Urgent Need for Feature: End Webinar for Attendees Only

[giampsg]

Hi Zoom Team and Community,

I’m reaching out with a critical issue that has significant implications for our workflow and webinar management. Currently, there is no functionality in Zoom Webinars to end a session for attendees only, while allowing panelists to stay on for a debrief. This limitation is highly inconvenient and counterproductive, especially considering the additional cost of the Zoom Webinars add-on.

Current Setup and Challenges:

• Subscription: I am subscribed to the Video Webinars plan with a capacity of 500 attendees, at a cost of €74 per month.
• Limitation: There is no option to end the webinar exclusively for attendees, which is crucial for post-webinar discussions among panelists.
• Upgrade Issues: Upgrading to a Zoom Events or Zoom Sessions subscription reduces the maximum number of attendees to 100, which is insufficient for our needs.

Impact:

This functionality gap forces us to find cumbersome workarounds, such as scheduling separate follow-up meetings, which disrupts the workflow and increases the risk of losing valuable immediate feedback. Considering the premium price we pay for the webinar add-on, this limitation is unacceptable.

Request for Solution:

I urge the Zoom development team to prioritize adding a feature that allows webinar hosts to end the session for attendees only, while keeping panelists in the session. This feature is critical for efficient post-webinar debriefs and maintaining a seamless workflow.

Community Feedback:

I am not alone in this; many users in the community have voiced similar concerns. A solution to this issue would greatly enhance the usability and value of the Zoom Webinars service.

Conclusion:

Given the significant monthly investment in Zoom Webinars, it is reasonable to expect a more flexible and functional feature set. I hope the Zoom team can address this issue promptly, ensuring that the service meets the practical needs of its users.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to a prompt and positive response.

Best regards,

Giampaolo

[Ray_Harwood]

To anyone that comes across this topic again, please note that my previous answer below no longer applies.  I'm understanding that -- as of the July 22 Zoom Events release -- most of the "special features" that were accessible by having a Sessions or Events PPA license are no longer available outside of the PPA Hub and it's Events/Sessions.  Specifically, see this text from today's version of the Zoom Events Release Notes:

Essentially this means (after some interpretation and clarification from several of my Zoom contacts) that things like Backstage, Production Studio, Simulive, and their related functionality are not available with only a PPA license.  (I have both PPA and Unlimited 100 Events licenses, so I do have access to some of these features.)

For those that bought Sessions PPA licenses to access the Pro versions of Liminal products (ZoomOSC, ZoomISO, ZoomCuts, and the upcoming Zoom Tiles), it's unclear to me whether that will continue to be accessible.  If I learn more, I'll come back here and clarify.

It's my goal to try to keep the Zoom Community pages updated when I learn that one of my answers is incorrect or the landscape has shifted in one way or another.

  #  #  #

Previous answer preserved for historical reference:

Welcome to the Zoom Community, . 

It is possible to do this now with your stand-alone webinars by purchasing a Zoom Sessions license. 

Purchase the least expensive Zoom Events license – a Zoom Sessions Pay Per Attendee 50 license from https://zoom.us/pricing/events for $100 USD:

After purchasing this license, assign it to your webinar Host, and do the initial creation of a Zoom Sessions Hub.

Once this is done, you will have the option to choose Practice Sessions or Backstage for your Webinars – even the stands-alone ones. Selecting Backstage will enable the option to End Webinar for Attendees as you described. 

Simply do not use the Zoom Sessions PPA license, and you should be in good shape for 1 year from the date of purchase.

You can reach out to me on the Z-SPAN web site mentioned below for assistance. 

@giampsg