mark in a speech bubble with a cog wheel.
Select the Q&A mode you want to use.