Zoom Webinars can be used to run an event with up to 1000 participants, where the interaction of the participants can be controlled by the event host. In most cases a normal Zoom meeting with up to 300 participants should be sufficient for your needs, however, there may be occasions when you need to run a large Zoom meeting/webinar.
Using Zoom for Conferences or Virtual Events
Please note that Microsoft Teams is the preferred College supported software for running conferences or virtual events.
If you are planning on using Zoom to run a conference or event, please ensure all those involved with running this have read the College conference policy.
If you require support and guidance with planning and designing an event for an online audience then please contact the Institutional Events team. More information is also available on the Virtual Events page.
Current licences types available
- Webinar 500 (issued to all staff automatically)
- Webinar 1000
Webinar functionality
- 49 participants on the screen at any one time (or up to 100 if you have 2 screens)
- Up to 100 panellists in a webinar that can contribute with audio and video during the webinar.
- Audience participation - for participants to be able to talk, the host has to enable this on an individual basis within the webinar.
- Chat settings can be updated to control if participants can chat to everyone, just hosts or to not be able to access the chat functionality.
- Restrict meeting access.
- The host can initiate up to 50 breakout sessions and distribute the participants as desired.
Set up a Webinar
ICT will provide access to webinar licences on request. Follow the instructions listed below to create a Zoom webinar:
- Log in to the Zoom web portal and go to Webinars in the Personal menu.
- Select the Schedule a Webinar button.
- Enter the relevant webinar settings.
- Select the Registration option if you require the participant to register for the webinar event. More information on user registration can be found on the Zoom support site.
- Add an Alternative host email if you are scheduling on behalf of someone else.
- Select Schedule to complete setting up the webinar.
Invite attendees and panellists to a webinar
There are three different ways to invite attendees to register:
- Copy the registration URL and share via email.
- Select Copy the invitation to view and copy the invitation created by Zoom to send out to your attendees.
- Select Email me the invitation to receive a copy of the Zoom invitation that you can then forward to potential attendees.
Panellists are full participants in the meeting. They can view, send video and screen share.
Detailed instructions on adding panellists can be found on the Zoom web pages.
Request a webinar 1000 licence
To request access please contact the ICT Service Desk and provide the following information:
- Date of session
- Named contact
- Participant group size
- Is it a one-off or recurring event
Please allow up to 48 hours for any Webinar licence request to be processed.