How to Set Up the Waiting Room

Waiting rooms are highly customizable, allowing you to add videos, audio files, and extensive branding. Attendees will typically be able to enter your webinar’s waiting room 15 or 30 minutes before your webinar’s scheduled start time.

How can I make sure my webinar begins automatically at the scheduled start time?

Webinars will typically begin automatically at their scheduled start times, pushing attendees to exit the waiting room into the webinar room. Having this automatic start will save admins from having to click Go Live to allow their webinars to begin.

This automatic start is essential for automated webinars. If your webinar is set up to play videos and slides automatically, we’ll want to make sure that this setting is enabled.

To review this setting:

1. Click Waiting Room under Manage Webinar
2. Ensure that Enable is selected beneath Webinar automatically opens at the scheduled start time
3. Click Save

Am I able to have my webinar begin manually?

If your webinar does not have automated elements, you can certainly set it to begin manually. In this case, an admin will need to click Go Live within the webinar room to allow attendees to enter from the waiting room. This can be helpful if you have live speakers, and you’d prefer to delay the webinar’s start for any reason.

With a manual start in place, attendees will remain inside of the waiting room until an admin clicks Go Live.

To set up a manual start:

1. Click Waiting Room under Manage Webinar
2. Select Disable beneath Webinar automatically opens at the scheduled start time
3. Click Save

How can I customize my webinar's waiting room?

After clicking Waiting Room from your Manage Webinar tab, click Customize beneath Waiting Room Preview.

What customization options do I have for my webinar's waiting room?

Within the waiting room, you'll find many opportunities for customization laid out along the left-hand side of your screen:

You can also allow a sponsor banner to appear in your waiting room. Under your Manage Webinar settings, find Sponsor Banners in the lefthand navigation menu. Scroll down to the bottom of the settings page and you'll find the feature Display sponsor banners in waiting room under Waiting Room Settings. Toggle this setting on and Save Settings.