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General Best Practices and Troubleshooting (Web App)
General Best Practices and Troubleshooting (Web App)

Set yourself and your attendees up for success when using a web browser on a computer

Daniel Murphey avatar
Written by Daniel Murphey
Updated this week

We work hard every day to make our products as intuitive and reliable as possible. However, some factors like browser versions, microphone and camera permissions, and network speed are outside our control. That's where this article comes in — to offer guidance on aspects only you can control to ensure a great Webex Events experience in a web browser.

Even when you've prepared perfectly, technology sometimes falls over, so this guide also offers general troubleshooting advice, including specific steps for Video Rooms.

⚠️ Caution! We wrote this article for event organizers. Don't share the link to this article with attendees. Instead, copy any information you need and use it for your own help content or emails to attendees. If you copy content, you may need to edit or remove references or certain words that aren't relevant.

General best practices

Everyone using Webex Events products should follow these basic guidelines for the best possible experience.

🔼 Use the latest version of Google Chrome

Use the most up-to-date version of Google Chrome for the best experience with all Webex Events products. Google has instructions on how to check if Chrome needs to be updated and how to update it. Make sure you save any unsaved work before you update.

💻 📱 Use a computer or smartphone

Webex Events works best in the Chrome browser on a laptop or desktop computer, or with the Mobile App installed on a smartphone. Tablets like iPads tend to work fine, though we don't recommend using them.

🔓 Log out of your personal Virtual Private Network (VPN)

If you're using a personal VPN, some aspects of the Web App may not work properly, depending on the VPN's configuration. We take security very seriously, and we're confident that our products are safe to use without a VPN.

💡 Keep in mind, if you're using a VPN from a country where our products are unavailable, we can't guarantee results or offer support for issues you may encounter.

📄 Add Webex Events domains and emails to allowlists

Make sure your staff, speakers, and attendees have the best possible experience when using our products by adding our list of domains and emails to corporate or venue network allowlists. If attendees are joining your Event App from a managed network, they may need to ask their Information Technology (IT) personnel to add these domains. Click the button below for the full list of domains and emails. 👇

🎤 📷 🎧 Allow microphone and camera permissions, and wear headphones

People who plan to participate in a Video Room, speak in a live stream, or have a one-on-one video chat with a connection should make sure their browser has permission to use their device's microphone and camera.

For Chrome, simply click the lock (🔒) icon next to the address bar and make sure the Camera and Microphone options are activated.

The settings panel that appears in Chrome when the lock icon is clicked.

If these settings aren't available in the menu, click the Site Settings option. On the Site Settings page, update the following settings in the 'Privacy and security' section under Permissions:

  • Camera - Allow

  • Microphone - Allow

  • Sound - Automatic (default)

    The Permissions section of Google Chrome's Site Settings page.

If you're joining a Video Room or a one-on-one video chat, click the Reload button at the top of your browser screen. This relaunches the page and applies your updated settings to the Web App.

The Reload button after updating Site Settings in Google Chrome.

It's also a good idea to wear wired headphones or earbuds to help prevent your microphone from picking up sounds from your speakers and creating an echo. 🔉

📶 Free up network bandwidth and system resources

Attendees, speakers, and staff alike should make sure programs or other devices on the network aren't gobbling up bandwidth to prevent slow load times, live stream lag, or choppy video quality.

  • Common culprits that take up bandwidth are TVs or computers streaming video, or online games and game consoles.

  • Pause services that may take up bandwidth, such as device backups, Google Drive, and Dropbox sync.

The more programs, browser tabs, and background processes you have running on your computer, the more slowly your computer and your network will run. Here are some common areas to check:

  • Use the Activity Monitor app on Mac or the Task Manager on Windows to identify active processes that are taking up resources.

  • Use one browser tab for the Web App or the Webex Events platform. For example, if a live stream is open twice in two different tabs, it may detract from the experience.

📡 Follow our internet best practices

To ensure a smooth and stable experience for you and your attendees, read our Internet Best Practices article for tons of great tips!

🧪 Test!

Ask several of your event staff to download the Mobile App and join the Web App before you launch your Event App. Have them try out everything! This helps identify any common (or uncommon) difficulties your attendees may have and equips you to plan ahead. Click the button below to learn all about testing your Event App.

Don't forget your speakers, moderators, and Audio Visual (AV) personnel! If you're using the Webex Events Production Studio, read the article linked below to learn about running a rehearsal.

🤔 General troubleshooting

If you've followed the best practices listed above, you should have an awesome experience! 🙌 Technology isn't always perfect, though. The following basic troubleshooting steps are a quick way to try to resolve issues you or your attendees may experience.

🔁 Refresh the page

Yes, it's really basic. Sometimes, it really is that simple. 🤷

  • For Windows, press Ctrl, Shift, and R at the same time to "hard refresh" the browser tab.

  • For Mac, press Cmd, Shift, and R at the same time to "hard refresh" the browser tab.

👋 Log out and back in

On the Web App or the Webex Events platform, click your user profile image, select Log Out, then simply log back in.

🐱‍👤 Go incognito

Your browser may have stored settings or information for a site that prevents some features from working. To quickly test this, open the Web App or the Webex Events platform in an incognito or private browser window. In Google Chrome, simply click the three-dot icon next to the browser address bar to open the 'Customize and control Google Chrome' menu, then select New Incognito window.

The 'Customize and control Google Chrome' menu in Chrome expanded. The New Incognito window item is indicated.

Now try logging back in to the Event App or platform to check if going incognito resolved the issue. If it did, you probably need to clear your browser's cookies and cache. The next section explains how. 👇

🍪 Clear cookies and cache

If your issue is gone when using an Incognito window, that's a strong clue that you need to clear your browser's cache. Even if incognito mode didn't resolve the issue, it's still good practice to rule it out as a possible cause. Click the button below and follow the instructions from Google to learn how to clear your cookies and cache in Chrome.

If you're using a different browser, do a quick web search to find instructions on how to clear your browser's cache.

Still having trouble?

Our awesome support team is here to help you! Start a chat using the chat bubble at the bottom right corner of this screen.

💡 Keep in mind, chat support is only available to event organizers and staff. We'll refer chats from attendees to their event's organizer.


👍 Video Room best practices

Make sure you follow all the best practices in the general best practices section above in addition to these Video Room best practices.

💡 Keep in mind, Video Rooms may not work on the Safari browser.

⚙️ Check video room settings

When you join a Video Room, configure your microphone, speaker, and camera before joining the conversation. Click the Settings (⚙️) icon and make sure you've selected the best microphone, speaker, and camera, then click Join to start interacting!

The video room settings expanded.

🤔 Video Room troubleshooting

Room button says 'Room is Full'

Video rooms allow up to 13 participants. After the thirteenth person joins, no one else can join until someone leaves the room.

Room button says 'Closed'

If the button below a room says 'Closed', this means the room isn't available yet. Read our Video Rooms feature guide to learn how to set up and manage Video Rooms.

Nothing happens when I click 'Join'

  1. Try reloading the page.

    1. Windows - Ctrl + Shift + R

    2. Mac - Cmd + Shift + R

  2. Some browser extensions block access to Video Rooms. Try deactivating browser extensions that use your microphone or camera one-by-one to find out which one is causing the issue.

    1. In Chrome, click the three-dot icon in the top right corner, hover over Extensions, then click Manage Extensions. On the Extensions page, simply click the toggle next to an extension to deactivate it. Use this same process to activate extensions later.

  3. Try clearing your browser cache. For Chrome, refer to Google's article about clearing cache and cookies to learn how.

Audio and video issues

If you're having trouble with sound, microphone access, or camera access, try these steps to troubleshoot:

  1. Make sure you've followed the advice in the 'General best practices' section of this article.

  2. Make sure you're fully in the room. Clicking Join under a Video Room list item takes you to a "green room" that lets you check and select your video and audio devices. You must also click Join on this page to join everyone else in the room.

  3. Click the Settings (⚙️) icon at the bottom of the meeting screen to check your audio and video device settings and make sure you've selected the best input and output. Click the Video tab to access the camera selector.

    The Audio and Video Settings modal for a Video Room.
  4. Check your computer's audio settings to ensure your microphone and camera are active.

  5. If you can't access your microphone, speaker, or camera via the Settings (⚙️) icon, follow the steps mentioned in the preceding section to allow microphone and camera access and sound.

  6. If that doesn't work, it might be because some browser extensions can block Video Room audio and video. Try the steps mentioned in the 'Nothing happens when I click "Join"' section of this article.

We hope you found these best practices and troubleshooting tips helpful. Have you discovered more solutions not covered in this article? Tell our support team about them!

Questions? Chat with us, email support@socio.events, or attend a Face to Face session.

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