Joining and participating in Zoom Webinars

If you are registering or joining a webinar and haven’t received an email confirmation that’s for a panelist or alternative host, you are an attendee in the webinar. As a webinar attendee, you can virtually raise your hand, submit questions in Q&A, and send messages to others.

Notes: Some attendee controls won’t be available if disabled by the host. If you have additional controls not shown here, you may be a co-host or panelist in a webinar or an attendee in a meeting.

This article covers:

Prerequisites for attending Zoom Webinars 

How to join a webinar

Join a webinar through an invitation link

To join the webinar, click the link that the host provided you or that you received in the confirmation page after you registered. If the host sent a registration confirmation email, the link can also be found there.

Manually join a webinar

  1. Locate the meeting ID/webinar ID from your registration email. It may appear at the end of the phone dial-in information, or it will be in the join link, just after https://zoom.us/w/
  2. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client or mobile app.
    Note: You do not need to be signed in to the Zoom client, but if not, you will need to provide a name and email address to join. If registration is required, you will need to complete registration and use the link to join the webinar. 
  3. Click or tap Join.
  4. Enter the webinar ID, and click Join or tap Join Meeting.
  5. If prompted, enter your name and email address, then click Join Webinar or tap Join.

Note: If joining a simulive webinar, the webinar will automatically open in a desktop browser. Supported browsers include Chrome, Safari, and Chromium Edge.

Wait for the host to start the webinar

If the host hasn’t started broadcasting the webinar or is preparing using a practice session, you’ll receive one of the following messages depending on your device type: Please wait for the host to start this webinar or Waiting for the host to start this meeting.

If you receive a message showing the date and time of the webinar, check the date and start time of the webinar including the time zone. Make sure to join when the webinar starts.

How to use webinar attendee controls

Audio Settings (only visible if the host hasn't granted you permission to talk): Change your audio settings. You can also click the upward arrow (^) next to change your speaker.

Unmute / Mute : If the host gives you permission, you can unmute and talk during the webinar. All participants will be able to hear you. If the host allows you to talk, you will receive a notification about staying on mute or unmuting.
Note: You can still access the audio settings by click on the ^ arrow next to the Unmute/Mute button.

Chat : Open webinar chat, allowing you to send chat messages to the host, panelists, and attendees (if permitted).

Raise Hand : Raise your hand in the webinar to indicate that you need something from the host. The host may instruct you on how they plan to use this. Many webinar hosts use this feature to know if an attendee has a question and would like to speak out loud.

Question & Answer : Open the Q&A window, allowing you to ask questions to the host and panelists. They can either reply back to you via text in the Q&A window or answer your question live. 

To ask a question:

  1. Enter your question into the Q&A box, then click Send.
    Notes:
    • Select Send Anonymously if you do not want your name attached to your question in the Q&A.
    • If you see a prompt that your message has triggered a Chat Etiquette policy, you are either warned or blocked from sending the message based on what your account admin has configured. The Chat Etiquette Tool does not send additional message information, like data, metadata, and event information, to the account admin, to Zoom, or to any 3rd party services, whether the message triggers Chat Etiquette policies or not.
  2. If the host replies via the Q&A, you will see a reply in the Q&A window. The host can also answer your question live (out loud). You will see a notification in the Q&A window if the host plans to do this.

As an attendee you can also like or comment on other attendee’s questions. This helps the host or participant identify popular questions, especially in a webinar with many attendees.

  1. Click the thumbs up icon to like a comment.
    Tip: The number beside the icon is the total number of likes the question has received so far.
  2. Click the red thumbs up icon to unlike the comment.
  3. Click Comment to write a reply to an existing question.
  4. Enter your comment and click Send.
    Your comment will appear beneath the question.

Leave meeting: Click Leave meeting to leave the webinar at any time. If you leave, you can rejoin if the webinar is still in progress, as long as the host has not locked the webinar. 

Polls and Quizzes: Polls and quizzes may be launched by the host or presenters, which will appear on your screen. These are an optional way to interact with the host, presenters, and their presentation.

For users on multiple screens, the location of the window will vary slightly.

  • On Windows devices, the polls and quiz windows will appear on the initial screen the webinar was located when the poll was launched. So, if the Zoom Webinar window was on screen 1 when the host launched the poll, then all poll windows will appear on screen 1, unless the attendee moves the poll window to a different location, which becomes the new default location.
  • On macOS devices, the poll will appear on the active screen, regardless of the location of the Zoom Webinar window. 

Linux

Audio Settings (only visible if the host hasn't granted you permission to talk): Change your audio settings. You can also click the upward arrow (^) next to change your speaker.

Unmute / Mute : If the host gives you permission, you can unmute and talk during the webinar. All participants will be able to hear you. If the host allows you to talk, you will receive a notification about staying on mute or unmuting.
Note: You can still access the audio settings by click on the ^ arrow next to the Unmute/Mute button.

Chat : Open webinar chat, allowing you to send chat messages to the host, panelists, and attendees (if permitted).

Raise Hand : Raise your hand in the webinar to indicate that you need something from the host. The host may instruct you on how they plan to use this. Many webinar hosts use this feature to know if an attendee has a question and would like to speak out loud.

Question & Answer : Open the Q&A window, allowing you to ask questions to the host and panelists. They can either reply back to you via text in the Q&A window or answer your question live. 

To ask a question:

  1. Enter your question into the Q&A box, then click Send.
    Notes    :
    • Select Send Anonymously if you do not want your name attached to your question in the Q&A.
    • If you see a prompt that your message has triggered a Chat Etiquette policy, you are either warned or blocked from sending the message based on what your account admin has configured. The Chat Etiquette Tool does not send additional message information, like data, metadata, and event information, to the account admin, to Zoom, or to any 3rd party services, whether the message triggers Chat Etiquette policies or not.
  2. If the host replies via the Q&A, you will see a reply in the Q&A window. The host can also answer your question live (out loud). You will see a notification in the Q&A window if the host plans to do this.

Leave meeting: Click Leave meeting to leave the webinar at any time. If you leave, you can rejoin if the webinar is still in progress, as long as the host has not locked the webinar. 

Polls and Quizzes: Polls and quizzes may be launched by the host or presenters, which will appear on your screen. These are an optional way to interact with the host, presenters, and their presentation.

Android

Speaker icon: Tap the speaker icon in the top-left corner to turn off your device’s speaker.

Unmute  / Mute : If the host gives you permission, you can unmute and talk during the webinar. All participants will be able to hear you. Tap Audio if you want to mute yourself. 

Chats : Open webinar chat, allowing you to send chat messages to the host, panelists, and attendees (if permitted). 

Raise Hand : Raise your hand in the webinar to indicate that you need something from the host. The host may instruct you on how they plan to use this. Many webinar hosts use this feature to know if an attendee has a question and would like to speak out loud.

Q&A : Open the Question & Answer window, allowing you to ask questions to the host and panelists. They can either reply back to you via text in the Q&A window or answer your question live. 

To ask a question:

  1. Enter your question into the Q&A box. Tap Send.
    Notes:
    • Select Send Anonymously if you do not want your name attached to your question in the Q&A.
    • If you see a prompt that your message has triggered a Chat Etiquette policy, you are either warned or blocked from sending the message based on what your account admin has configured. The Chat Etiquette Tool does not send additional message information, like data, metadata, and event information, to the account admin, to Zoom, or to any 3rd party services, whether the message triggers Chat Etiquette policies or not.
  2. If the host replies via the Q&A, you will see a reply in the Q&A window.
  3. The host can also answer your question live (out loud). You will see a notification in the Q&A window if the host plans to do this.

More : Tap for these options.

  • Disconnect Audio: Disconnect your device's audio from the webinar. Click Join Audio to reconnect your audio.
  • View Full Transcript: View a live transcript of the webinar audio.

Leave: Tap Leave to leave the webinar at any time. If you leave, you can rejoin if the webinar is still in progress, as long as the host has not locked the webinar. 

iOS

Speaker icon: Tap the speaker icon in the top-left corner to turn your device’s speaker on or off.

Unmute  / Mute : If the host gives you permission, you can unmute and talk during the webinar. All participants will be able to hear you.

Raise Hand : Raise your hand in the webinar to indicate that you need something from the host. The host may instruct you on how they plan to use this. Many webinar hosts use this feature to know if an attendee has a question and would like to speak out loud.

Chat  : Open webinar chat, allowing you to send chat messages to the host, panelists, and attendees (if permitted). 

Q&A  : Open the Question & Answer window, allowing you to ask questions to the host and panelists. They can either reply back to you via text in the Q&A window or answer your question live.

To ask a question:

  1. Tap Ask a Question.
  2. Enter your question into the Q&A box.
    Notes: Select Send Anonymously if you do not want your name attached to your question in the Q&A.
  3. Tap the send button to send your question to the host.
    Note: If you see a prompt that your message has triggered a Chat Etiquette policy, you are either warned or blocked from sending the message based on what your account admin has configured. The Chat Etiquette Tool does not send additional message information, like data, metadata, and event information, to the account admin, to Zoom, or to any 3rd party services, whether the message triggers Chat Etiquette policies or not.
  4. If the host replies via the Q&A, you will see a reply in the Q&A window.
  5. The host can also answer your question live (out loud). You will see a notification in the Q&A window if the host plans to do this.

More : Tap for these options.

  • Minimize Webinar: Change the webinar view to a floating thumbnail window and go to the home screen of the Zoom app.
    Note: You cannot minimize the webinar to a floating thumbnail window outside of the Zoom app. You must have the Zoom app open to view the webinar.
  • View Full Transcript: View a live transcript of the webinar audio.
  • Disconnect Audio: Disconnect your device's audio from the webinar. Click Join Audio to reconnect your audio.

Leave: Tap Leave to leave the webinar at any time. If you leave, you can rejoin if the webinar is still in progress, as long as the host has not locked the webinar.