WebinarGeek is built in such a way that you can bring your webinar to as many viewers as possible. It does not matter where a viewer is located or on which device someone is logged in. Take a look at our system requirements for what the viewer needs (and what we recommend) to properly follow the webinar.

The viewer has received a personal watch link or a direct link to join the webinar (via the confirmation email, for example). The viewer can join the webinar by clicking the link. This can be done in advance, but also during the webinar.

Before the webinar starts, viewers enter a ‘waiting area’ (the countdown page) with a timer that counts down until the start of the webinar. Once the countdown hits 5 minutes remaining (or earlier, if configured), viewers will be redirected to the webinar room. You can configure how long before the start of the webinar viewers will be redirected to the webinar room. The style of the countdown page can be customized.

When the webinar page opens, the viewers will be automatically taken to the page where the webinar will take place. This is where they wait for the presenter to start the webinar. If you’ve set up a start slide, your viewers will now see it.

The webinar page is optimized for different devices and browsers. So, if someone watches the webinar on a phone, the page looks different than on a laptop. For example, on a phone, the chat is displayed below the video instead of next to it.

If the webinar happens to have reached the viewer limit, viewers will see a message that they cannot join at this moment.

The webinar page comes with two themes: dark and light. You can either permanently set a theme for all viewers or have viewers decide themselves which theme they would like to use. In the latter case, viewers will find a button at the bottom of the page to change the webinar theme. By default the theme will be set to match the theme of their device.

As soon as a viewer opens the webinar page, it is tested behind the scenes to see if the browser allows the webinar to play automatically. For example, this is often not allowed on mobile devices. If the video does not play automatically, we clearly show a play button. This button contains a subtle animation that points out to the viewer that the webinar will only start when they click on the play button.

As soon as the webinar starts, the 'Please wait' message or your starting slide will be replaced by the video of the webinar.

Interactions that you start during the webinar are shown in the sidebar to the right of the video. The 'Interactions' tab opens automatically to ensure that the viewer can’t miss the interactions.

If the chat is enabled, the viewer will see it during the webinar. Messages in the public chat are visible to everyone. To send a message, a viewer has to press enter after typing.

If your webinar has the Q&A feature enabled and set to the ‘Public’ setting, viewers can submit questions for the host(s) to answer. This is done through the ‘Q&A’ tab in the sidebar.

All they have to do is type in a question and then press ‘Enter’ on the keyboard or click the arrow icon in the textbox.

Alternatively, if the Q&A mode is set to ‘Restricted’, viewers can use the public and/or private chats to ask questions, which can then be forwarded to the Q&A tab by the webinar team.

Read more about Q&A sessions here.

Questions in the Q&A tab can be upvoted by attendees during the webinar, allowing them to show which questions they want to see answered by the host(s).

They can click ‘Upvote question’ to vote for a question in the Q&A tab.

Questions submitted by a viewer are automatically upvoted by that viewer.

The amount of upvotes can be seen by any attendee in the circle next to the question.

Viewers can fullscreen the webinar at any time by clicking the fullscreen button at the top right of their webinar page.

They can exit fullscreen mode at any time by pressing the 'Escape' button on their keyboard or clicking the exit fullscreen button at the top right.

If the viewer is in fullscreen mode, starting an interaction will automatically close it. This ensures that viewers don’t miss anything you share.

Viewers have the ability to resize or hide the panel to the right when viewing webinars on a computer.

To hide the sidebar, they can press the arrow button next to it.

To resize the sidebar, viewers can drag the panel’s edge.

These options ensure that the viewer can modify the webinar view to their taste.

If the viewer has the sidebar closed, starting an interaction will automatically open it again. This ensures that viewers don’t miss anything you share.

If the webinar has the 'Allow viewers to request to go on stage' feature enabled, viewers can "raise their hand" to request being invited to the stage.

All they have to do to request a stage invitation is click the button with the hand icon below the video.

Any webinar team member with the ability ‘Manage the stage’ can invite viewers to the stage to (temporarily) join in the discussion. Viewers have to take action to appear on the stage; they will not suddenly appear without warning.

Viewers can join the stage in two situations:

In the second situation, all viewers have to do is click the ‘Join stage’ button at the bottom of the webinar page.

After accepting an invitation or clicking the ‘Join stage’ button, viewers will be prompted to undertake actions to be both visible and audible and have to select their camera and microphone before appearing on stage in the settings menu.

A viewer on stage has their own connection to the webinar. The minimum required upload speed for speaking during a webinar is about 250 kilobytes per second (equal to about 2 Mbps).

For computers

For mobile devices

For computers

For mobile devices

When a viewer receives an invitation to the stage, their webinar page will automatically open a new tab labeled ‘Prep room’.

Inviting a viewer to the stage doesn’t mean they will immediately be visible and audible to the attendees; they first have to configure their camera/microphone and accept the invitation. If they don’t accept, they cannot appear during the webinar.

These steps apply to both viewers on a computer and viewers on a mobile device.

After these three steps, the viewer will appear in the ‘Off stage’ list in the ‘Stage’ tab of the webinar team’s sidebar. On the viewer's end, an indication will show that a webinar team member has to take action.

A webinar team member with the ability ‘Manage the stage’ has to move the viewer to the stage. When they do, the viewer will be visible and audible to the attendees.

The viewer configures their camera and microphone before accepting the stage invitation, but they can still change their settings after being brought on stage or waiting off stage.

These steps apply to both viewers on a computer and viewers on a mobile device.

The changes will apply immediately; the viewer doesn’t have to save them.

Viewers can leave the stage on their accord.

These steps apply to both viewers on a computer and viewers on a mobile device.

or;

If you want to learn how to remove a viewer from the stage as a webinar team member, please check this article.

The viewer that was on stage will be shown a ‘Thank you’ tab, indicating that they’ve returned to the audience and are no longer visible or audible.

This tab will disappear as soon as they open another tab, such as ‘Chat’ or ‘Interactions’.

When a viewer is experiencing audio or video issues there are some steps they can follow to find a solution. Below the video the viewer will see a button stating “no audio or video?”, clicking this button will prompt some possible solutions for issues of the viewer.

The following solutions are given:

As soon as you end the webinar, the webinar video will be replaced by a notification that the webinar has ended or by your end slide. Have you set up an evaluation form and/or sales page? Then they will be shown to the viewer after the webinar.

When the webinar is over, viewers can no longer enter the webinar, but viewers who were already logged in will automatically be logged out after 30 minutes. This allows you to chat with your viewers after the webinar has ended.

If you set up an external sales page, the viewer will be forwarded to this page after the webinar has ended. The viewer won't see an evaluation form and will no longer be able to chat.

Have you made the replay available to your viewers? Viewers who click on the watch link after the webinar has ended will automatically be taken to the replay if it is available.

As soon as the webinar has started, the magic that ensures the video and audio comes across well to all your viewers starts. For this, we look at the circumstances of each viewer, so that we offer each viewer a 'personal' solution.

The internet speed, browser and computing power of the device with which the viewer participates in the webinar is considered. Viewers with an optimal internet speed, a modern browser and a fast computer will receive the video and audio without delay and in high quality.

For the other viewers, WebinarGeek converts the video and audio behind the scenes into a format and quality that suits their circumstances. As a result, they see the webinar with a small delay. In practice, this means that if the presenter says something on second 1, the viewer will see it after, say, 15 seconds. The delay is different for each viewer and is normally no longer than 20 seconds.

WebinarGeek ensures that all interactions, slides and videos come along with the same delay, if there is one. This way everything appears at the right time and all viewers see exactly the same webinar.

Keywords: experience, viewer, audience, visitors, delay