Zoom Webinars

Zoom Webinars are like a virtual lecture hall or auditorium for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Most interaction with the audience is one-way where one or a few people are speaking and/or on camera. OIT can provide to eligible users a Zoom Webinar license for these specific types of events.

Does your event need to be a webinar?

First, determine if your event needs the capabilities of a webinar. If one or more features require a webinar, you should request the webinar license.

All other features are available in both standard meetings and in webinars. 

Requesting a Webinar License

By default, all UNLV Zoom accounts do not have a Webinar License assigned to them. They are checked out as needed for specific events. Licenses may be checked out for a maximum of two (2) weeks.

To submit your request for a Webinar License:

1. Go to UNLV Zoom Webinar License Request
5. Enter a start date to assign the license. When determining your start date, please add an additional 48 hours minimum on the front end of your reservation for additional configuration, setup, and testing of the webinar.
6. Enter the end date to remove the license. When determining your end date, please add time to download data from the webinar such as Q&A, polls, and surveys.
7. Enter additional details about the Webinar date/time, name of the event, and estimated number of attendees.
8. We will contact you regarding the request and provide further instruction

It is possible to convert your webinar back to a Zoom meeting after the event. When converting from a webinar to a meeting, webinar-only features, such as Q&A, multiple-answer questions, webinar-related email settings, and post-webinar surveys, will be lost.

Scheduling your Webinar

Once your Webinar License, you will need to schedule your webinar:

1. Log into Zoom Web client
2. Select My Account
3. In the left navigation bar, select Webinars
   
   
    
4. Select Schedule a Webinar
   
   
    
5. Enter the Topic (title), When (date/start time), Duration, and other options to customize your webinar. You can also choose to enable registration for the webinar.

Webinars with Registration

If you want attendees to register before attending your webinar, select the Required checkbox beside Registration.

If your webinar is recurring, you will have additional options for registration:

1. Attendees register once and can attend any occurrences of the webinar
2. Attendees need to register for each occurrence
3. Attendees register once and can select which webinars in the occurrence to attend
   
   

Additional Options

Prior to adding Alternative Hosts or officially scheduling the webinar, you are able to select options unique to webinars. To enable any of the following, select the checkbox beside them:

1. Question and Answer section
2. Enable a Practice Session
3. Allow Hosts to control Panelists’ appearance (adding a virtual background, etc.)
4. Request permission to unmute panelists
5. Automatically record webinar
   1. If this is selected, you are given the option to have it record locally to your device or to the cloud
6. Approve/block entry for users from specific countries or regions
   
   

7. Once you have customized your webinar and selected the desired options, select Schedule.

   

Launching your Webinar

After scheduling your Zoom webinar, you can start it in one of two ways: through your Zoom Web client account (web portal) or through the app (desktop client).

Starting a Webinar through the Web Portal

1. Log into Zoom Web client
2. Select My Account
3. On the left-hand navigation bar, select Webinars
4. Under Upcoming, you will see a list of your upcoming webinars
5. Locate the webinar you wish to start. Hover your cursor over it, and select Start
   
   Zoom Web client" src="https://help.unlv.edu/TDPortal/Images/Viewer?fileName=03d7577d-10bd-4d5c-bd0e-7de9d0942cfa.png&beidInt=2" style="width: 500px; height: 168px;" />

Starting a Webinar through the App (Desktop Client)

1. Access your Zoom desktop client
2. You are able to start your webinar from the desktop client in one of two ways:
   1. Under Home, if your webinar is starting soon, it will appear with a button to Start. Select it to begin your webinar
      
      
       
   2. Under Meetings, your webinar will be listed with the option to Start, along with any upcoming meetings
      
      
      
      It can be distinguished by that it lists a Webinar ID instead of Meeting ID.
      
      

Webinar Features and Settings

Zoom webinar menu controls remain almost the same as Zoom meeting controls, as the Host has the option to Unmute/Mute, Start/Stop Video, view Participants (attendees and other roles), start Polls, use the Chat, Share Screen, and more.

Webinar Menu Controls

There are some distinctions that are important for a webinar experience:

• In webinars, Attendees cannot turn on their audio or video by default—only Hosts, Co-hosts, and Panelists are able to
  • Hosts can “invite” Attendees to unmute themselves to speak
  • Hosts cannot “invite” Attendees to turn on their camera, however; video privileges are restricted to Hosts, Co-hosts, and Panelists only

• Webinars include a Q&A, which includes tabs for Open (unanswered) questions, Answered questions, and Dismissed questions
  •  Additionally, by selecting the gear icon beside the tabs in Q&A, you can access additional options for Q&A whether attendees can submit questions, what questions attendees can view, assign permissions for attendees to upvote and comment, and whether anonymous questions are allowed
    
    
     
• Webinars include an Interpretation control directly on the menu bar, where you can assign a language interpreter
• Due to the nature of webinars, there are also extended options for controlling the Chat. You are able to:
  • Select whether Panelists can chat with Hosts and Panelists or Everyone
  • Select whether Attendees can chat with no one, Hosts and Panelists, or Everyone
    
    

Need Additional Help?

For additional assistance, please visit the Zoom Knowledge Base for additional articles. You can also contact the IT Help Desk.