When running an event, you and your team may be a little stressed: speakers can cancel last minute or not show up, a network connection can go down, and an attendee might stray. This guide provides several tips and how-tos that will help you keep your event as stress-free as possible from start to finish.
Tip 1: You don't need to "start" your event
Registrants can enter your event by clicking on their personalized magic link in the registration confirmation email or by signing in to their RingCentral Events user account. They will land in the Reception area (or another area set up as landing) and start interacting.
There is nothing you need to do to “start” your event. It’s automatic according to the time you've set for your event to begin. Most Organizers “kick-off” their event on Stage with a welcome message, but you can begin your event however you please.
Tip 2: Open three browser tabs
To manage your event, keep three browser tabs open:
- The event venue: to join Sessions, Networking, Expo and other parts of the event as an attendee.
- The Backstage: to broadcast to the Stage.
- The Event Dashboard: to make changes to settings of your event on the go, such as end times, schedule changes, and adding speakers or sessions. All changes are real-time once you save them.
Tip 3: Remember the Stage delay
There is a 10-15 second delay between the Backstage and the front Stage. So when you start broadcasting to the Stage, the stream won’t show up instantly. When the front Stage does start streaming, make sure it’s muted in your browser. You are able to mute the stage by lowering the volume/clicking on the speaker icon in the bottom left of the stage stream. Otherwise, you’ll hear an echo.
Also, if you ask your attendees a question while you’re presenting on the Backstage, their responses in chat will come ~10-15 seconds after you ask the question.
Tip 4: Mute, delete, or remove unwanted attendee behaviour
If an attendee is writing inappropriate messages in the chat, hover over the message and click the Bin icon to delete it.
To prevent the attendee from sending messages at the event, go to the People tab, find the attendee on the list, open their profile, click the Menu icon ••• and select Mute this person.
To ban the attendee from the event, select Block this person. This will kick them out and prevent them from re-entering the event.
To unblock an attendee, go to Event Dashboard > Registration > Registrants. Find the registrant on the list, click on the Menu icon ••• and select Unblock.
Tip 5: Have a backup plan ready for absent speakers or bad network connections
As with any event, online or offline, things happen. People get sick, get called away, or get delayed. There are things outside of your control to account for. In these scenarios, it’s always good to have a backup plan — maybe another speaker or someone from your team can step in, or pivot to another area of the event, such as Networking, Sessions or Expo. You can also provide our Quick troubleshooting reference guide to anyone experiencing device, network, or browser issues.
Tip 6: Direct attendees with chat messages
To direct people around your event, detail your plan in a welcome message on the Stage or use the event-wide chat to post where everyone should be. Your Organizer messages are always highlighted in color so they’re easy to see.
After you drop a link or message, pin it to the chat! To create a pinned message, post a chat message, hover over it and click the Pin icon.
Tip 7: Send a general announcement
General announcements are a great way to get the attention of all attendees and provide them with important information. General announcements appear at the top of all event pages for each attendee and can only be dismissed manually by each person or replaced with a new general announcement.
To make an announcement, click the Horn icon and click New Announcement. General announcements can be made to everyone or specific ticket types. They cannot be scheduled. For complete details, refer to our guide on Making a general announcement.
Tip 8: Switch the Stage from a live stream to a pre-recorded video
When you’re not using your Stage for live streaming, you can switch the Stage to a pre-recorded video. This way, when attendees go to the Stage with no live presentation, they’ll still be able to watch a video.
You can share pre-recorded videos from the Backstage or embed a YouTube/Vimeo/Wistia video in the Stage settings. For detailed steps, refer to our guide on Switching from a live video to a pre-recorded video on Stage.
Tip 9: After your event
Your event closes automatically 10 minutes after your specified end. If at any time during the event you think you may run over, go to Event Dashboard > Setup > Basics to change your event end time (as long as it does not exceed the maximum allowance of your plan). If your event has already ended, you will also get an option to extend it by 15 minutes.
Once the event is over, you can analyze your event success by reviewing the available reports and analytics. You can also share event recordings by enabling the post-event Replay area.