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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

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 your 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 messes up, so this guide also offers general troubleshooting advice, including specific steps for Video Rooms.

⚠️ Caution! We wrote this article for event organizers — that means you! 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 some text to remove references or certain words that don't apply to attendees.

Contents

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. If there's an 'Update' button in the top right corner of your Chrome, click the button and select Update Google Chrome. You won't lose your open browser tabs, though you may need to sign in to the Webex Events platform again. Make sure you save any unsaved work before you update.

Screenshot of the Update Google Chrome item in the Update panel as just described.

💻 📱 Use a computer or smartphone

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

📄 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 asking everyone to add our list of domains and emails to their 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. 👇

🔓 Log out of your Virtual Private Network (VPN)

If you're using a VPN, some aspects of the web version 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 to access our products from a country where they're unavailable, we can't guarantee results or offer support for problems you may encounter.

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

If you plan to participate in a Video Room, speak in a live stream, or have a one-on-one video chat with a connection, make sure your browser has permission to use your microphone and camera. For Chrome, simply click the lock (🔒) icon next to the address bar and make sure the Camera and Microphone items are set to Allow. If you can't find these in the menu, click the Site Settings option allow access.

Screenshot of the settings panel that appears when the lock icon is clicked.

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

To prevent slow load times, live stream lag, or choppy video quality, make sure programs or other devices on the network aren't clogging up your network.

  • Make sure any other devices on your network aren't using lots of bandwidth. Common culprits are TVs or computers streaming video, or online games and game consoles.

  • Pause services that may take up network 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 Event App's web version or the Webex Events platform. For example, if a live stream is open twice in multiple 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 app and join the web version 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 Webex Events Streaming or 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! 🙌 Computers aren't always perfect, though. These basic troubleshooting steps are a quick way to try to resolve problems you or your attendees may experience.

🔁 Refresh the page

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 version 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 Event App's web version 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 and select New Incognito window.

Screenshot of the three dot menu expanded. The New Incognito window item is indicated.

Now try logging back in to the Event App or platform to check if going incognito resolves the issue. If it does, you probably need to clear your browser's cookies and cache. 👇

🍪 Clear cookies and cache

If your problem 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 problem, 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 standing by to help you! Feel free to start a chat using the 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 in addition to these Video Room best practices.

💡 Keep in mind, Video Rooms may not work on a 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!

Screenshot of 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 you'd like to join says 'Closed', this means the room isn't available yet. Refer to our Video Rooms feature guide to learn how to set up and manage Video Rooms.

There's a perpetual loading symbol and 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 mic or camera one-by-one to find out which one is causing the problem.

    1. In Chrome, click the three dot icon in the top right corner, hover over More tools, and click Extensions. On the Extensions page, simply click the toggle next to an extension to toggle it off. Use this same process to toggle extensions back on later.

      Screenshot showing the process just described.

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

Audio and video problems

If you're having trouble hearing or being heard by others, or seeing or being seen by others, try these steps to troubleshoot:

  1. Make sure you've followed the advice in the general best practices section above.

  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.

    Screenshot of the Join button in the green 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.

    Screenshot of the video room Settings modal.
  4. Check your computer's audio settings to ensure your microphone and camera are active.

  5. Some browser extensions can block Video Room audio and video. Try the steps mentioned earlier to resolve this.

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

Questions? Chat Us or Email support@socio.events

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