The Webex Events Production Studio is our built-in and fully integrated live streaming studio on the Webex Events platform. This article shows how to activate the Webex Events Production Studio, and it covers all the amazing tools available to help you successfully produce a professional-quality live stream.
How to activate Webex Events Production Studio
In your Event App, add a Live Stream feature or create a Session.
While editing the feature or Session, click the Stream Provider drop-down and select Production Studio.
For Sessions, you must first expand the 'Live stream' section and activate the 'Enable Live Stream' toggle.
In the 'Activate Production Studio' modal that appears, click Activate.
Click Save when you're done making changes. 💾
How to invite speakers 🗣️
Inviting speakers is easy — simply share the 'Invite Speakers' link that anyone can use to join with no login required. 🔓 If you want Speakers to control studio graphics and layouts during the stream, have them join the Studio as a host.
💡 Keep in mind, if you have multiple live stream Sessions, you can generate a list of speaker links for each Studio. Simply export your Sessions, then find the speaker links on the 'RTMP List' sheet of the export. For instructions on exporting data, read our Import and Export Data in Webex Events article.
Edit the Live Stream feature or Session where you activated Webex Events Production Studio.
The 'Invite Speakers' link is now available. Click the Copy button and send it to the speakers joining your live stream.
Share our Webex Events Production Studio Speaker Instructions with the speaker link to set speakers up for success.
💡 Keep in mind, up to 13 people can join the Webex Events Production Studio at a time. Consider setting up a "waiting room" in another meeting tool if your live stream requires more than 13 people at a time.
How to join the Webex Events Production Studio as a host
What's a host?
"Hosts" are the people in charge of the live stream, and they control all aspects of the Studio as described in the 'Webex Events Production Studio overview' section of this article.
Hosts can be in the live stream, too!
Since hosts join the Studio from the Webex Events platform, each host needs to have a Webex Events platform account that's part of the team the Event belongs to. Read our article about inviting team members to learn more.
Before joining the Studio, every host should be on a computer with the latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Hosts must always join the Studio from a computer.
How to join as a host
In the same modal where you copied the 'Invite Speakers' link, click Launch Studio to open the Webex Events Production Studio in a new tab.
💡 Keep in mind, the 'Launch Studio' link is unique to each platform user and changes every 24 hours to keep your Studio secure. Give speakers the 'Invite Speakers' link we mentioned earlier, or have them log in to the Webex Events platform and click the 'Launch Studio' button if you want to give them producer-level access.
The first time you join the Studio, a prompt asks you to grant Webex Events Production Studio access to your mic and camera.
Click Allow mic/camera access.
Select Allow in the browser pop-up to enter the Webex Events Production Studio "green room".
💡 Keep in mind, if your browser has options to grant mic and camera access only this time or on every visit, selecting 'Allow this time' means you'll need to grant mic and camera access the next time you launch the Studio.
Use the Studio "green room" to check your audio, video, and light and dark mode settings.
Upload your profile image.
Edit your name if necessary.
Add an optional tagline. This is a great place to add your preferred pronouns, profession, or title.
Click Enter Studio when you're ready.
Webex Events Production Studio overview
Now, let's take a tour of the Webex Events Production Studio. Hosts and speakers should take plenty of time to explore and get familiar with the Studio before going live. Conducting a test stream is a great idea!
Each numbered section below corresponds to the numbered flags in this image:
1. Live stream preview
This is your live stream "stage" as it appears to attendees in the Event App.
2. Live stream layouts
There are six layout options under the live stream preview. As the host, you can change the layout to highlight what you want viewers to focus on before and during the live stream. The layout selection doesn’t affect which speakers or content are on stage. It simply affects how they’re arranged and displayed in your live stream.
Solo - This layout shows only one person on stage. If you add multiple people to the stage and then switch to the solo layout, the speaker card in the first position appears on stage.
Grid - This layout shows everyone who has been added to the stage. As hosts add more people to the stage, the grid layout adjusts speaker card sizes to fit them all on the screen.
Spotlight - This layout shows one speaker card in a large format, and other speaker cards on stage appear to the right of the large speaker card.
Content Spotlight - Similar to the Spotlight layout, this shows the screen share content of one screen share card in a large format, and other cards on stage appear to the left of the screen share.
Picture in Picture - This layout shows a screen share card in the background, and speaker cards added to the stage appear overlaid toward the bottom of the stage.
Cinema - This layout shows only one screen share card and no speaker cards.
If you select a layout before adding the required screen share or speakers to the stage, the Studio keeps the layout in a queue until you add the needed cards for that layout. For example, the 'Grid' layout requires at least two speakers on stage. If you choose this layout while one speaker is on stage, it activates as soon as you add another speaker to the stage.
3. Speaker and screen share cards
Webex Events Production Studio has two types of "cards" – speaker cards and screen share cards. Every person inside the Studio has a speaker card that appears below the stream preview, along with screen share cards for any shared screens. People who join the Studio with a speaker link can view their own card and their screen share card. Hosts can view everyone's cards.
Let's examine how hosts can interact with each card. Each numbered item below corresponds to the numbered flags in this image:
Speaker cards
Click the Mic icon on your card to mute or unmute yourself, and mute or request to unmute a speaker or another host.
Click the Solo icon to show the speaker on stage in Solo layout. If other speakers were on stage before you clicked the 'Solo' icon, they’ll remain on stage but won’t be visible. Click the Solo icon again to return to the previously selected layout.
Click the Add to stage button to add yourself, shared content, and speakers to the stage. When a card is on stage, the button says 'Remove from stage'.
Refer to the Connection quality icon to check network strength and CPU usage for you and the speakers in the Studio.
Click the Speaker settings (⋯) icon on your card to edit your name and tagline. On a speaker's card, click this icon to edit their name and tagline, remove them from the Studio, or start a direct chat.
Screen share cards
Click the Mic icon to mute or unmute screen share card content. This is especially useful if a speaker is sharing a slide deck that contains video content.
Click Add to stage to add the screen share card to the stage area. When a screen share card is on stage, the button says 'Remove from stage'.
Click the Screen share icon to show only the screen share card on stage. Click the icon again to return to the previously selected layout.
4. Control bar
The control bar is located at the bottom of the Studio. Each numbered section below corresponds to the numbered flags in this image:
The Connection quality icon keeps you informed about your network quality. If the network strength or CPU usage changes, a message appears above the Connection quality icon so you can take action if needed.
Click Mute or Unmute to turn your mic off or on.
Click Start camera or Stop camera to turn your camera on or off.
Click Share to share your screen using your browser's screen share functionality. Your shared screen appears as a card next to your speaker card.
Click the Invite button to copy the speaker invite link.
Click the Question (?) icon to start a chat with the Webex Events Support team.
Click the X button to leave the Studio entirely.
5. Settings
Each numbered item below corresponds to the numbered flags in this image:
General - Use this tab to adjust broadcast quality, show or hide the attendee viewer count from speakers, display speaker names and taglines on speaker cards on stage, and determine how speaker cards appear relative to banners and the background.
Only hosts can access the 'General' tab in the Settings modal.
Changes to the 'General' settings only affect the current Studio.
Personal information - Edit your name and upload a profile image.
Camera - Adjust your video input device, camera resolution, and camera mirror settings.
💡 Keep in mind, if you check the 'Mirror my video' box, your camera will only appear mirrored to you. The non-mirrored version of your video appears to attendees and people in the studio regardless of your selection.
Audio - Adjust your audio input and output devices, noise suppression, and echo cancellation settings.
Appearance - Select either light mode or dark mode for the current Studio's appearance. This doesn't affect other Studios in your Event.
6. Studio Chat
The Studio Chat tab lets you send group chats or private direct chats to people in the Studio.
7. Brands
Use the 'Brands' tab to add folders that keep brand-specific colors, themes, logos, and backgrounds organized across all Studios in your event. For each brand, choose a primary brand color and add custom logos and backgrounds to make sure your stream matches your Event App and style! 💃
Click the brand name drop-down to create a new brand folder or switch between existing ones.
The brand color appears on banners, tickers, speaker card names, chat, and Q&A added to the stage. By default, the brand color is the same as the Event theme color, and you can customize this color independently in each brand folder.
Theme is where you choose the style of banners, tickers, chat comments, and speaker names in the live stream.
Logos always appear on top of everything else on stage, either in the top left corner, or the top right corner. Click on a logo to add it to or remove it from your live stream.
Backgrounds always appear behind everything else on stage. Click on a background to add it to or remove it from your live stream. The Studio has several default background images to choose from, and you can upload custom backgrounds as described in the next section of this article.
💡 Keep in mind, changes you make to a brand's elements affect all Studios using the same brand in your event. This includes adding elements to and removing them from the stage. Consider creating separate brands for live streams happening at the same time.
Upload and manage logos and backgrounds
Click the Add (+) button under the Logo or Background headings to upload custom images. Although you can upload as many as you want, you can only upload 10 at a time.
Logos and backgrounds can be JPG, JPEG, PNG, or GIF files with a maximum size of 10mb each.
⚠️ Caution! If you decide to upload any GIFs, make sure they don't include any flashing or blinking.
The recommended logo size is 512 x 512 px.
The recommended background size is 1920 x 1080 px.
Click the three-dot (⋯) icon on an uploaded logo to move it to the top-left or top-right corner of the live stream. Click Remove to remove it from the brand folder. Click the three-dot (⋯) icon on an uploaded background to rename it or remove it from the brand folder.
Hover over an uploaded asset and click Show to display it in your live stream. To stop displaying an asset in your live stream, hover over it and click Hide.
8. Media
The Media tab is separated into two collapsible sections — 'Image' and 'Video'. Images and videos always appear on top of everything else when added to the stream, so they're great for sponsor commercials, transitions, welcome and goodbye messages, countdowns, and much more!
Click the Add image/video button to open the library of default media plus any files your team previously uploaded. No matter which Studio files were uploaded in, they're available in every Studio's library. Simply click library items to select them, then click Add to add them to the Media tab of the Studio you're currently in.
To upload new media, click the Upload image/video button and follow the prompts in the uploader. Follow the guidelines below when preparing files for upload to the Studio.
Images
Format: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF
Maximum size: 10 MB
Recommended dimensions: 1920x1080 px
Videos
Format: MP4, AVI, FLV, MPG, MPEG, MOV
Maximum size: 8 GB
Recommended dimensions: 1920x1080 px
💡 Keep in mind, there's a 10-15 second delay before videos appear to attendees in the live stream. When Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations is activated, this delay is about 40-45 seconds.
⚠️ Caution! If you decide to upload any GIFs, make sure they don't include any flashing or blinking.
9. Banners and tickers
Banners and tickers are a great way to display information you want to highlight during your live stream.
Add a 'Lower Third' type caption to the stream to show a static banner with additional context, quotes, or calls-to-action. Use a ticker for an eye-catching banner that moves across the bottom of the screen.
Create these pre-stream and simply select them at the right moments, or create them during the stream as you need them.
Add and manage banners and tickers
You can add up to 50 banners and tickers to the Studio. To add a new banner, click the New banner button, enter the optional header text and the main banner text, activate the 'Ticker' toggle if you want it to be a ticker, then click Save banner. Ticker text scrolls across the bottom of the live stream from left to right.
To show a banner on stage, hover over it and click Show. When you hover over a banner, you can also duplicate, edit, and remove it from the Studio.
💡 Keep in mind, you can display one banner and one ticker on stage at a time.
To remove a banner from the stage, hover over it and click Hide.
To edit an existing banner or ticker, simply hover over the banner, click the Edit (✏️) icon, make your changes, and click Save banner.
💡 Keep in mind, banners have a 200 character limit, and tickers have a 1000 character limit. If a ticker is over 200 characters, you can't change it to a banner.
10. Audience
This tab shows attendee chat, Q&A, polls, and a Custom Tab, if they're activated for your Live Stream feature or Agenda Session. Copy and star chat and Q&A items, and show polls, chat, and Q&A in your live stream. Starring chats and Q&A items lets you organize them in a separate list so that they're easy to access when it's time to show them in your stream.
Chat - If chat is activated, any chats from viewers will appear in the 'Chat' tab. Click on a message to display it on stage during your live stream.
Q&A - If Q&A is activated, then 'Q&A' appears here. Click on a question to display it on stage during your live stream.
Polling - If polling is activated, then polls and real-time results appear here. Click on a live poll to display it on stage as answers come in, or show results after a poll closes. Read our Polling feature guide to learn how to activate and deactivate polls.
Custom tab - If you've added a Custom Tab, the tab content appears here. Read our article about Custom Tabs to learn more about all the great ways to use them!
11. 'Go Live' and 'Recordings' buttons
When you're ready to stream to your Event App, click Go live. Use all the tools described above to add or remove speakers from the stream, manage brands, media, layouts, and more to create an amazing live stream experience.
While you're live, the 'Go live' button becomes the 'End broadcast' button. After you end your first live stream, a 'Recordings' button appears. Clicking this button opens the 'Download recordings' modal, which contains recordings to download and shows the progress for recordings that are currently processing.
Recordings are also automatically added to the Video Center, so it's easy to use them for Simulive and Video on Demand in Live Stream, Speakers, Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Custom List features and Sessions. Learn more in our Video Center article.
That was a long article! Have some ice cream. 🍨 Now, top it off with some pro tips. 🔽
😎 Pro Tips!
For the best results, use the Webex Events Production Studio with the latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. If a speaker is using an iOS device, they should use the latest version of Safari.
If your speakers are sharing pre-recorded video during their presentations, ask them to send it to you ahead of time so you can upload them to the Studio’s Media tab before you go live!
Screen sharing works best when you have two monitors so you can click from slide to slide while still viewing the Studio on the other monitor.
Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations are a fantastic enhancement for your live stream. Machine learning technology provides closed captioning and written translations at no additional cost! We also support human closed captioning and audio captioning through third-party closed caption vendors.
If you’re serious about streaming (and we hope you are), we recommend investing in a high-quality mic and webcam. A pair of wired headphones is also a good idea because it reduces the potential for echo.
Review our Internet Best Practices article for information and recommendations about internet setup and speed.
Refer to our Webex Events Production Studio FAQs for even more great tips and tricks.
Questions? Chat with us, email support@socio.events.