Participate in a live event chat, poll, or Q&A session

When watching a live event, you may be allowed to participate in a live chat, a poll, or a Q&A session on the event page. In this article, we will outline what to expect and how to use each of these features as a viewer. Keep in mind there is no guarantee you will always see these features used as they are enabled and controlled by the event's organizer.

In this article:

• Chat
• Q&A
• Poll

Chat

If the event’s organizer enabled chat, you would see a chat icon to the right of the video player on the desktop, below the player if you are viewing on a mobile browser, or at the bottom of the engagement tools modal window if you're watching the event on a website other than ZenVideo. 

⚠️Note: If you are prompted to enter a password upon opening the event player or the chat embed window and you do not know the password, please contact the event organizer.

This is the event page on ZenVideo with the chat enabled on a desktop browser.

This is the event page on ZenVideo with chat enabled when watching on a mobile browser:

If you are watching an event on the organizer’s website, you may also see the chat embedded near the player.

If you are logged into a ZenVideo account (or registered if the event is a webinar), you will automatically be logged into the chat and can open the chat panel to start posting messages or emojis. You can also paste links in the chat box, which will show up as hyperlinks and are clickable.

If you are not logged in you wish to participate, you must enter your name; if the event is a webinar, you may be prompted to re-enter your email address. By entering your name or email to join the chat, you accept ZenVideo’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy before selecting Join.

You can then type in your message or emojis and either press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard to send, or click the send button to the right to send your chat message, which may be up to 280 characters long. Your messages will appear on the right side of the chat window whereas others’ messages will appear alongside their names on the left side.

You can close the chat window at any time by clicking the X in the upper right corner. Closing the chat box will show only a chat bubble icon next to the player. This icon will display a red indicator when it’s first enabled or if there is new activity in the chat, such as new messages being posted.

If you close the panel, you can re-open the chat window by clicking the chat bubble icon.

Note that the event chat is moderated by the event’s producer, who can delete or block comments from anyone. Also, chat is available in place of commenting until the stream ends.

You can also participate in chat if you are watching on the ZenVideo mobile app provided that you are logged into a ZenVideo account.

• Once you locate the event in the app, open the event page and make sure you have the Chat tab toggled.
• You can then send messages and see all the other messages others have posted in real-time (unless the owner disabled chat, in which case you will see a message indicating that chat is disabled).
• Note that you will need to keep your device in portrait orientation as the chat will not be available in fullscreen/landscape mode.

Currently, some privacy settings on events will redirect you to the event's page on vimeo.com on a mobile browser rather than the app. 

Q&A

If the nature of the event involves answering questions from viewers, the event organizer may utilize our Q&A (Question and Answer) feature. When this feature is turned on, you and other viewers will see the Q&A icon appear with a notification indicator on the event page or embedded engagement tools; click the icon to participate.

Toggle on the Anonymous switch if you don’t want your name displayed next to the question (note that the event organizer may choose to not enable this option).

You can see your question and all other questions below, either in the order in which they were asked (Recent) or in the order of those with the most votes (Popular). 

⚠️Note: The character limit for questions in a Live Q&A is a maximum of 240 characters or 3 lines.

An indicator below the text input box shows the number of characters remaining to the question-askers while typing the questions.

You can vote on any question by clicking the thumbs-up icon next to it.

When the event host is addressing a question, you may see it highlighted in the Q&A panel. You may also see it as a graphic overlay in the video player.

The event host can then archive any questions, which will cause them to disappear from the list.

To close the Q&A panel, click the X in the upper right corner of the Q&A window. The Q&A icon will display a red indicator if there is a new activity, such as a new question being posted.

Poll

The event host can use the Polls feature to either get a vote on a topic or quiz their audience. If they do this, you will see the Polls icon appear with a notification indicator on the event page or embedded engagement tools. Select the icon to open the Polls panel.

The polls panel will display the question and 2-4 possible response options (depending on how the event organizer created it). Click on a response to choose one. 

The event organizer may display the poll in a graphic in the player as well; this is mainly to raise awareness of the poll, as the options in the player cannot be clicked.

When the event organizer closes the poll and publishes the results, you will see the results in the polls panel; they may also appear in a graphic overlay.

To close the polls panel, click the X in the upper right corner. You will see a red notification indicator if there is new activity in the Polls panel, such as a new poll being opened.