When deciding how to configure the Schedule and Chat of your eWebinar:
- Pick one of the four scenarios below, the one that most closely fits with what you are trying to accomplish. If you're not sure, pick Scenario 1, as it leverages the benefits of automation the most.
- Configure the Schedule tab and Chat tab of your eWebinar to match your scenario. (Scroll down to see how.) Adapt or blend the scenarios as needed.
- If you choose Scenario 1, decide whether to enable Replays in your Schedule. Learn how to make that decision
To fully understand this setup guide, complete Your eWebinar Product Onboarding.
Four common scheduling scenarios
Click the name of the scenario below for more details.
Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 | Scenario 4 | |
Scenario | Best for most companies | High response accountability | Event-style (simulive) | On-demand only (no chat) |
Overall benefit | HIGHEST | High | Minimal | Moderate |
Overview | Maximize reach, attendance, and engagement with scheduled, on-demand, and just-in-time sessions, and (optionally) replays. Expectations of chat response times are managed through your Housekeeping script and Auto response. Your actual response time is up to you. | Designed for teams with strict chat response time requirements (SLA). Sessions only happen when you’re actually staffed to respond, and expectations around chat match your coverage window. | Best for teams who want to have the same schedule they had with live sessions but remove the burden of presenting (aka simulive). This makes it easier on the presenter, but will not likely increase attendance because sessions are still limited to scheduled times. | Maximize availability by offering on- demand access at all times. Operationally simple, but eliminates real-time chat, and loses the feeling of a high-touch experience. |
Chat response time | Flexible At your discretion | Immediate During hours of coverage | Immediate Only during scheduled sessions | N/A Responses by email, or never |
Availabil-ity | HIGHEST | Medium | Low | High |
When in doubt, choose Scenario 1, the recommended default. It will maximize the availability of your eWebinar, which will improve your reach, attendance rate, and even level of engagement, while giving you the flexibility to respond to chat in whatever way you choose. (eWebinar was specifically designed to make this possible.)
Recommend configuration by scenario
Schedule tab
Feature | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 | Scenario 4 |
Recurring | Recurring | Recurring | On-demand only | |
| (Recurrence) | Yes (Weekly) | Yes (Weekly) | Yes (Weekly or less) | No (N/A) |
Days | Mon–Fri | Up to 5 weekdays | At least 1 day | N/A |
Session times | 11am, 2pm, 6pm** | Up to 4 per day within coverage | At least 1 time | N/A |
Attendee’s | Attendee’s | Fixed (Yours) | N/A | |
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Yes | Yes | No | No | |
No* | No* | Yes | ||
Weekdays, 9am–6pm | Your coverage hours (using a fixed time zone) | N/A | No | |
Allow OD outside hours | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Set hours in a fixed time zone | Yes (Already in attendee’s) | Yes (Enabled fixed time zone) | N/A (Already fixed) | N/A |
** 11am and 2pm are the most attended times for scheduled sessions (before and after lunch), and 6pm gives an end-of-day option too.
Chat tab
Feature | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 | Scenario 4 |
Chat | Chat* | Chat* | Email form only, or disabled | |
Yes | Yes* | Yes* | N/A | |
Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A |
*If replays are disabled in your schedule but you still want to send replay links in follow-up emails (recommended), you have a few options for managing expectations around chat response times in those replays:
- Use the replay welcome message to set response-time expectations (recommended)
- Switch replays to Email form only in Chat preferences (a good fit for Scenario 2)
- Disable chat for replays entirely, though this is generally not recommended