As main presenter, you have complete control over your webinar and the stage. Should someone only be allowed to speak at certain moments during the webinar? Has a speaker forgotten to turn off their camera? No worries, you can take care of it for them.
Stage settings
How a viewer can come on stage depends on your webinar settings. You can easily manage your stage settings in the 'Webinar' > 'Settings' tab. You can choose from the following options:
Invitation only
Viewers can only come on stage if they have been invited.Raise hand
Viewers can request to come on stage by virtually raising their hand.Open stage
The stage is open, and viewers can choose to come on stage themselves.
You can also decide whether viewers are allowed to share their screen while on stage. Use the 'Allow viewers to share their screen on stage' toggle to enable or disable this option. Viewers who are not on stage cannot share their screen.
Stage settings during the webinar
Once the webinar has started, you can still change the stage settings. Go to 'Participation' > 'Stage'. The button on the far right shows the current setting. Click it to switch between the available options. Changes are applied immediately for your viewers.
Managing people on stage
In the 'Participation' > 'Stage' tab, you can see everyone who is currently on stage.
Manage camera and microphone
Only the main presenter can enable or disable the camera and microphone of people on stage. Click the camera or microphone icon next to a person's name to turn it on or off.
Bring presenters on stage or send them off stage
Only the main presenter can bring people on stage or remove them from the stage. Click the stage button to remove someone from the stage. They will move to the 'Ready' tab.
To bring them back on stage, click the button next to their name again. You will see a preview of their camera feed, allowing you to check whether they are ready to come on stage.
Bringing a viewer on stage
Depending on the selected setting, invitation only, raise hand, or open stage, viewers enter the process at different stages.
Invitation only: the viewer enters the process in the 'Ready' stage.
Raise hand: the viewer enters the process in the 'Requested' stage.
Open stage: the viewer enters the process in the 'Ready' stage.
The table below shows the stages a viewer goes through to come on stage.
| Invitation | Hand | Open |
Stage | o | o | o |
Ready | * | o | * |
Invited |
| o |
|
Requested |
| * |
|
*This is where someone enters the process to come on stage.
Requested
The viewer has clicked the hand-raise button and is now waiting for the host. The host can choose to invite the viewer to the stage with or without camera access. To decline the request, click the cross icon. If you receive multiple requests, you can invite or decline all viewers at once using the button next to 'Requested'.
What the viewer sees:
What the host sees:
Invited
When the host invites a viewer, the viewer can configure their audio settings and, if applicable, their camera settings. They can then click 'I am ready to come on stage'. At this point, the viewer is not yet visible and must wait for the host to bring them on stage.
What the viewer sees:
Ready
Once the viewer is ready to come on stage, they appear in the 'Ready' stage. You can think of this as the backstage area behind the stage. The viewer is prepared with the correct microphone and camera settings and is waiting to go live.
The main presenter can click the stage button to bring the viewer on stage.
What the host sees:
Stage
The viewer is now visible and/or audible to everyone in the webinar. Their video appears alongside the presenters' video feeds.
If the viewer is invited with audio only, only their voice will be heard. The host can mute or unmute the microphone and can enable the camera if permission has been granted by the viewer. To remove the viewer from the stage, click the stage button again. To remove all viewers from the stage at once, click 'Remove viewers'.
What the host sees:
At any stage, a viewer can decide to return to the audience. Likewise, a host can decide to decline a viewer, sending them back to the audience. The process will then be cancelled and must be started again from the beginning.
Controls for viewers on stage
Below, you can see an overview of what someone sees when they are on stage.
Screen sharing by viewers on stage
By default, viewers are allowed to share their screen while on stage. You can disable this setting in the webinar wizard under 'Webinar' > 'Settings' by turning off the 'Allow viewers to share their screen on stage' toggle.
Important settings to be aware of
Viewers can only share their screen when they are on stage.
Viewers can only share their screen if nobody else is currently sharing theirs.
Presenters can take over screen sharing from a viewer who is currently sharing their screen.
Viewers cannot manage slides.
The host can stop a viewer from sharing their screen by clicking the 'Share screen' button next to the viewer's name.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if someone has their microphone disabled?
If someone has their camera enabled while their microphone is a disabled, a mute indicator will appear at the bottom right of their video.
What does it look like when someone’s camera is off but microphone on?
They will remain on the screen, but with a ‘camera disabled’ indicator instead of their video. This is done so that viewers can still tell who’s speaking when someone’s camera is disabled.
Please note! Toggling off the camera as a solo presenter when showcasing a presentation or screen sharing will automatically hide your name placeholder while on stage. Read more about this setting here.
What happens when both the camera and microphone are disabled?
When someone has both their camera and microphone disabled, they will be invisible to everyone participating in the webinar.
What happens if nobody has their camera or microphone enabled?
All webinar participants will be notified that nobody is currently sharing video or audio.
