Interactivity is what turns your webinar from something people watch into something they participate in.
In eWebinar, interactivity during a webinar comes from three sources: Interactions, Settings, and Live Chat. Each plays a different role in shaping the attendee experience.
The three types of interactivity
1. Pre-set interactivity (Interactions)
This is the interactivity you design ahead of time.
Interactions appear at specific moments in your webinar and prompt attendees to engage, respond, or take action. Examples include polls, questions, calls to action, and pauses.
This is the primary way to guide behavior, collect information, and drive action, and create an interactive experience.
2. Self-directed interactivity (Settings)
This is the control you give attendees over how they watch the webinar.
Settings determine things like whether attendees can pause the video, change playback speed, or “like” moments during the webinar.
These don’t require active participation, but they improve usability and give attendees more flexibility.
3. Live chat
This is interaction between attendees and moderators during the webinar experience.
Attendees can ask questions while watching, and moderators can respond either:
Live, in real time
Or later, by following up via email
Even when responses are not immediate, this still creates a strong experience. Attendees get real answers to real questions, which adds a human layer to an otherwise automated webinar.
Live chat is specifically about interactivity that happens while the attendee is in the webinar room.
When and why to use live chat
Live chat serves different purposes depending on your use case:
Training and onboarding
Used for support and guidance.
It creates a more high-touch, “white glove” experience by helping attendees when they get stuck or have questions.
Sales and marketing
Used to move conversations forward.
Attendees can ask questions when they’re evaluating your product, giving you an opportunity to:
Address objections
Provide clarification
Guide them toward the next step (e.g., booking a call or signing up)
Important note
You do not need to respond live for chat to be effective.
Whether you respond immediately or follow up later, the value comes from giving attendees a way to ask questions and receive meaningful answers.
How these work together
These three types of interactivity serve different purposes:
Interactions create structured engagement by helping you collect information and guide attendees toward action
Settings give the attendee the freedom to act and control the experience on their own
Live chat enables conversation and support
You don’t have to use all three to be effective, but combining them can create a more complete and engaging experience.
Where to go next
To learn how to decide which interactions to use and how to structure your webinar:
How to Plan Interactions for Your eWebinar →To see all available interaction types and how they work:
Interactions Feature Guide →To learn about viewer controls and playback behavior:
Settings Feature Guide → (COMING SOON!)To learn how chat and moderation work:
Moderating Chat Features Guide → (COMING SOON!)