Setting up your Live Stage (Webex Webinars)

Once you have started hosting your live stage and are in the Webex Webinar, you need to set up the Webex features you want to use for the session ahead.

This includes:

Enable/Disable Panels (Participants, Chat, Q&A, Polling, Multimedia Viewer).
Turn off Chat and/or Q&A
Configure Chat to allow Attendee messaging
Disable Attendee view of all Attendees (Enabled by default)

1. Enable/Disable Panels (Participants, Chat, Q&A, Polling, Multimedia Viewer)

To enable and disable panels for the Webex Webinar, navigate to the menu at the top of your screen and select View > Panels > Manage Panels. Here you can add and remove panels so that you and your Attendees have access to exactly what you need throughout your event.

To enable a panel, click it in the list on the left and hit “Add”. To remove a panel, click it in the list on the right and hit “Remove”. Click “Ok” to save your changes.

As you can see in the image above, the Panels available are:

Participants: Attendees can see a list of names for every Panelist and Attendee who joins the event. If you don’t want Attendees to see the names of other Attendee in the event, see point 4 below for details on how to disable.
Chat: People in the event can send public or private messages. By default, attendees can only send messages to the Stage Manager (called the Host in Webex) Panelists (i.e. Session Chair and Session Speakers). They’re not allowed to chat with each other or with all participants. To turn this option on, see point 3 below. For more info on managing chat during an event, see this article: Managing Chat/Q&A during the Event
Q&A: Attendees can post questions to the Stage Manager (called the Host in Webex), and Panelists (i.e. Session Chair and Session Speakers). For more information on managing Q&A during a event, see this article: Managing Chat/Q&A during the Event
Polling: The Stage Manager and/or Session Chair can open poll questions during an event. If using this feature, you can assign a Panelist as a Polling Coordinator to help run these. See Webex for more information.
Multimedia Viewer: Panelists (i.e. Session Chair, Speaker, Stage Manager) can share web pages and multimedia content with Attendees.

When an Attendee & Panelist joins the Webinar, these panels may not automatically be open for them. Take a moment to point out where they can be opened from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

To open Chat, in the toolbar click the speech bubble, and for any other panels, click the three dots ‘More Panels’.

2. Turn off Chat and/or Q&A

Every time the Presenter or Host role is passed, the chat and Q&A panels will reset to on. You will need to keep removing them after taking these actions.

To turn off chat and Q&A entirely, you can do so by clicking on Webex Meetings at the top of your screen. Go to Webinar Options, and untick those you want to remove.

They are now removed for the entire Stage Day.

3. Configure Chat to allow Attendee messaging

By default, chat is private. Attendees can only chat with the Stage Manager (the Host role in Webex), and Panelists

If you want Attendees to be able to chat with Everyone in the event, this needs to be enabled.

To do so, go to the Participant menu > Assign Privileges

On the next screen, you can specify how attendees or panelists can communicate and with whom:

You should then instruct Attendees to select 'Send to: Everyone' when posting message in chat.

Note: When this is enabled, Attendees can also sent messages to 'All Attendees'. These messages can't be seen by Panelists or the Stage Manager.

In Webex Webinars, it's not possible for an attendee to directly chat with another individual attendee.

4. Disable Attendee view of all Attendees (Enabled by default)

By default, Attendees are able to view other Attendees’ names in the Participants panel. You can turn this view off if you wish. On the menu bar at the top of your screen, navigate to Participant > Assign Privileges To >All Attendees. In the “Controls” tab, uncheck "View Participant List" and click "Assign" to save the change.