Running my 1st online seminar - Does my Zoom One Pro License cover my needs? Where to start

[MichelleOG]

Hello zoom peeps and pros,

I'm hosting my first ever online seminar in a month and before I post the announcement Im double checking that I have what it takes! I know I can have up to 100 participants, that would be a great problem to have. It will be either 2 hours or 2.5 hours. I would hope for 20-30 peeps if super lucky. I found a checklist for Zoom webinars that is super helpful and also overwhelming. I was hoping it was as simple as emailing the registrants a Zoom link and have watched enough Seminars to know what I want with chat feature and sharing a Powerpoint doc (50 slides). I don't need to purchase a co-host license, will just let my colleague who is attending, watch the chat when i turn it on. What else do I need to consider? I saw a post about not selecting 'Requiring attendees authenticated users to join' - so that participants can join with just a browser and not need a Zoom account. Check. good to know. Other question: Do I have to purchase a Webinar feature ? Or can I just cut off limit at 100 and stick with the plan I have? And reading says there is a required practice session done anytime prior to start time of seminar but is required. How does that work? And what else do I need to think about - added costs?  there are so many features and I don't need wiz bang, just need to run a clean online seminar to speak, share ppt and open up chat when I want (not letting people just post chat the entire time). Open to any advise and input that helps me calm the nerves about Zoom being scary with all of the settings available. Thank you!! Michelle

[joshbrage_ZE · Accepted solution]

Hi Michelle! 

Sounds like overall, you're just running a simple Zoom Meeting for under 100 participants. Couple of tips.

Zoom Meeting allows everyone to have the same role in a meeting - everyone can potentially share video, audio and content. Zoom Webinar is a one-to-many platform that allows panelists to share video, audio, content while limiting attendees ability to "watch-only."

Couple of tips:
PRACTICE! Get into your meeting as much as you want prior.
Practice sharing content.
Familiarize yourself with the Participants Panel. This panel lets you set how people behave in the meeting (for example do you want them to be able to unmute?) 
Waiting Room is a terrific feature that "holds" participants in a waiting room until you're ready to begin your program.
Finally, strongly recommend becoming familiar with the Security Panel in your Meeting. This keeps all of the tools to control your meeting right under one easy shield button.

Good luck! Please let us know how it goes!

[MichelleOG]

Thank you Josh. Great tips and more palatable to narrow down my direction. So appreciated. I've already put the word out to a few close colleagues about a test run which will give me reassurance in the technical part. Off to look into the webinar and co-host features 🙂 This community on Zoom is so helpful, great input out there. Michelle