Explains all of your options when scheduling your eWebinar, whether it is a recurring event, one-time event, to be held on a few specific dates and times, or on-demand only.
There are a number of settings to configure when setting up the schedule for your eWebinar. This article explains them all in detail (click the links to skip ahead):
- Event type
- Time zone
- On-demand webinars
- Just-in-time webinars
- Replays
- Blackout dates
- Hours of operation
Knowing how is not knowing why!
Knowing how to configure your webinar schedule and why you should do it one way versus another are two very different things. To learn a few key strategies to follow when setting up your schedule, especially as it relates to how you want to respond to chat messages, check out this related article:
Event type
When setting up the schedule of an eWebinar, the first thing you must do is choose its Event type under Event settings.
When you do this, the whole page will automatically adjust so that it only displays options that are relevant for that type of event. Also, default settings will update themselves, so they reflect that event type's most commonly selected options and best practices. You can, of course, set things up however you like, but having intelligent defaults in place will save you a lot of time.
Below are the four Event types and how they work:
On-demand options are always available
Keep in mind that all four event types can support on-demand webinars, just-in-time webinars, and replays.
Recurring event
Choosing Recurring event as your webinar's Event type lets you set up one or more recurrences in your webinar schedule such that sessions regularly happen on the same days and times from week to week.
Here is a list of the recurrences you can add to your schedule:
| Recurrence | Description |
| Every day | 7 days a week |
| Every weekday | Monday through Friday |
| Every week | On whatever day(s) of the week you choose (e.g. Mon & Fri) |
| Every 2 weeks (odd)* |
Bi-weekly, starting the first week of the schedule |
| Every 2 weeks (even)* | Bi-weekly, starting the second week of the schedule |
| Once a month | One day a month (e.g. the first Tuesday of every month) |
| On a specific date | On any future date |
* What to know when scheduling bi-weekly webinars
When scheduling bi-weekly webinars, remember that weeks always start on Sunday. For example, if the start date of your recurring schedule is on a Tuesday and you add a recurrence for Every 2 weeks (odd) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the first week will have sessions on Wednesday and Friday, but not on Monday of the following week (since Sunday will have been the first day of week 2). If this seems confusing, be sure to use the schedule preview to verify that things are set up how you would like.
You may add as many recurrences to your schedule as you need. For example, two recurrences have been added to the schedule in the example below, so that webinars happen on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10AM and 2PM, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11AM and 3PM.
One-time event
One-time event is exactly what it sounds like. You can schedule your webinar to happen on a set date at a set time. (If you want to hold your webinar at more than one time on a single date, use Specific dates and times instead.)
Specific dates and times
Specific dates and times lets you schedule your webinar to happen on as many specific dates as you like and at as many times as you like on each date.
How on-demand options work with webinars scheduled on set dates
If you set up your webinar as a one-time event or on specific dates and times, on-demand webinars, just-in-time webinars, and/or replays, if enabled, will not become available for registrants to sign up for until the first (or only) event on your schedule begins.
On-demand only
Choosing On-demand only as your Event type means you do not want to have any set days and times on your webinar schedule. Instead, you want to allow people to sign up for an on-demand webinar, just-in-time webinar, and/or replay.
In the example below, on-demand webinars and replays have been enabled, but not just-in-time webinars.
When you choose Recurring or On-demand only as your Event type, you must specify a start date when sessions become available for registrants to sign up for on your landing page.
You may also choose an end date, or leave it open ended by choosing "Never".
Time zone
You have two options when setting the time zone of your webinar. You can set your webinars to happen in a Fixed time zone or in the Attendee's local time zone.
Fixed time zone
If you choose a fixed time zone, you can specify the time zone of your webinars.
Attendee's local time zone
If you choose the attendee's local time zone, sessions will occur in the local time zone of the attendee, regardless of where they are located in the world.
For example, if you scheduled a session to start at 10am, the registrant would see 10am in the registration form whether they were in New York City or Singapore.
No time zone for on-demand only
You do not need to choose a time zone when On-demand only is your Event type. Keep in mind that just-in-time sessions, if enabled, will always occur in the attendee's local time zone.
On-demand webinars
When visitors sign up for on-demand sessions, they are able to join their session immediately after registering for it by clicking the join link. In fact, their session will not begin until they click the join link (which could be an hour later). When it does, there are a few seconds remaining in the waiting room before the video plays.
This section is also where you can enable the ungated on-demand webinar link, which you can learn more about here.
Just-in-time webinars
When just-in-time webinars are enabled, it means there is always a session about to start when a visitor discovers your landing page. Thus, they are always “just in time” for the next session.
The start time of the next session in your registration form will be based on the interval you select relative to the top of the hour.
For example, if you select On the next quarter hour and someone discovers your landing page at 12:12 PM, the next available session to choose from in the registration form would be at 12:15 PM, just 3 minutes later, on the next quarter hour.
Replays
When you enable replays, registrants can sign up to get a link to watch your webinar at their convenience and control the video playback when they do (i.e. pause, skip around, play at 2X speed, etc.)
In this section, you can also set replay links to expire after a certain number of days, including replay links you send out in follow-up emails.
NOTE: You may give attendees some control over the video in other session types, if you like. For example, you can allow attendees to control the playback speed and/or pause the video in scheduled sessions. However, only replays give the viewer full control of the video player.
Similarities & Differences
Here is a summary of the similarities and differences between the session types:
| On-demand | Just-in-time | Scheduled | Replays | |
| May be watched more than once | N | N | N | Y |
| Viewer fully controls the video | N | N | N | Y |
|
Has a waiting room |
Y* | Y | Y | N*** |
| Has an exit room | Y | Y | Y | N*** |
| Can have reminder emails | N | Y** | Y | N |
* The attendee of an on-demand session is only ever in the waiting room for a few seconds before the webinar begins.
** It's possible but, typically, just-in-time session do not have reminder emails, because they start so soon after the registrant signs up.
*** If you schedule interactions to appear in the waiting or exit room, keep in mind they will not appear at all in replays.
Ungated Sessions
On-demand and replays can also exist as ungated sessions, meaning the viewer does not have to register to join the webinar. They can just click to watch the webinar anonymously. Click here to learn more.
Session availability of scheduled webinars
Under Availability, when relevant, you may choose how many scheduled sessions you would like to appear at a time in your registration form.
Keep in mind that on-demand webinars, just-in-time webinars, and replays always appear in the sessions drop-down menu, when enabled.
Blackout dates
Blackout dates let you specify holidays in the country of your choice (that may change dates from year to year) when you do not want any sessions to occur. You may do the same for a date range or particular day (by clicking the date twice in the calendar).
Hours of operation
When just-in-time and/or on-demand webinars are enabled, setting your hours of operation prevents them from appearing as options in the registration form outside of those hours.
Keep in mind that office hours occur in the time zone you selected for your webinar.
