#How do I use the control room during a live webinar?

The control room is the panel you open while you are broadcasting to run the room: set up the stage, publish the offer whenever you want, open a quiz, play sound effects, release videos, answer the chat as the host and moderate messages. It lives in the webinar's Sessions tab, under the Control room button.

Role: any member with access to the workspace.

#Before you start

• The Control room button shows up around session time: from 1 hour before the scheduled start until 24 hours after. Outside that window — or if the session was ended or canceled — there is no broadcast to run and the button is not displayed.
• The real chat and the manual offer control only apply while the session is on air. On replay, the room follows what is set in the builder, as it always did.
• To go live with your own camera instead of the recorded video, see How do I broadcast a webinar live from my camera?.

#1. Open the panel

1. Open the webinar and go to the Sessions tab.
2. Click the session that is on air (or about to start).
3. Click Control room. The panel opens in a new tab.

The link is the key to that session. It is valid for 12 hours and asks for no login: whoever holds it runs the session. Send it only to whoever is running the broadcast, and do not publish it anywhere.

If the link expires, the panel shows Invalid or expired link. Go back to the Sessions tab and click Control room again — a fresh link is issued.

#2. Get to know the panel

The panel has three areas:

• Top: the webinar name, whether the session is on air and the room numbers.
• Center: the stage — the preview of the video exactly as viewers receive it, with layout, colors and headline — and, right below it, the bar with microphone, camera, screen, the layouts, Edit layout, the next broadcast step and the offer button.
• Right: the rail with Comments, Offers, Quiz, Videos, Media, Sound, Guests, Style and People. Each button opens its panel next to the stage; click it again (or the X) to close. Comments shows a red number when messages are waiting in the queue.

#The top of the panel

Next to the numbers, View the room opens the attendee's room in a new tab. With the broadcast on air you also get End broadcast (see How do I broadcast a webinar live from my camera?). The stage corner shows, only to you, the offer on air, the released video and the pinned message — viewers see those in their own room.

#3. Publish the right offer at the right time

The webinar can have several offers (see How do I add several offers to the webinar and set when each one shows up?) and the room shows one at a time. The Offers panel, on the right-hand rail, lists the active offers in the order of the builder's Offer step. The manual click beats the scheduled time.

The top bar stays pinned above the list and shows the essentials:

Each card shows the thumbnail, title, price and the offer's window (for example 01:00 to 05:00 or from 01:00), with its state:

Publish puts the offer on air right away, for everyone, even if the video has not reached its time. If another offer was already on air, the new one replaces it in a single click, with no pulling back first, and the new offer's scarcity countdown starts from zero, from your click. On the offer that is on air, the same button becomes Take off air.

Keyboard shortcuts: keys 1 to 9 publish the offer with the same number in the list (the number shows on the Publish button). They do not work while you type in a field (the chat, for example), with Ctrl, ⌘, Alt or Shift held down, nor on the offer that is already on air. From the tenth offer on, use the button.

The Release offer "…" button, in the bar below the stage, publishes the most relevant one: the one the scheduled time would put on air now or, if none, the next one. Its name is on the button itself so you do not publish blind, and the line below says what it does. With an offer on air, the button becomes Take "…" off the air. Keys 1 to 9 work with any panel open.

#Schedule the offer exit

With an offer on air, the top bar gets Schedule exit. Pick 1, 5, 10, 15 or 30 min — or type another value in Other (min) and click Schedule. At the set time the offer leaves everyone's screen on its own, exactly as if you had clicked Take off air (the scheduled ones are also suspended until you go back to the script).

• While the time runs, the bar shows leaves the air in mm:ss, and so does the offer tag in the stage corner.
• Cancel exit keeps the offer on air until you take it down.
• Scheduling the exit does not restart the scarcity countdown of the offer on air.
• Any other click on the offers (publishing another one, taking it off air, going back to the script) cancels the schedule.

#Choose where the offer shows

Under Where the offer shows, right below the bar:

• On the panel stage, a preview card shows in the chosen corner, just so you know where it will land.
• On phones, the card inside the video sits against the bottom of the player, so it does not cover the speaker's face.
• The choice applies to the session and to the next lives of the same webinar.

With no active offer on the webinar, the button does not show and the panel says: No offer configured for this webinar. — Add offers in the Offer step of the webinar builder.

#4. Open a quiz in the room

The Quiz panel, on the right-hand rail, lists the workspace quizzes (the ones from the platform Quizzes module). You decide when the quiz shows and when it leaves.

1. Under Where the quiz opens, pick Instead of the chat (the default) or Pop-up.
2. Click Release on the quiz you want to open. It shows in the room of everyone watching — the video keeps playing.
3. The top bar shows Open in the room and the quiz name.
4. Take down removes the quiz from everyone's screen. Reopen opens it again, including for those who had closed it.

How viewers see the quiz:

You can switch the option while the quiz is open: it moves right away, without reopening it for those who had closed it. The choice is kept for the webinar's next sessions.

Whoever answers arrives already identified:

• Quiz with capture (asks for name, email or phone): the fields arrive filled in with the webinar registration data. The card reads With capture · filled from the registration.
• Quiz without capture: the answers are linked to the registration contact anyway. The card reads No capture · answer linked to the registration lead.
• In an open-access room (no registration), only the name the person used in the chat is filled in.
• If the quiz ends with a link (offer, next step), the link opens in a new tab and the live keeps running in the room tab. When it ends, the quiz steps aside on its own after a few seconds: the pop-up or the sheet closes and, instead of the chat, the chat comes back (the Quiz tab stays there with the result).

Worth knowing:

• Only a published quiz goes to the room. A draft shows in the list with Draft — publish it to release in the room and the button off.
• With the live broadcast on air, the quiz shows together with the video — with the same small delay as the offer and the pinned message, so it does not arrive before you say it.

#5. Play sound effects on the live

The Sound panel, on the right-hand rail, has ready-made effects: Ba dum tss, Applause, Air horn, Drum roll, Ta-da, Ka-ching, Correct, Wrong, Sad trombone, Crickets, Suspense, Boing, Whoosh and Level up.

• Click and it plays: the effect goes into the broadcast audio and an animation shows on the video (a badge with the effect name and sound waves) while it plays. There is no confirmation — timing is everything.
• You hear the effect on the panel, lower, so you know it played. The button stays lit while the badge is on the video.
• With no live broadcast on air, the effect plays straight in the viewers' room, for those who turned the player sound on.

#6. Release videos in the room (over the live broadcast)

The Videos panel, on the right-hand rail, shows the Webinar collection: the videos from the builder Video step, in the same order (see How do I use several videos in a webinar and set their order?). If you do nothing, the room plays that collection in order. When you release a video, the room of every attendee shows that video — and the position is yours: whoever joins later lands at the same point you are at.

1. In the list, find the video and click Release to the room. It starts from the beginning for everyone and gets the On air tag.
2. To follow the script, click Next in order: the video after the one on air goes out (or the first one, if none is on air).
3. To move everyone's video, drag the position bar and let go. The new point applies to everyone right away.
4. Pause freezes the video on everyone's screen, with the notice Paused by the presenter; Resume continues from where it stopped.
5. Take video down removes the video and the room goes back to the script.

With Follow the order on (it starts on), when the released video ends, the next one in the collection starts on its own. This only works while the panel is open: if you close the tab, the video on air stays until it ends.

#Switch between the live broadcast and the videos

With the camera live broadcast on air, you can release a video at any time: it goes over the broadcast on the viewers' screens. The live broadcast keeps running underneath, muted, and your camera stays on air on your side.

• The video only shows once it is actually playing: until it loads, people keep seeing the live broadcast, with no black screen in between.
• To go back, click Back to the live broadcast (or Pull back, on the card in the stage corner). The video disappears and the live broadcast is already there, instantly — it does not load again.
• While a video is released, the stage corner shows Over the live broadcast (or Video in the room, with no broadcast), whether it is playing or paused, and its name.

#Drive videos

Below the collection, the From Workspace Drive section (collapsed by default) lists the video files from the workspace Drive that you can see (your My drive, the team spaces you belong to and the Platform space). They work the same way: Release, pause, move the position and take down.

Worth knowing:

• The video starts muted for the attendee — they tap once to turn the sound on.
• A collection video still Processing has its button off until it is ready.
• The preview of a collection video shows its cover and the position clock; the preview of a Drive video shows the same point the audience sees (muted for you).
• The Drive list shows what the person who generated the control room link can see in Drive. If a video is missing, check that it sits in a space that person can access.

#7. Set up the stage: layout, style and headline

The stage is the video viewers receive. Everything you adjust here shows in the preview exactly as it goes on air, for viewers and in the recording.

#Pick the layout

In the bar below the stage, the six icons change how the people on stage (you and your guests) are framed:

• The layout you pick always applies, including with a shared screen — it is a frame like the others (see below).
• With no guest on stage, Only guest and Guest in spotlight show you.
• Each click goes on air right away.

#Arrange who shows up where

Your camera, each guest's camera and each shared screen are separate frames. You decide the position of each one — the 1st position is the spotlight in the spotlight layouts.

• Swap two frames: drag a frame on the preview onto another. The same works with the In the frame cards right below the controls. Each card shows a thumbnail of the camera or screen (refreshed every few seconds, with a pulse on the border when it updates) and the position in the corner (★ for the spotlight, then 2, 3…).
• Move to the spotlight: hover the frame on the preview and click the star.
• Remove from the frame: click the eye on the frame (on the preview or on the card). The person stays on stage and is still heard — they just do not show in the video. Click again to bring them back.
• A newly shared screen takes the 1st position. Drag it wherever you want.
• A guest who reloads the page comes back to the same place.

Outside Edit layout, each change goes on air right away; inside it, only when you save.

#Project images over the broadcast

Click Media on the right rail to put your logo as a watermark, a photo or a banner over the video.

1. Click Upload image (or drag the file). PNG, JPG, WEBP or GIF up to 5 MB, and up to 12 images.
2. The image comes in off air, in the top right corner. Click it to adjust the Position (one of the corners, Center or Full screen), the Size and the Opacity.
3. Click Off air to switch it to On air: the image shows over the video for everyone watching and in the recording.

Clickmax gallery: the same panel has ready-made stickers to react live — KKKKKK, Brabo, Tá pegando fogo, Explodiu a mente, Plot twist, Bônus liberado, Últimas vagas, Top 1, faces and others. They need no upload.

• Click a sticker to keep it in your library (off air, in the center of the video), like an uploaded image.
• Hover and click 6s to release it right away: it shows on the video for 6 seconds and leaves on its own.
• Any image in the library also has the 6s button next to On air.

Worth knowing:

• To see how it looks before showing it, open Edit layout, turn the image on and adjust it — it only goes on air when you save.
• Use a PNG with a transparent background so your logo does not show inside a rectangle.
• Images stay saved for the next lives of this webinar, along with what was on air.

#Adjust the style

Click Style on the right-hand rail:

The palette of dots below the Brand color field changes the color in one click.

#Rehearse before showing it

To put a scene together without viewers seeing each step, click Edit layout. The stage frame turns lilac and Stage rehearsal: viewers only see it when you save shows up.

1. Change layout, theme, color or headline freely — only your preview changes.
2. Use Undo and Redo to move between your changes.
3. Add headline opens the Style panel at the headline field.
4. Click Save to put everything on air at once, or Cancel to discard.

#Set up the upright phone frame

The broadcast is a single landscape video (16:9). Viewers holding their phone upright can see a vertical cut of it (9:16) that fills the screen, instead of the whole video small with black bars.

1. Click Edit layout. Both frames show side by side: Phone upright (9:16) and Desktop and phone sideways (16:9).
2. In the upright frame, turn on Upright on phones.
3. Pick the part of the video phones see: drag the content of the upright frame or the dashed window on the landscape frame.
4. Click Save.

Worth knowing:

• The cut applies only to the live broadcast. A video released from the Videos panel shows whole on phones, with black bars.
• With Side by side and two people, the upright window shows one of them at a time. To show everyone on phones, turn off Upright on phones.
• Sideways phones and desktop always see the whole 16:9 frame.

#8. Answer the chat as the host

While you are broadcasting, the panel shows the real messages from people watching — not the script written in the Chat step.

1. Open Comments on the right-hand rail and type in the Speak as the host… field, at the bottom of the panel.
2. Click Send (or press Enter).

Your message reaches everyone instantly, with the Host badge next to the name. Up to 500 characters.

The tabs above the list split what you are looking at — All, In queue, Hidden and Pinned — each with its own count.

#9. Moderate message by message

Every message carries its own buttons:

None of these actions ask for confirmation: the click is final. Ban applies to that session only — in a later session of the same webinar the person joins and writes normally.

#10. Use the two chat switches

They sit at the bottom of the Comments panel, above the compose field:

• Approve before publishing — a new message stays In queue until you release it. Whoever wrote it still sees their own message, so nobody assumes the send failed.
• Pause the chat — nobody can send until you reopen it.

On the attendee's side, the compose field disappears and the reason takes its place:

• chat paused → The host paused the chat for a moment.
• attendee banned → You can no longer send messages in this webinar.

#Worth knowing

• Everything you do lands instantly. Offer, layout, style, released video, reply, pin, hide, remove, ban, pause: every attendee's room changes on its own, with nobody reloading the page.
• A dropped connection fixes itself. If the attendee's internet (or yours) wobbles, the connection comes back on its own and the room catches up with what happened meanwhile.
• Length limits: attendees write up to 280 characters; you, from the panel, up to 500.
• There is a send limit to contain flooding: 12 messages per minute. It is counted per internet connection, so people sharing the same network share the limit.
• Outside the live session the room behaves as it always did: on replay the offers follow only the scheduled time and the chat goes back to the Chat step script.

#If something does not work

• The Control room button is not there: check the session time. It appears from 1 hour before the start and disappears 24 hours after — and never shows on ended or canceled sessions.
• The panel opens with "Invalid or expired link": the link passed the 12-hour mark. Issue another one from the Sessions tab.
• An attendee's message reaches nobody: check whether Approve before publishing is on — in that case it is under the In queue tab, waiting for you.
• Nobody can write: check whether Pause the chat was left on.
• The offer does not come back at the scheduled time: while the manual click is in force, it wins. Click Back to the script.
• The offer that showed up is not the one I expected: with more than one offer, the scheduled time shows the one that started last. Publish the right one with the Publish button or keys 1 to 9.
• The collection is empty: add the videos in the builder Video step and reload the panel.
• The next video didn't start on its own: check that Follow the order is on and that the panel stayed open. You can also click Next in order.
• The From Workspace Drive section is empty: there is no ready video in a Drive space you can access. Upload the file to the workspace Drive and reload the panel.
• The room didn't go back to the script (or to the live broadcast): click Take video down (or Back to the live broadcast) in the Videos panel.
• I changed the layout and viewers did not see it: if the stage frame is lilac, you are in Edit layout — click Save. Outside editing, changes go on air right away.
• Someone disappeared from the video: their frame may have been removed. Under In the frame, the card shows out of the frame — click the eye to bring it back.
• Viewers do not see the image: check that it is On air in the Media panel and that you are not in Edit layout without saving.
• The headline will not turn on: type the text first; Show headline stays off while the field is empty. The same goes for Show ticker.
• The offer left the air on its own: an exit was scheduled. Publish it again — with no schedule, it stays until you take it down.
• The quiz is not in the list or the Release button is off: the quiz must be published in the Quizzes module.
• The quiz opened without the data filled in: it only comes filled in for people registered in the webinar and on a quiz that captures name, email or phone.
• The sound effect did not play in someone's room: with no live broadcast, the sound only plays for those who turned the player sound on — the animation shows either way.
• The sticker disappeared from the video: it was released for 6s. To keep it on, click Off air to switch it to On air.

For what you set up before going on air, see How do I control the offer and the chat during a live webinar?. To copy a session link, see How do I share my webinar link?.