Spotlight 26: Host interactive virtual sessions with Backstage OnAir

Spotlight 26: Host interactive virtual sessions with Backstage OnAir



According to a recent survey by Markletic, two of the biggest challenges organizers face when hosting online events are attendee engagement and interaction. Where in-person events bank on the impact of face-to-face communication to engage attendees, virtual events depend on technology to build that rapport. As such, the more engagement tools available in your event management software, the more captivating your virtual sessions will be.
 
Backstage OnAir comes with a robust set of interactive tools that can help maximize audience engagement at your virtual sessions. In this post, we'll be exploring how you can make the best use of these tools.

Run live polls


The average human being has an attention span of just eight seconds. Since virtual events come with more distractions than in-person ones, you have to double your effort to keep attendees engaged. This means you need to be in frequent contact with your attendees to bring their attention back to your session. An easy way to do this is through live polling.



When webcasting sessions with Backstage OnAir, you can set the polls in three formats—multiple choice, ratings, or text box (for open-ended questions). These polls can also be created beforehand and projected during the session. To set polls, go to the Sessions tab in the Manage dashboard. Poll results can be viewed at any time in the Session summary page.

Host virtual Q&A sessions


At every session, the last few minutes are always set aside for audience questions. As it's not possible to have mic runners to solicit attendee questions at virtual events, Backstage OnAir comes with a handy Q&A feature that allows attendees to submit their questions. Here, your attendees can ask questions at any time during the session, and they can ask as many questions as they want. They can also see the questions submitted by other attendees and upvote the ones that interest them. 



The presenter can view all the questions by clicking the Question mark icon in the bottom-left corner of the presenter window. They also have the option to display the question to attendees by projecting it when answering so everyone knows what they're talking about. The questions will also be on record in the Session summary page for future reference.
 

Chat with attendees in real time

 
The single, most-effective tool to network during remote sessions is through the real-time chat feature. Using group chat, attendees can interact with each other, share ideas, and add to the discussion. With real-time chat, they are no longer silent spectators but instead, involved participants.



When participating in a remote session, organizers, speakers, and attendees can start chatting by clicking the Chat option in the left pane. Attendees can also start a private chat to interact with speakers or panelists.
 

Leverage the virtual whiteboard

 
A virtual whiteboard can be an incredible help for presenters who wish to keep attendees focused, especially when explaining complex topics. With Backstage OnAir's virtual whiteboard, presenters can write, draw, insert shapes, and even create flowcharts.



When presenting sessions with Backstage OnAir, you can access the virtual whiteboard from the bottom panel in the presenter window. Click the Whiteboard option to go to the white canvas board, from where you can create your illustrations. Also, a point to note here is that attendees can only view the whiteboard if you share your screen, so make sure to do that.
 

Get session feedback 

 
Finally, once the session is complete, you can get feedback from the attendees to gauge their reactions. To enable session feedback, go to Session settings in the Sessions tab. If you'd like to get feedback on something specific regarding the session, customize the session feedback form to include questions regarding it.



By studying the responses in the form, you can measure audience engagement at the session and get a better picture of what worked at the session and what didn't. You can use this feedback to improve engagement at future events.
 
Learn more about running virtual sessions with Backstage OnAir and give your attendees a fully immersive experience, wherever they may be. Subscribe to our forum to be updated with the latest Backstage news. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can leave a comment below or write to us at support@zohobackstage.com.
 
Happy organizing!




    • Recent Topics

    • Automating Ticket Responses Using Zoho Desk's AI Features

      We’re looking to set up an automation within Zoho Desk that can analyze incoming emails or tickets and automatically respond with relevant knowledge base articles based on the content of the request. Could you please guide us on how to configure this

    • Optimising CRM-Projects workflows to manage requests, using Forms as an intermediary

      Is it possible to create a workflow between three apps with traceability between them all? We send information from Zoho CRM Deals over to Zoho Projects for project management and execution. We have used a lookup of sorts to create tasks in the past,

    • Service locations are tied to contacts?

      Trying the system out. And what I discovered is that it seems that the whole logic of the app is, I'd say, backwards. There is a Customer - a company. The company has contact persons and service locations can be associated with different contact persons.

    • Enhancements to Zoho Maps integration tasks

      Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Maps integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to

    • Bug in Total Hour Calculation in Regularization for past dates

      There is a bug in Zoho People Regularization For example today is the date is 10 if I choose a previous Date like 9 and add the Check in and Check out time The total hours aren't calculated properly, in the example the check in time is 10:40 AM check

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • UPS Label size when generated via Zoho

      We've integrated UPS with Zoho inventory. When creating and downloading the shipping labels they are created in a larger paper size. I'd like them to be generated to print on a 4x6 printer. Zoho have told me I need to do this within our UPS portal. UPS

    • Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk What is a sandbox environment? A sandbox environment is a virtual playground that allows you to test freely and experiment with various elements

    • Dynamically catching new file creations

      I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".

    • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.27.0)

      Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.27.0) is here with new features and enhancements to improve scheduling and managing your calendar events. Let's take a quick look at them. Stay aligned across time zones. Both the scheduled and original time zones

    • Branding of native system emails

      Make system emails adjustable in terms of branding. We want our system to be completely white label, because it is not a CRM anymore, it's way more than that. We are following the strategy of "CRM for everyone" to use the CRM in all departments, not only

    • Slow uploads of large files

      I'm wanting to use Workdrive for transferring large images and video (we're talking things from 100MB-5GB). I'm running solo on a 500MBit/sec fiber connection. I'm getting upload speeds to Workdrive of no more than about 1-3Mbytes/sec when going through

    • Notes of Tasks in Zoho CRM

      Hello, Is there a way to filter the Notes that appear on a Task to only show the notes related to that specific Task and not display all the Notes of the objects related to that Task (Accounts, Contacts, Deal, etc). In essence, our team struggles to understand

    • Migrate Your Notes from OneNote to Zoho Notebook Today

      Greetings Notebook Users, We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature that lets you migrate your notes from Microsoft OneNote to Zoho Notebook—making your transition faster and more seamless than ever. ✨ What’s New One-click migration: Easily import

    • need to upload from airtable to google drive

      I have a zapier zap that automates between airtable and google drive. When a customer uploads a new file into airtable via a client portal interface, zapier uploads that file into a folder linked to that customer's project record. I need to replicate

    • Can't delete functions that are associated with deleted workflow rules

      We have a handful of functions that were once associated with a workflow rule, but the rule has been deleted. The function still thinks it is associated so I can't assign it to a new rule. It is starting to get really messy because we have a list of functions

    • Default Sorting on Related Lists

      Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created

    • Credit Management: #1 Credit You Owe vs Credits Owed to the Business

      Think about the last time you ordered food online. You might have paid in advance through your card, but you received a $20 refund because your order got delayed or cancelled. In most apps, refunds don't go into the bank account directly; instead, they're

    • Tip #46- Turn Every Session into an Insight with Zoho Assist survey report- 'Insider Insights'

      Delivering exceptional remote support isn’t just about resolving issues, it’s about understanding how both customers and technicians experience each session. That’s where Survey Report in Zoho Assist come in. You can configure and customize survey questions

    • Enhancing Zia's service with better contextual responses and article generation

      Hello everyone, We are enhancing Zia's Generative AI service to make your support experience smarter. Here's how: Increased accuracy with Qwen One of the key challenges in AI is delivering responses that are both contextually accurate and empathetic while

    • Allow the usage of Multi-Select fields as the primary field on "Layout Rules"

      We want to force our users to enter some explanation strings when a multi-select field has been utilized. I can't understand the reason for the usage restriction of Multi-Select fields as a primary field. This is a simple "Display hidden mandatory field

    • CRM/Bookings integration edits Contact names

      Hi there, I've installed the extension that connects Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings. When we get a new appointment from Bookings from an existing Contact, that Contact's record shows this: First Name was updated from asd to blank value Last Name was updated

    • Domain Change

      “Please update my Email-in domain from @biginmail.biginmail.in to @biginmail.zoho.com. Messages to the .in domain are bouncing.”

    • Webhooks Limit Exceeded

      Today, I received an error message saying, 'Total number of Webhook call exceeded', but when I look at Manage > Billing, it doesn't look like any of my invokeURL calls are being logged. Following the advice from this thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/webhooks-daily-limits-in-zoho-creator

    • Auto select option in CRM after Zoho Form merge

      Hi, I have a dropdown field in Zoho CRM that is filled with a Zoho Form. The data is filled but not automatically shown. After selecting the right value in the dropdown the information a second field is shown. So the question is; how can I make the dropdown

    • Bring your CRM data straight into your presentations in Zoho Show

      Let's say you are working on a presentation about your team's sales pipeline for an upcoming strategy meeting. All the information you need about clients and leads is in Zoho CRM, but you end up copying details from the CRM into your slides, adjusting

    • Improved RingCentral Integration

      We’d like to request an enhancement to the current RingCentral integration with Zoho. RingCentral now automatically generates call transcripts and AI-based call summaries (AI Notes) for each call, which are extremely helpful for support and sales teams.

    • Introducing New APIs in Zoho Contracts

      We are excited to announce the release of new APIs in Zoho Contracts to help you automate and manage every stage of your contract lifecycle more efficiently. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new: 1. Complete Contract Draft You can use this API to complete

    • Vimeo

      For me Vimeo is the most important video social channel for media and filmmakers. Would others agree and like it added to Zoho Social.

    • Delete a department or category

      How do I delete a Department? Also, how do I delete a Category? This is pretty basic stuff here and it's impossible to find.

    • Organization Emails in Email History

      How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?

    • Editing the Ticket Properties column

      This is going to sound like a dumb question, but I cannot figure out how to configure/edit the sections (and their fields) in this column: For example, we have a custom "Resolution" field, which parked itself in the "Ticket Information" section of this

    • Deleting Fields in CRM Deletes Views in Analytics

      Hey friends! I'm having some issues when we modify some fields within ZohoCRM. There are times where we need to sunset a field and eventually completely remove it. In these instances, it seems like a lot of views are removed in Analytics. This ranges

    • Zoho Analytics Automatically Deletes Queries and Reports When a Synced CRM Field Is Removed

      We’ve encountered a serious and recurring issue that poses a massive data integrity risk for any Zoho Analytics customer using Zoho CRM integration. When a field is deleted in Zoho CRM — even an unused one — Zoho Analytics automatically deletes every

    • How to setup pricing in Zoho

      Hi everyone, I am relatively new here and have just moved from my old inventory system to the Zoho one. I am trying to get my head around how it all works. I am mostly setup connected to a shopify store, but I do manual sales also For manual invoicing,

    • Prefilled Date fields auto-changed and then locked when using “Edit as new”

      If a document out for signature has date fields (not SignedDate fields) that were pre-filled before sending, and then you use “Edit as new” to create a new version of the same document, the value of those date fields gets automatically changed to today

    • Is there a way to update all the start and end dates of tasks of a project after a calendar change?

      Hi! Here's my situation. I've built a complete project planning. All its tasks have start dates and due dates. After completing the planning, I've realized that the project calendar was not the right one. So I changed the project calendar. I now have

    • Access Phone Field Components (Country Code) Directly

      Hello everyone, I'd like to propose an enhancement for the Phone field in Zoho Creator. The Problem: The Phone field captures the country code and local number separately, but stores them as a single string (e.g., +1234567890). To get the country code,

    • Send mass messages through WhatsApp from the Tickets module

      Hi Everyone! Effective communication is key to delivering prompt and reliable customer support. Because WhatsApp is one of the most widely used and familiar messaging platforms, it's an effective channel for agents to reach customers who have submitted

    • Lead Owner Signature Merge Field

      I want to automatically insert a signature (i.e. contact info usually found at the bottom of an email) into an email template, depending on who the lead owner is. What is the merge code for the Signature from a Users profile? CRM > Settings > Customization > Templates There is a popup near the bottom of the edit screen which says: "You can insert a Signature, which is available as a merge field in the users section." It is also referenced on this page: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/customizing-templates/articles/template-builder#Merge_Fields

    • Next Page