Zoom Webinar License Information

The iSchool has 1 Zoom Webinar license available to our faculty and staff on a first come, first served basis:

• only 1 webinar at a time can be hosted 
• the Webinar can host up to 500 participants

Do I need a Zoom Meeting or a Webinar?

The main differences between Zoom Meetings and Webinars are that in Webinars:

• only the hosts and panelists can share their video
• attendees do not know who else is attending
• attendees cannot unmute unless explicitly allowed by the host
• attendees' only nonverbal feedback option is "raise hand"
• there are no breakout rooms
• there is no waiting room
• can have 500 participants
  • using your university licensed zoom account allows up to 300 participants

For full details about the differences, please visit this webpage: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005474943-Meeting-and-webinar-comparison

Reserving the Webinar License

Please complete the iSchool Request to Host a Zoom Webinar form to request use of the Webinar License:

The information that you'll need to know to fill out the form:

• Name of your webinar
• Description of your webinar (optional)
• Date and time of your webinar
• Co-hosts (can only be people with NetIDs, don't forget to include yourself)
• Panelists (can be people without a NetID, need name and email address)
• Whether registration will be required
  • If yes, do you want to collect information from registrants other than their names?
• Should the webinar be auto-recorded? If so, who should eventually own the recording?
• Will you want to run any polls during the webinar?
• Do you need any reports of registration, attendance, or poll responses?
• The email address to be used for questions from attendees (must be a person involved with the webinar)
• An agreement to arrange a practice session with panelists (if any) and co-host(s) responsible for hosting the session
• Important note: Access to the webinar for attendees, panelists, and co-hosts will be tied to their Zoom account. 
  • If registration is enabled, attendees must register with the email address associated with the Zoom account they plan to use to attend. 
  • Co-hosts and panelists must have a Zoom account enabled for the email address provided and use that account to access the webinar. 
    • Be sure that NetID panelists and co-hosts have gone to https://illinois.zoom.us/ and activated their Zoom account in advance of the session. 
    • Be sure that non-NetID panelists have a Zoom account associated with the email address provided.

Webinar Practice

A practice session should be planned by the person responsible for the webinar with the iSchool Help Desk and any outside panelists to assure that they have access to the webinar. This should be scheduled for at least a day in advance and should last roughly 10 minutes.

A practice session should be planned by the person responsible for the webinar with the iSchool Help Desk and anyone performing hosting duties to assure that they have access to the webinar and can perform the following duties:

• Start and end the session
• Assure that the session is recording
• Manage chats and Q&As
• Remove disruptive participants
• Find participants whose hands are raised
• Enable participants to speak
• Promote speakers from outside the university from panelist to co-host
• Contact the iSchool Help Desk in case of issues

Accessing the Webinar

The webinar will be scheduled in the system by an iSchool IT staff member. At the time the webinar is scheduled, all panelists and co-hosts will receive an email that contains a unique link that enables the account associated with the email address provided to access the session. It is essential to save this link! In the event that you lose the unique link, please email ischool-support@illinois.edu to have the link resent. Do not publish co-host/panelist unique links. If registration is required, registrants will also receive a unique link to the webinar when they register. You should only publish the registration link in this case.

Day of the Webinar

The webinar must be started by a co-host. Before the webinar is started, attendees will get a message that the webinar has not yet begun. We strongly recommend starting the webinar no fewer than 15 minutes prior to the start of the event. Best practice is to have a slide prepared and shared so that attendees know that they are in the right place. Webinar facilitators often play music along with the slide to keep attendees entertained before the event itself begins.

If co-hosts, panelists, or attendees run into any sort of technical issue, it is essential that they contact the Help Desk immediately. Live chat and phone are best for issues on the day of the event.

Live Chat: Tech Chat

Phone: 217-244-4903 or 800-377-1892

Email: ischool-support@illinois.edu

Webinar Support from iSchool IT 

Webinar support from iSchool IT includes:

• information on how to contact us for technical support
• boilerplate text to send to co-hosts and panelists
• by request
  • GA support (as available to resolve minor technical issues, does not include hosting duties or replace the need for a practice session)
  • registration and attendance reports 
  • poll results
  • a link to the recording if you have it auto-record to the cloud

If you have any additional questions, please email ischool-support@illinois.edu