We’ve all been there: your viewers have tons of good questions, and you’d much prefer they ask them directly rather than having to type in the chat. There is a simple solution! Just invite them to the stage.
Inviting viewers to the stage requires a Premium plan or higher.
Keep in mind that your webinar’s stage can have up to 16 people at any given time; that includes your webinar team and any viewers you invite to the stage.
What can viewers on stage do?
Abilities for viewers on stage are limited in order to make it safe for you to invite your viewers to the stage. When you invite a viewer to the stage, they will be able to turn on their camera and microphone, and nothing else they couldn’t already do. There is also the option to invite with audio only, meaning they’ll be audible but not visible. You don’t have to worry about the viewer messing up your presentation or ending the webinar!
Start or end webinar | ❌ |
Manage the stage | ❌ |
Can be audible or visible | ☑️ |
Control interactions | ❌ |
Control the presentation and share screen | ❌ |
Control video injection | ❌ |
(De)activate chat | ❌ |
Can reply to private chat messages | ❌ |
Use team chat | ❌ |
Manage viewers (ban from chat) | ❌ |
Available with RTMP streaming | ❌ |
Please note! If you want to hide the 'No video' icon for participants without video, you can enable the 'Hide people without video' option in the webinar settings.
Inviting a viewer to the stage
There are three ways to allow a viewer to be on stage. Two of these can be used at any time.
The third method uses the “Allow viewers to request to go on stage” feature and requires input from the viewer.
Option 1: Find the viewer in the attendance list
Make sure you’ve started the webinar; viewers cannot be invited to the stage if the webinar isn’t live yet
Go to ‘Attendance’
Click the ‘Everyone’ tab
Find the viewer in question in the attendee list
Hover over the viewer’s name to see the available actions for the viewer
Click the ‘Invite to stage’ icon, shaped like a spotlight
Choose ‘Invite to stage’ to invite the viewer to be both visible and audible or ‘Invite with audio only’ to invite the viewer to be audible
Please note! Your webinar stage can have up to 16 people at any given time; that includes your webinar team and all of the viewers you invite to the stage.
Option 2: Find the viewer in the chat
Make sure you’ve started the webinar; viewers cannot be invited to the stage if the webinar isn’t live yet
Go to ‘Chat’ or ‘Private chat’
Keep in mind the ‘Private chat’ method only applies if the viewer has a private conversation open.
Hover over the viewer’s message(s) to see the available actions for the viewer
Click the ‘Invite to stage’ icon, shaped like a spotlight
Choose ‘Invite to stage’ to invite the viewer to be both visible and audible or ‘Invite with audio only’ to invite the viewer to be audible
Option 3: Responding to a viewer raising their hand
This method requires the 'Allow viewers to request to go on stage' feature to be enabled. You can read more about this feature here.
Open the ‘Attendance’ tab in the sidebar
Find the viewer in the ‘Requested’ section
Click the ‘Invite to stage’ icon, shaped like a spotlight
Choose ‘Invite to stage’ to invite the viewer to be both visible and audible or ‘Invite with audio only’ to invite the viewer to be audible
Now that you’ve invited the viewer to the stage with one of the three methods above, follow the steps below to bring the viewer onto the stage:
After inviting the viewer to the stage
A pop-up will notify you that the viewer has been invited to the stage
The viewer will see a preparation screen where they can configure their camera and microphone
Click the ‘Stage’ tab, the ‘Invited’ group will show you all invited viewers and their invitation progress
The viewer will show up under ‘Off stage’ with a preview of their camera feed once they’ve accepted the invitation
Click the spotlight icon, ‘Bring on stage’, next to their name to bring the viewer onto the stage and make them visible and audible
The viewer is now on stage! Make sure to check out our ‘Managing the stage during a webinar’ article for instructions on how to control the viewer’s camera and microphone.
Tip! It's a good idea to have everyone muted unless they're actively speaking. Having a large group of people on stage can cause an amount of background noise that distracts from your webinar.
Removing a viewer from the stage
The viewer has asked their questions or said what they wanted to and it’s time for them to step down from the stage, but they don’t know how or want to stay on stage. No worries! You can remove them from the stage following these steps:
Go to ‘Attendance’
Click the ‘Stage’ tab
Find the viewer you want to remove from the stage under ‘Stage’
Click the spotlight icon next to the viewer’s name to remove them from the stage
The viewer is now off stage, which means they are on standby. They can still be put back on stage with one click. Read on to find out how to return a viewer to the audience and free up their spot on stage.
Returning a viewer to the audience
Simply removing a viewer from the stage will put the viewer on standby, meaning they can be brought back on stage with a single click and still take up one of your 16 spots. To return a viewer to the audience, follow the steps below.
Go to ‘Attendance’
Click the ‘Stage’ tab
Find the viewer you want to return to the audience under ‘Off stage’
Click the ‘Remove from stage’ button
The viewer has now been removed from (off) stage and no longer has the ability to configure their camera or microphone. You’ll have to re-invite them to the stage to allow them to be visible and audible again.
Frequently asked questions
Who can invite viewers to the stage?
In order to invite viewers to the stage, the webinar team member must have the ‘Manage the stage’ ability. That means presenters and co-presenters can invite viewers to the stage, but moderators cannot.
What’s the difference between the webinar team and viewers on stage?
Your webinar team can have far more abilities than a viewer on stage and should be configured before the webinar takes place. Webinar team members can, for example, manage the presentation, start interactions, invite viewers to the stage and more based on their rights when configuring the webinar team. Viewers on stage can only be visible and audible; they never have any other rights in the webinar.
What’s the difference between stage and off stage?
The stage is the attendees that are currently visible and audible to the audience. Off stage is where people can prepare to be visible and/or audible, or be on ‘standby’ until their next appearance.
What does a viewer have to do once they’ve been invited to the stage?
They have to accept the invitation, configure their camera and microphone and wait to be moved to the stage once they’re ready. If you invite them with audio only, they only have to configure their microphone. You can read all about the process here.
Can viewers on the stage take control of my webinar?
Not at all. Viewers that have been invited to the stage can appear on camera and use their microphone to speak in the webinar, but nothing else they couldn’t already do. If you invite them with audio only, they can only use their microphone. They can’t control your presentation, share their screen, manage your interactions or anything of the sort.
What if a viewer on the stage does something I don’t want them to do?
No worries, you can remove the viewer from the stage at any time. If it’s an emergency, we recommend turning off their camera and microphone as soon as possible from the ‘Attendance’ tab or from the stage controls at the top of the page. After that, you can remove them from the stage entirely and ban them from the webinar if so desired. Easy!
What happens if I’m at the limit of 16 people on stage when one of my co-presenters joins the webinar?
The co-presenter will be off-stage on standby until one of the 16 people on stage are removed from or leave the stage.