Managing Chat and Q&A during the Event (Webex Webinars)
Attendees will have a couple of different ways to communicate with organisers during the event.
This article will guide you through the various ways of managing both the Chat and Q&A panels during your Event.
For instructions on how to enable and disable Chat and Q&A in Webex Event, see this article: Setting up your Live Stage
Managing Q&A
What is Q&A?
Q&A allows the attendees to ask questions. These questions will not be visible to other attendees when first asked.
Attendees should be instructed to send the questions to 'All Panellists'. This will ensure questions are not missed.
Viewing Questions
Incoming questions from attendees can be seen in the Q&A panel.
To open the Q&A panel, you need to click on the ellipses at the bottom of the screen for 'More Panels' and click on Q&A.
Viewing Questions when screen sharing
When you're screen sharing the navigation bar will change and it will appear at the top of the screen as below.
You will then see some quick links in this toolbar. Select More to see options and to open your Q&A panel.
Assigning a Question
Panelists can assign questions to themselves or another panelist. The questions appear on the designated panelists' My Q&A tab, with the text assigned next to them.
1. Access the menu option for the question you want to assign as follows:
Windows: Right-click the question.
Mac: Select ctrl and then select the question.
2 . Select Assign to > the Panelist you want to assign it to.
To assign multiple questions at the same time, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the questions.
If an assigned question is answered, the text assigned still displays.
The text assigned does not display on attendees' Q&A panels.
Set a Priority for a Question
Panelists can set priorities (high, medium, or low) for any questions they have received in the Q&A panel. Prioritised questions can be seen in the Prioritised tab.
1. Access the menu option for the question you want to assign as follows:
Windows: Right-click the question.
Mac: Select ctrl and then select the question.
2. Select Priority > High, Medium, or Low.
After you set a priority for a question for the first time, a column appears to the left of the Q&A panel.
Select the icon for the question you want to set priorities for, and then choose High, Medium, or Low.
3. To remove a priority from a question, select the rectangular icon for the question, and then select 'Clear'.
Answering a Question
Your answer to a question appears on all participants' Q&A panels, unless you choose to send your answer privately.
1. On your Q&A panel, select the question from any of the tabs on which you received the question.
2. Type your answer in the text box.
To edit your answer before sending it, highlight the text you want to edit and then right-click (Windows) or press ctrl and then click (Mac) the highlighted text. The menu that appears provides editing commands.
3. When you finish typing your answer, click 'Send'.
The answer appears on all panelists' and attendees' Q&A panels. The Q next to the question changes from orange to blue so that you can easily see which questions have been answered.
If a question has been answered verbally, you can send a standard response: "This question has been answered verbally."
Right-click (Windows) or select ctrl and then click (Mac) the question and then select 'Answered Verbally'.
Deferring a Question
You can defer a question using a standard or customized answer. The standard answer reads: "Thank you for your question. Your question was deferred but will remain in the queue. A panelist will answer your question at a later time."
The following participants can see when you defer a question:
- The attendee who sent the question
- All panelists
1. From any of the tabs where you received the question, right-click the question, and then select 'Defer'.
To defer multiple questions at one time, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the questions, right-click your mouse, and then select Defer.
The Respond Privately dialog box appears, containing the standard Defer answer.
2. (Optional) To customize the standard answer, select Custom, and then edit the text in the text box.
3. (Optional) To save your customized answer as the standard Defer answer for all panelists to use, select Save (Windows) or Save as Default (Mac).
4. Select Send.
Dismissing a Question
You can also dismiss a question using a standard or customized answer. The standard answer reads: "Thank you for your question. The information that you requested cannot be provided by any of the panelists."
The following participants can see when you dismiss a question:
- The attendee who sent the question
- All panelists
1.From any of the tabs where you received the question, right-click the question, and then select Dismiss.
To dismiss multiple questions at one time, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the questions, right-click your mouse, and then select Dismiss.
The Respond Privately dialog box appears, containing the standard Dismiss answer.
2. (Optional) To customize the standard answer, select Custom, and then edit the text in the text box.
3. (Optional) To save your customized answer as the standard Dismiss answer for all panelists to use, select Save (Windows) or Save as Default (Mac).
4 . Select Send.
5. Select Yes in the confirmation message box.
Managing Chat
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 Participant >Assign Privileges
On the next screen, you can call you 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.
To access the Chat Panel, click on the speech bubble in the toolbar. From here, you will be able to view and respond to all the chats you receive during the event.
During screen share, the toolbar will appear at the top of the screen.
Select Chat to open the Chat panel in a new window while sharing your screen.
For instructions on how to disable chat, check out this article: Setting up your Live Stage