The room is where your webinar happens. It is a full-screen page on your own site, with the picture on the left and a side rail of chat and activity on the right.
How people get in:
Each registrant has a private link in their confirmation and reminder emails, and on the thank-you page. A link without a valid seat sends the visitor to the registration page instead.
What happens in the room:
- Before the start, the waiting room shows a countdown. See The Thank You Page And Waiting Room.
- One tap lets the sound play. Browsers only allow sound after a click.
- At the start time the show begins. Everyone sees the same moment, and a latecomer joins where the show is.
- On a live broadcast, people already waiting pick up the stream the moment you start, with no refresh.
- At the end, a closing card points to the replay.
The side rail:
- Live now and a count of people watching
- Polls when they appear, and Your handouts once released
- The chat, mixing real messages, your scripted lines, your host messages and the AI assistant's replies
- New people arriving are announced, and the room shows when the host is typing
How attendees take part:
- Chat. Messages of up to 500 characters.
- Reactions. The emoji row floats a reaction up the chat for everyone. Reactions are counted, not stored as messages.
- The question button. Sends a question to you privately, into your queue.
- The hand button. A raised hand that lands in your queue.
- Polls. One vote each, with live results if you switched that on.
- Handouts. Links that stay in the room once released.
- A pinned message from the host stays at the top of the chat.
How the chat stays fast:
Attendees read the chat from a small file in your uploads folder that is rebuilt on every new message, instead of asking your database each time. Only posting a message reaches PHP. The chat is designed for rooms of around 500 on ordinary hosting. The plugin sets no attendee limit, so real capacity depends on your hosting. Test at the size you expect before a big launch.
Simulated chat:
On the Chat History tab, Simulated Chat holds scripted lines that appear at set times, written as minutes and seconds into the webinar. They blend in with real messages. Click Generate with AI to write lines from your slides, or Import CSV to load your own. See Chat History And The Questions Inbox.
Switching the chat off:
On the Chat History tab, tick Switch off the chat panel in the webinar room. The whole side rail is hidden and the webinar plays full width, live and on the replay.
A real example:
Olivia opens her link 20 minutes into Maya's Tuesday session of the Kitchen Garden Plan. She lands on the pitch slide with the Join The Kitchen Garden Club offer under the picture, the "Ready to sow your first row this week?" poll at the top of the rail, the two handouts and the chat going.
Moderation:
Hold messages for approval, let AI screen them, pin, hide or remove anything, and block someone. See The Host Chat Console.
If chat feels slow:
Check the Live chat folder writable line in Diagnostics. If the uploads folder is not writable, chat uses a slower route by itself, and your host can make the folder writable.
What attendees need:
A modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and their private link. No app and no account.
Getting a lively chat:
- Ask a simple question in the first minute, such as where people are watching from.
- Add a poll early. See Live Polls And Handouts.
- Add a few simulated chat lines for the first minutes of an automated webinar.
- Reply as the host from the Host Chat Console.
- Turn on the AI assistant so questions are answered at any hour.
What the attendee counter shows:
The number of people whose room has checked in during the last two minutes. On a shared chat, it counts everyone watching that webinar.
How the end looks:
When the session has run its length, the room shows a closing card with the replay link when replays are on. With Hide the offer when the webinar ends ticked on the Offer tab, the offer is gone too.
The room on a phone:
On small screens the picture sits on top and the chat below, with the same reactions, question and hand buttons. On a phone the offer always sits under the picture as a compact strip, so it never covers the video.
Private messages in the room:
The host and the AI assistant can send a person a private message. Only that person sees it in their chat, and you see it in the console and in Chat History.
What to do next:
- The Host Chat Console
- Timed Offers And Click Tracking
- Viewer Controls And Subtitles
Common questions:
Can attendees see each other's names?
They see the first name each person chats with. Emails are never shown in the room.
Can I turn reactions off?
Switching off the chat panel hides the whole side rail, reactions included.