Look up a particular feature from the Schedule tab below to find out the best practices that go along with it. Features are listed in the same order as they appear on the Schedule tab of the editor.
Not sure which setup is right for your situation? The Schedule + Chat Setup Guide → walks you through four common scenarios and recommends a configuration for each. Start there before using this reference.
For the strategic rationale behind scheduling decisions — including how availability affects attendance, engagement, and watch time — see Scheduling & Availability in eWebinar →.
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Event settings
Event type
There are four Event type options: Recurring event, One-time event, Specific dates and times, and On-demand only. Your Event type determines the overall configuration of your eWebinar schedule, including how and what sessions become available.
Note: You can enable on-demand, just-in-time, or replay options with any event type.
If your goal is to fully leverage automation, Recurring event and On-demand only are the most powerful options because they allow sessions to be available on an ongoing basis from the very start.
Of these two, a Recurring event has an advantage, provided you enable at least one of what we collectively refer to as our "on-demand options" — on-demand sessions, just-in-time sessions, and replays — since they give visitors immediate or near-immediate access to your eWebinar.
This is because a Recurring event lets you offer recurring scheduled session times at convenient times of day (in the attendee's time zone) — On-demand only does not — so that visitors have a fallback option if they can't watch immediately. Instead of leaving, they can choose a time, add it to their calendar, and return later.
For One-time events and events with Specific dates and times, on-demand options, if enabled, will not appear until the first (or only) scheduled session begins. This means they also won't appear in the session preview or on the registration page before that first session starts.
One-time event and Specific dates are most useful when you want to "launch" an eWebinar around an initial promoted session — for example, a guest host is there to respond live in chat for that first session only — and then make it evergreen afterward by enabling on-demand options.
You can choose a One-time event or Specific dates and not enable any on-demand options, but you will be receiving the least benefit from automation, limited to relieving you from having to present live.
Choose your event type — each is described in greater detail below — based on whether you want your eWebinar to be ongoing and evergreen, tied to a specific launch or campaign moment, or to have just one or a handful of dates and times.
Recurring (Recommended)
This is the most common configuration and recommended event type in most cases.
Best for ongoing marketing, sales, training, or onboarding eWebinars.
Use this when:
- You want continuous registration.
- You plan to run sessions on a regular basis, or indefinitely.
- You want to combine scheduled sessions with on-demand sessions, just-in-time sessions, or replays.
One-time event
Best for a special event or date-specific campaign.
Use this when:
- The eWebinar is tied to a specific launch date or announcement.
- You may want to make it available as an evergreen asset after the main event.
Specific dates and times
Allows you to manually define exact session dates.
Best for:
- Campaign-based eWebinars
- Limited-run events
Like with a one-time event, you can make the eWebinar available as an evergreen asset after the fact.
On-demand only
Removes scheduled sessions. You may still enable on-demand, just-in-time, and replay options.
Best for:
- Fully asynchronous experiences
- Self-serve libraries
- When you do not want to offer future session times
Why On-demand only might not be enough
Even with on-demand, just-in-time, or replays enabled, removing scheduled sessions eliminates the ability for someone to choose a future time and commit to it.
If a potential registrant cannot watch immediately, they may leave and never return.
Offering a handful of scheduled times in the next day or two allows someone to:
- Choose a specific time
- Put it on their calendar
- Receive reminder emails
- Commit to attending
On-demand and just-in-time sessions capture immediate intent. Scheduled sessions capture future intent. Combining both usually results in better attendance than relying on on-demand options alone.
To understand how to balance availability with your operational constraints — including chat coverage and response time — see the Schedule + Chat Setup Guide →.
Starts / Ends
Starts
Defines when the eWebinar becomes available to register for from a landing page or widget.
Best practice:
- Set this date intentionally for campaigns.
- Otherwise, just make sure the date is in the past. You can prevent people from prematurely registering for your eWebinar simply by not sharing it with anyone.
Ends / Never / End date
Controls when registration closes.
Best practice:
- Use "Never" for evergreen eWebinars. You can always unpublish in the future if needed.
- Use an End date for time-bound promotions only.
Scheduled sessions
When creating scheduled sessions, you are defining four things:
- Recurrence
- Days of the week
- Session times
- Time zone
Together, these determine how often and when your eWebinar appears as a future session option in your registration form.
Recurrence
Recurrence controls how often sessions repeat. Options include:
- Every day
- Weekdays (auto-selects Monday–Friday)
- Every week (you manually select one or more days)
- Every two weeks (odd or even weeks)
- Once a month (e.g., first Tuesday, last Thursday, etc.)
- On a specific date
You can combine multiple recurrences. For example:
- Every two weeks (odd): Monday & Wednesday
- Every two weeks (even): Tuesday & Thursday
This allows highly customized scheduling when needed. However, simplicity typically performs better than complex recurrence patterns.
Session times
For each recurrence, you define one or more times of day.
You can add multiple times per day. However, we generally recommend limiting this to three or four.
Why:
- Too many options can create decision fatigue.
- A long list of same-day sessions can push future dates out of view, keeping the registrant from realizing additional options exist.
Using 3–4 well-spaced times per weekday (for example, 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m.) allows:
- A few convenient options per day
- Visibility into the next few days
- A clean, scannable registration experience
This approach is especially effective if you enable at least one on-demand option, since scheduled sessions are no longer primary — they serve as a fallback for people who can't watch immediately.
If you want high-frequency availability throughout the day, consider using just-in-time sessions instead of adding excessive scheduled times. Just-in-time creates constant availability without overwhelming the registration page, since only one just-in-time session appears in the dropdown at any given time, relative to when the visitor discovers your landing page.
Time zone
Time zone determines the time zone scheduled sessions appear to registrants in.
Attendee's time zone (dynamic)
Sessions appear in the registrant's local time. For example, if you add a 10am session to your schedule, it will appear at 10am regardless of whether the visitor is in New York or Tokyo.
Best practice:
- Use this in most cases. With scheduled sessions, it ensures times always appear at convenient times of day for each attendee, so scheduled sessions work as a true fallback when someone cannot watch on-demand immediately.
Also useful for:
- Global audiences
- Audiences across multiple U.S. time zones
Be mindful of:
- Just-in-time sessions appearing at odd local hours (use Hours of operation to prevent that, if desired).
Your time zone (fixed)
Sessions appear in one defined time zone for everyone.
Best for:
- Strict chat coverage alignment
- Teams with defined business hours
- Compliance or SLA-driven environments
Using your time zone (fixed) gives you more operational control but reduces flexibility for audiences in other time zones, resulting in lower attendance rates. Keep in mind, however, you can retain the same level of control by choosing Attendee's time zone, but setting your Hours of operation in your time zone.
Best practices for scheduled sessions
While eWebinar supports complex scheduling patterns, most eWebinars perform best with:
- A predictable weekly pattern
- Multiple weekday options
- Clear spacing between times
- No more than 3–4 session times on any given day
We often recommend weekdays at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m.
Why:
- 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. are consistently strong times for attendance (before and after lunch).
- 6:00 p.m. provides an after-work option.
- Weekdays align with most business audiences and help avoid creating the expectation of live chat coverage on weekends. (If you also enable on-demand sessions, which don't have the same expectation of live chat coverage, they are available in the evening and on weekends.)
Scheduled sessions as a fallback for on-demand
On-demand, just-in-time, and replays capture immediate intent.
Scheduled sessions capture future intent.
If someone lands on your registration page but cannot watch immediately, offering scheduled sessions in the next day or two allows them to:
- Choose a specific time
- Put it on their calendar
- Receive reminder emails
- Commit to attending
For this reason, scheduled sessions work best as a complement to on-demand options, not a replacement for them. When on-demand is enabled, data shows that 80–90% of registrants choose to watch immediately. Scheduled sessions capture the remaining 10–20% who can't or don't want to watch right away — without them, those visitors may leave and never return.
On-demand sessions
On-demand sessions let people begin watching your eWebinar the moment they click to join it after registering.
On-demand is one of the simplest ways to increase attendance because it removes the delay between interest and access.
What happens if someone registers but never joins?
Registering for an on-demand session reserves access for that person, but it does not count as attendance. The session only starts for them when they click their join link and enter the presentation room.
If they register and never join, eWebinar may eventually mark that registration as missed. This simply means the person did not attend after signing up. It does not mean they watched the eWebinar, and in most cases they can still use their join link later to start the on-demand session when they are ready.
Best practices for on-demand sessions
On-demand is recommended in most cases, especially when:
- You want to capture visitors at the moment of highest intent
- You want your eWebinar to be available outside scheduled times
- You want to increase total registrations and attendance
On-demand is especially effective when paired with scheduled sessions, so attendees have both:
- Immediate access (on-demand)
- A future option they can commit to (scheduled)
Why on-demand may not be enough on its own
Even with on-demand enabled, some visitors cannot watch immediately. Without scheduled sessions as a fallback, they may leave and never return. In most cases, combining on-demand with scheduled sessions produces better attendance than on-demand alone.
To understand how to balance the two for your situation, see the Schedule + Chat Setup Guide →
Operational note
On-demand sessions can be watched at any time, including outside your team's coverage hours.
If you enable chat, you may want to set expectations using:
- Your housekeeping script
- An auto response message
- Hours of operation (to block on-demand sessions outside of those hours)
Enable ungated on-demand link
This setting generates an ungated on-demand link that can be shared publicly.
Ungated links allow someone to start watching without registering.
Best practice:
- Enable this only if you intentionally want a public, no-registration viewing experience.
- If you want to use an ungated link and still surface a registration form, use in-video registration.
- If you want to use an ungated link, you must enable it first.
For details, see the help article on ungated links.
Just-in-time sessions
Just-in-time sessions ensure there is always a session about to start when someone lands on your registration page. They display a countdown to the next session — both in the session dropdown (showing how many minutes remain) and typically on the registration button itself.
This creates urgency and a live-event mindset, which is different from on-demand sessions where attendees simply press play and begin watching immediately.
Best practices for just-in-time sessions
Just-in-time is recommended when:
- You want a live-style experience without scheduling many sessions
- You want to increase registration conversion from your landing page
- You want to offer high availability while keeping your schedule simple
Just-in-time works especially well when combined with:
- On-demand sessions (immediate access)
- Scheduled sessions (future fallback)
- Hours of operation (to prevent odd-hour appearances)
When selecting the time interval for your just-in-time sessions, we recommend:
- On the next 5-minute mark
- On the next 10-minute mark
- On the next quarter hour (most popular)
Choosing the next quarter hour more firmly differentiates just-in-time from on-demand sessions and puts the emphasis on the urgency of an upcoming session to motivate registrants to sign up and join right away.
When to enable hours of operation with just-in-time
Just-in-time sessions always run in the attendee's time zone. This can cause them to appear at odd local hours (for example, late at night).
Enabling Hours of operation is recommended if you wish to prevent just-in-time sessions from appearing outside your regular business hours.
This is especially important for teams that want to avoid giving the impression that someone may be available to respond to chat in real time.
Just-in-time and chat expectations
Just-in-time sessions start at a specific time. Because of this, attendees may have higher expectations around chat responsiveness, as opposed to an on-demand session which people will immediately assume is pre-recorded.
If you enable just-in-time sessions, it is especially important to manage chat expectations using:
- Hours of operation
- A clear housekeeping script
- An auto response message
- A moderator coverage plan
Replays
When attendees register to watch a replay, they receive a link that allows them to watch your eWebinar at any time and control the video playback.
Replays differ from other session types because viewers can freely pause, skip forward, and move backward through the video.
Replays can be rewatched again and again. All other session types run in real time once they start and, once they end, cannot be rewatched.
Best practices for replays
Replays behave like traditional replay links from live sessions. Attendees receive a link they can watch at any time, and they have full control over playback, including skipping forward and backward.
Although replay links can be watched later, most attendees watch them immediately. So, in practice, they function similarly to on-demand sessions, but with full video control.
Keep in mind that, even if replays are disabled in your schedule, replay links can still be included in follow-up emails. They are included by default. If you do not want that, you must remove them.
Enable replays in your schedule when:
- You are comfortable with attendees having full control to skip forward and backward.
- You want to meet the expectations of experienced webinar-goers looking for a "replay link."
- You want to offer immediate access with maximum flexibility.
Disable replays in your schedule when:
- You want to preserve the event-style structure of your eWebinar
- You want attendees to watch in sequence during their first viewing
- Pacing, narrative flow, or timed progression are important
For more details, read the guide to replays.
Set replay links to expire
By default, replay links can be watched indefinitely.
This setting allows you to set an expiration window so replay links stop working after a defined period of time.
Best for:
- Sales eWebinars with time-bound offers
- Campaigns where replay access should be limited
- Launches where messaging or pricing may change after a certain date
Best practice:
- Use expiration when replay access should align with a real offer window.
- Avoid expiration for evergreen training or onboarding eWebinars.
Enable ungated replay link
This setting generates an ungated replay link that can be shared publicly.
Ungated replay links allow someone to watch a replay without registering.
Best practice:
- Use this when you want to share a replay publicly (for example, on a landing page or in an ad).
- If you want to use an ungated replay link and still surface a registration form, use in-video registration.
- If you want to use an ungated replay link, you must enable it first.
For details, see the help article on ungated links.
Availability
Max number of scheduled sessions to display in registration form
This setting controls how many upcoming scheduled sessions appear on your registration page. On-demand sessions, just-in-time sessions, and replays do not count toward this total — they appear when enabled, unless prevented by hours of operation.
Best practice:
- Show enough to include up to three days of scheduled sessions (typically 9–12).
- Showing too many sessions can overwhelm the registration form.
- Showing too few may limit perceived flexibility.
The goal is to provide enough options to feel flexible without creating clutter or decision fatigue. You must also be careful not to add more than three or four session times per day to prevent this from happening.
Blackout dates
Blackout dates prevent sessions from occurring on selected holidays or specific date ranges.
You can block:
- National holidays (by country)
- Individual dates
- Custom date ranges
Best practice:
- Use blackout dates to prevent sessions from appearing when your team is unavailable.
Blackout dates help ensure your schedule reflects real operational availability. At the very least, they can manage expectations around chat responsiveness on days when you know your team is less likely to respond or may be understaffed.
Hours of operation
Hours of operation limit when sessions appear on your registration page.
If enabled, sessions that fall outside those hours will not appear to registrants.
Hours of operation can apply to:
- Scheduled sessions
- Just-in-time sessions
- On-demand sessions (unless on-demand is allowed outside hours)
Replays are not affected by hours of operation. If you want to prevent people from registering for a replay, you must remove the option from your schedule altogether.
Set hours of operation in a fixed time zone
This toggle only appears when your eWebinar uses Attendee's time zone.
By default, when your eWebinar uses the attendee's time zone, hours of operation also follow the attendee's local time. In many cases, this is fine — you don't need to change anything.
The main reason to enable this toggle is if you want to prevent sessions from appearing at odd hours for anyone, regardless of where they are located. This is most relevant for just-in-time sessions, which can otherwise appear late at night or outside standard business hours for attendees in different time zones.
If you enable Set hours of operation in a fixed time zone, you can choose a specific time zone (for example, Eastern Time) and apply hours consistently in that time zone for all attendees. Use this when you want sessions to never appear outside a strictly defined window.
Best practice:
- Use attendee-local hours when your only goal is to prevent sessions from appearing at odd local hours for your attendees — particularly just-in-time sessions.
- Use fixed-time-zone hours when you want session availability to strictly align with your team's actual working hours, regardless of where attendees are located.
Allow on-demand sessions outside hours of operation
This toggle appears when:
- Hours of operation are enabled, AND
- Your eWebinar uses the attendee's time zone, AND
- Hours of operation are not set in a fixed time zone
This setting allows on-demand sessions to appear even when outside your defined hours, while still keeping just-in-time sessions within those hours.
The reason to use this is simple: on-demand sessions are clearly pre-recorded, so there's no expectation of a live response. Just-in-time sessions, because they start at a specific time, can give the impression that someone is available to respond in chat. If no one is, that can reflect poorly on you. Keeping just-in-time sessions within defined hours avoids that problem while still letting on-demand sessions run around the clock.
Best practice:
- Enable this when you want 24/7 on-demand access but still restrict just-in-time sessions to standard business hours.
- Keep this disabled in strict SLA or coverage-controlled environments.
Best practices for hours of operation
Enable hours of operation when:
- You want to prevent sessions from appearing at odd local hours (Attendee's time zone)
- You want session availability to align with your team's working hours (Fixed time zone)
- You want to manage expectations around chat responsiveness
When using the attendee's time zone, hours of operation are especially useful for controlling just-in-time visibility.
When using a fixed time zone, they ensure sessions only appear during your defined coverage window.