Live Session Management and Zoom Session Best Practices

Updated March 16, 2022 18:54

Live Session Management

Within your event contract, you can have Live Session Management added to your event. This means that you will have Event Cloud support for sessions to be set up in Zoom. This service includes the following service:

Setup of your sessions within Zoom and provision of each stream link to be added into the session page within your Event Cloud event site.
For webinars only, invitations will be sent to your speakers through Zoom, providing them with their individual links to join the session.
A Know Before You Go for speakers PowerPoint document
Speaker Ready Room available 15 minutes prior to the scheduled session time to ensure speaker connectivity and tech-check (for webinar setup only - not provided for meeting setup)
Recording of the session, if requested
Post the recorded session to be on-demand within 8 hours post-session if the recording is requested

Please note that the standard Zoom license will allow up to 500 attendees within the meeting or webinar. If you would like more than 500 attendees, please contact your Account Manager to add this to your contract. (Cost will apply)

For the sessions that you have Live Session Management included within your scope, you will be responsible for sending your Account Manager the required session information no later than 4 weeks prior to the first day of session support.

A few things to note for Live Session Management:

The client is responsible for all content of the session
If the client’s virtual licenses are used, the client is responsible for setup, configuration, and management including oversight of tech-check and recording of the session. For more information on how to schedule sessions within Zoom yourself, please visit this helpful article.
The maximum number of concurrent sessions supported is 5. Concurrent sessions are considered any sessions that take place within 30 minutes of each other.
When it comes to Event Cloud live session management, most support for webinars and meetings are the same. However, with webinar sessions, there are two main differences - your speakers will be sent invitations for their sessions from Zoom and have a speaker-ready room available 15 minutes prior to the scheduled session time to ensure speaker connectivity and tech-check. These two features are not offered by Event Cloud within sessions that are set up as meetings.

Day of Support

The day that your sessions are taking place, you can expect the following support from Event Cloud for the sessions that you have contracted within your scope:

Event Cloud Agent will join your session 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time for webinars. This will allow your speakers time to check their audio and that they are able to share their screens properly within the session.
Event Cloud Agent will begin the sessions for your attendees to join at the scheduled start time.
If you have opted to record your sessions, the Event Cloud Agent will ensure that the session is recording.
Once the end time of the session occurs, the Event Cloud Agent will end the session for attendees and speakers.
Event Cloud Agent will pull the recording and post it within the session page in your Event Cloud event site within 6 hours for your attendees to access on-demand.
- NOTE: Event Cloud does not support video editing for recorded session videos.

Zoom Session Best Practices

With scheduling sessions that you would like Live Session Management for, there are a few best practices that we recommend:

Please have at least 30 minutes between the end of one timeslot and the beginning of the next.
- NOTE: the maximum number of concurrent sessions supported is 5. Concurrent sessions are considered any sessions that take place within 30 minutes of each other.
When providing the session information to your Account Manager 4 weeks prior to the first day of session support, please try to have as much information confirmed as possible. Any of the following information that changes after this time must be confirmed and submitted no later than 2 weeks prior to the first day of session support.
Prior to the day of your session, please ensure that your speakers have already received their invitation emails from Zoom and have their links readily available. It is also recommended to have them ensure that they are able to access Zoom on their device as some companies may block the use of Zoom within their network.

Zoom: Webinar vs. Meeting

Webinars and Meetings are different options in Zoom that have different sets of features.

Webinars are best for presentations and large groups like a keynote presentation. The standard license allows for up to 500 attendees but can be upgraded for a fee. This option will allow your speakers to join a green room 15 minutes prior to the scheduled session time.

Meetings are best for collaborative discussions where attendees and presenters should be seen or heard. An example of a meeting-style session would be an Area Sales Breakout where all members might contribute. This option will allow for up to 500 attendees and cannot be upgraded.

*For more information on Webinar vs Meeting: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005474943-Meeting-and-webinar-comparison

Zoom Standard Settings

The standard settings that Event Cloud will have for your sessions are as follows:

Chat	Allows participants to chat with everyone via lobby group chat
Private Chat	Enables private messaging between participants
File Transfer	Allows hosts/participants to send files through chat
Feedback to Zoom	Adds feedback tab to settings/preferences and allows users to provide feedback to zoom at the end of the meeting
Co-Host	Available in webinar only. Allows host to add co-hosts, which have the same controls as the host
Polling*	Adds polls to the meeting controls, allowing for surveys/voting
Screen Sharing	Allows hosts and participants to share their screen or content. This can be Host-only or all participants, but the default setting is All Participants
Annotation	Allows hosts and participants to add annotations to shared screens
Whiteboard	Allows host and participants to share whiteboards, and allows saving of whiteboard content
Remote Control	During screen sharing, the person who is sharing can allow others to control the shared content
Meeting Reactions	Available in meetings only. Allows participants to react with emojis that shows on their video
Report Participants to Zoom	Hosts can report participants to Zoom for inappropriate behavior
Q&A**	Available in webinars only. Allows attendees to ask questions for the host and panelists to answer. This can be set to either allow attendees to see all questions or only questions that have been answered.
Breakout Room***	Available in meetings only. Allows hosts to split meeting participants into separate, smaller rooms
Closed Captioning	Allows hosts to type closed captions or assign a participant/device to add closed captions
Save Captions	Allows participants to save fully closed captions or transcripts
Virtual Background	Allows users to have virtual backgrounds
Video Filters	Allows users to apply filters to their videos
Show a "Join from your browser" link	Allows participants to join directly from their browser instead of through the app
Allow live streaming	Allows live streaming through sites like Facebook or YouTube
Allow Skype for Business (Lync) client to join a Zoom Meeting	Enables the Skype for Business (Lync) integration
Allow participants to rename themselves	Allows participants to rename themselves in the participants' menu

*Polls - Must let Event Cloud know if you would like to set this up and provide all polling information no later than two weeks prior to the first day of session support to be set up beforehand. IMPORTANT NOTE: The client must have someone within the session the day of to run breakout rooms. This is not something that Event Cloud supports the day of.

**Q&A - Must let Event Cloud know if you would like to set this up no later than two weeks prior to the first day of session support to be set up beforehand.

***Breakout Rooms - Must let Event Cloud know if you would like this set up no later than two weeks prior to the first day of session support to be set up beforehand. IMPORTANT NOTE: The client must have someone within the session the day of to run breakout rooms. This is not something that Event Cloud supports the day of.

For more information regarding adding Live Session Management to your contract or if you should have any additional questions regarding your specific event, please feel free to contact your Account Manager.