A full breakdown of the Waiting Room and the Exit Room and how they can help you host a great webinar
The Waiting Room and Exit Room appear automatically before and after every eWebinar you create except for Replays, which attendees can play or pause like a regular video player.
They were designed to allow your guests to arrive early, and stick around after your webinar, just like they could if it was a live event. This way, they have a chance to settle in and wrap up at their own pace, and their experience won’t start or end in a way that feels abrupt.
There are two main benefits to the Waiting and Exit Rooms:
- Attendees can reach out with questions or have a conversation with you in Chat
- You can use Interactions, especially in the Waiting Room, to engage with and gather information from attendees
The eWebinar Waiting Room
The Waiting Room is automatically available prior to the official start time of every scheduled or just-in-time webinar session. It is 15 minutes long and allows guests to get settled in and ready for their experience. If someone arrives before the Waiting Room opens, they see a clock counting down to when your webinar begins.
Your Welcome Message will fire a few seconds after an attendee joins, even if they are still in the Waiting Room, encouraging them from the start to reach out with questions in chat.
We suggest including Interactions that appear before your official start time to get attendees engaged. They work just like mid-webinar interactions, but the timestamp will show as a negative. If you set an interaction to appear 2 minutes before your webinar, for example, it will say -2:00.
At eWebinar, we always include a Question Interaction Card that reads “Where are you joining me from today?” Other great options include Polls that will help you learn more about your audience, or Tips that will help them get the most out of their experience.
Want to bring your A game? Learn more about eWebinar’s customizable Interactions.
The eWebinar Exit Room
The Exit Room automatically appears at the end of every scheduled webinar. It ensures you have a chance to finish up any chats you have open with attendees, and that they have an unrushed exit.
It’s automatically set to 15 minutes, but you are able to adjust its length from 0 to 30 minutes. During the Exit Room, you can choose to display either info on your Presenters or a call to action which leads to a URL of your choosing. When the Exit Room ends, you can either redirect to the URL of your choice or display a different CTA and custom URL. To make these adjustments, click Exit Room on the Settings tab while editing any eWebinar.