Using Zoom Webinars

Most faculty, staff, and students use Zoom for classes and office meetings, but it is also the ideal tool to host live events for large groups of people inside and outside of UD. You can create these events as regular meetings with full guest participation, or as webinars where guests only have a text chat available for live Q&A. Either way, proper security measures are essential to prevent security breaches such as “Zoombombing” from uninvited guests. 

This page will guide you through Zoom meeting setup to ensure a seamless and secure event for you and your guests.

What’s the difference between a meeting and a webinar?

The Zoom meeting and webinar platforms offer similar features and functionality but have some key differences.

Zoom meetings are fully collaborative with all participants being able to screen share and interact with video and audio, while webinars only have text chat for Q&A. Meetings are limited to 300 people while webinars can have many more. 

Webinars are designed so that the host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio, and screen. As the host, you can control who participates in your webinar as a panelist or as a view-only attendee. Use chat for Q&A sessions and engage your audience with poll questions to keep them focused. You can mute or unmute the attendees, and the attendees cannot rename themselves.

Review this comparison to see if a meeting or webinar is optimal for your event. 

Note: A meeting should always be private and never be shared publicly. If you would like your meeting to be public, request a webinar from University Media Services (UMS). 

Requesting a webinar through University Media Services (UMS)

What will UMS provide?

  • Design, registration, practice session, and live tech support.

What are the fees involved?

  • $150 per session plus labor fees

How many participants are allowed in each webinar?

  • Two webinar sizes are available: 500 & 1000.
  • Add UD live streaming if the number of participants exceeds the webinar capacity.

Note: Live-streaming participants are not able to participate in the text Q&A.

Who should you contact?