Ready to host your first webinar? A seasoned pro? Somewhere in the middle? Wistia’s Live functionality allows you to create a live event, host it, and share the recording. You can collect viewer and attendee information, as well as analytics from the live event.
Creating a live event
To create a live event in your Wistia account, navigate to your Live Events page and click "Create."
Note
Account Owners, Managers, and Standard Users have access to create live events.
Following this, you can add a title, date, time, time zone, and the approximate duration of your event. Don't worry, these details can be edited later on the “Overview” page!
Tip
You can also create an event from anywhere in your account by clicking "Create" at the top of the page.
Overview page
Once you click “Create,” you’ll be redirected to the Overview page where you can edit the high-level information for your event and add it to your calendar.
The Overview page includes a number of details and settings for your live event:
The date, time, time zone, and approximate duration
Description (you can also generate a description via AI)
An event image that will represent your event from start to finish. The event image will be the default image for the registration page, emails, and the screen before the event starts and after it concludes
Links to the Customize, Audience, Analytics, and Simulcast pages
The option to enable or disable registration and select a registration form
A setting to allow your audience to watch your live event recording
The Media destination for the live event recording
Information about the date your live event was created, who created it, and the scheduled date and time
From the Overview page, click “Join event room” to join as a host, a panelist, or view as the audience to see a preview.
For a full breakdown over everything you can update on the Overview page, head on over to this article.
Share your live stream
Click "Share," then "Share event links" to retrieve the Panelist link as well as the Audience link. You can also add tracking to your Audience link to see where your traffic is coming from.
Note
The Advanced Plan allows for 500 attendees and a 2-hour time limit per event. For all plan details, take a look at our Pricing page.
Panelist link
To share your event with panelists, click "Share," then "Share event links." You can invite dozens of panelists to join your event as presenters.
Note
Keep in mind that a maximum of nine streams (presenters) can be brought on stage at once, so we recommend limiting your panelists to around 20. There will be a 10th slot saved for screen shares, questions, or polls brought on stage.
Share the Panelist link, and before joining, any panelists will be asked to enter their display name, and check to be sure they’ve selected the correct Video, Microphone (input), and Speakers (output). They can turn off their webcam, mute themselves, and test everything out before joining. Once ready, they can click “Join as Panelist.”
Audience link
To share your event with your audience, click "Share," then "Share event links." The event link will take an attendee directly to the event page, or prompt them to register first.
Note
The Advanced Plan has a live attendee limit of 500. If the number of audience members exceeds what is allowed on your plan, there will be a charge of $1/attendee. Learn more about our plans on our Pricing page.
Duplicate event
If you’ll be hosting a similar event in the future, you can click the three dots next to Embed, then click “Duplicate event” to create a brand new event with the same title, description, and branding. We’ll save a copy in the same folder with fresh registrant data and analytics.
Delete event
If you’d like to delete your event, click the three dots next to Embed, then click “Delete Event” and confirm your decision.
Note
Deleting an event cannot be undone.