Tips and Tricks 11: Rehearsing for the event day

Tips and Tricks 11: Rehearsing for the event day



Hello everyone,

Hosting a successful and memorable event takes effort, and most of the time you only get one shot at doing it right. Getting a picture of how things will play out can make you confident to achieve the objectives you planned for your event. Preparing your event team members—like your staff, session hosts and co-hosts, and speakers—by rehearsing every session can help everyone get on the same page and give you an opportunity to work out any kinks.

When you create a location-based or an online event in Zoho Backstage, apart from adding speakers to their respective sessions in the Agenda tab, you can also configure hosts and co-hosts in the Hosts tab from the Manage Dashboard. Before event day begins, you can prepare your event team by conducting a dry-run for sessions in Backstage with everyone involved. To do this, you can invite up to 20 test participants for an event to join session rehearsals. This makes your practice runs secure and only accessible to the people you choose.



To invite test participants to your event for session rehearsals, go to the Test participants tab under the Rehearsal tab in the Conduct Dashboard. Here you can click the Add participants link and enter the email addresses of people who you want to invite.

To start a rehearsal, go to the Rehearsal tab in the Conduct Dashboard and click the Rehearse sessions tab. This tab will look similar to the Present sessions tab and this action will display all the sessions in your event. Here, click a session in the timeline on the left. On the right, you will see session details displayed. Next, click the Rehearse session button to start the practice session. Apart from the invited test participants, anyone from the list of event organizers, hosts, co-hosts, and staff can also be a part of session rehearsals by clicking the Join Rehearsal button in the Rehearse sessions tab. When they join the rehearsal, they will be listed according to their role in the event.



Speakers who are added to a session will be sent an invitation email to join the rehearsal through the event microsite. They can click the Join Rehearsal button against a session on the Agenda page and join as speakers. Once the session begins, they can go through their material, refine content, plan transitions, time their sessions, and coordinate with the hosts or co-hosts about session flow. Speakers who are new to the event scene can also get used to talking on stage or an online platform and understand how to use in-session engagement tools like, chat, polls, or Q&A in order to be ready for the event day. Any equipment or integration used for audio or video streaming can also be put to the test at this time to get on top of any unanticipated technical issues. Speakers can also join rehearsals conducted for sessions that they're not added to but will be listed as an attendee in that rehearsal.



Test participants will also receive an email when they are invited to take part in session rehearsals for an event. This email will include a link to easily sign in to the event microsite. Once signed in, they can click the Join Rehearsal button for a particular session on the Agenda page in the event microsite and will be listed as attendees in that rehearsal. However, if you invite an event member such as an event organizer, staff, host, or co-hosts, as a test participant, they will not be listed as an attendee but will be listed according to their respective roles. If you would like to send reminders to all the test participants at the time of the rehearsal, click the Inform participants to join event link in the Test participants tab.

You can also conduct multiple rehearsals, however, sessions that are happening in the same hall or track can't be started parallelly. In addition, make sure that you invite a different set of test participants when you are planning on conducting rehearsals that run parallelly.

Just like with a live session, after the rehearsal is complete, you will find a session summary and detailed analytics in the Sessions tab. Click the View details button for any session to do this.

We hope this tip will be useful for you. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

You can also visit our help center or send us an email at support@zohobackstage.com if you have any questions.

Stay tuned for more useful tips to help you craft exceptional events with Zoho Backstage!

Happy organizing!


Found this helpful? Subscribe to the Backstage Community for more tips and tricks.

    • Recent Topics

    • How can I insert and update field data of a sub-form without adding data into the main form’s mandatory fields.

      1. I have a main form that contains a sub-form. I need to update the data of the sub-form from a function, but I am unable to do so. How can I achieve this in Zoho Creator? 2. How can I insert data into a sub-form without inserting data into the mandatory

    • How to autorespond for inactive users?

      Hi, we have a few inactive users that we would like to set up an autorespond to the sender telling that the email addresses are no longer active. How can we do that?

    • Cannot view or interact with polls on IOS

      When testing with Android the user will receive a pop up message when a poll is started and be able to access polls via the more menu. This is not the case when using IOS phones, there seems to be no way to view or interact at all.

    • Calendar view not working in Zoho Projects

      Hello Zoho team! Since this morning, clicking on the "Calendar" link in the Projects Menu doesn't do anything. It seems to refresh the page, but it doesn't open the calendar view for tasks. It affects every user in my company. Closing and opening the

    • Multi Select Filter off comma separated values

      Hey friends! I have a query table for a couple of dashboards/ charts. In one of the dashboards, I'm trying to create a multi select filter for the service that is being sold. The way we look at services is by a CRM field titled, "Mail Lead Entities,"

    • Dashboard filter applied to all reports but not visible on report

      Hi, I have two reports which shows sales transactions data - one is graph and the other a pivot table. Both reports use the same base table. There are no filters on the reports so it shows all transactions for the last 6 months. I want to create a dashboard that includes the graph and the pivot table report. However, I want the dashboard to have a fixed date filter that only shows the last 30 days of data i.e. filtering the underlying graph and pivot table to show the last 30 days of order data.

    • Equipment Scheduling for Efficient Field Service Operations

      Zoho FSM helps you nail the critical aspect of field service management, i.e., scheduling the right technicians to the service appointments. Ensuring that technicians have access to the right tools and machinery for their job is also of paramount importance.

    • Chat issues

      I am having a couple problems with the zoho chat feature. When I use Chat from the App bar, not everyone is getting messages (these are to different accounts, Yahoo & Gmail). I did finally get the Users to show up correctly. However, when in an active chat with someone, I only get one sound notification. No other notifications, pop up or otherwise, come through to alert if another message was sent. Also, the bottom Chat bar that shows Active chats while I am in email does not show any online contacts

    • Problem with multiple pages record template

      Hi, I have a record template with multiple pages. When I print, it has gaps between pages. How can i fix it?

    • Field Update: can't find a custom multi-line text field in the options list

      I want to update a custom text field (large size multi-line: 32000 characters) that I have added in the Accounts module using this functionality https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/automate-business-processes/actions/articles/field-updates , but I

    • Ask the experts - A live Q & A discussion on Zoho Recruit

      We are delighted to come back with another edition of Ask the Experts community series. This edition, we'll be focusing on everything about Zoho Recruit. The topics will focus on the features that are used/asked by the majority of users and also based

    • Zoho One Datensicherung möglich

      Gibt es eine Zoho One Datensicherung über alle Apps mit eindeutigen Datensatz-Id´s eines Kontaktes in allen Apps und mit allen Bildern (insbesondere Artikel-Bilder)? Wir haben festgestellt, dass die Zoho Books Datensicherung keine Bilder sichert. Und

    • Note not being pulled for other modules in email template

      Hi there, Currently i am creating an email template that is able to pull the data from notes field in estimate module and email it to procurement team where they will be able to receive the email with the contents of the note, i am unable to replicate

    • Pop Up

      Hello, I want to automatically display the information of the attached data in the product module in the related list section of my data in the lead module when the current time matches the "Call Time" field of my data in the leads module. How can I achieve

    • New feature alert: Witness signing is now available in Zoho Sign

      Hello! Getting documents signed with confidence in Zoho Sign just got a major boost! We're delighted to introduce witness signing, where other individuals or entities can be designated as witnesses to observe the signing process and add their signatures

    • How to report and analyze a multi-select field entries distinctly ?

      As many of CRM users I have many multi-select fields that allows me to choose more than one chose in one cell for a specific filed Like: Field A - A;BC - A;C -B;C But when reporting the field it will handle each cell as a "String" not multiple entries

    • Get the capability to convert documents to different formats

      Hello users, In this article, we'll be exploring the Conversion API in Zoho Office Integrator to understand how it can be used to convert documents to different formats right from your web app. Before we get to the details of the Conversion API, here's

    • Issues with certain CRM, Desk & webhook blocks in Guided Conversations

      Good day I have been attempting to add a block on our guided conversations, which give our customers relavent information based on their queries. The issue is that when I attempt to use a block that fetches data I get the following error popup: Cannot

    • Use Zoho Creator as a source for merge templates in Zoho Writer

      Hello all! We're excited to share that we've enhanced Zoho Creator's integration with Zoho Writer to make this combination even more powerful. You can now use Zoho Creator as a data source for mail merge templates in Zoho Writer. Making more data from

    • Analytics Module: Can you move items from one dashboard to another?

      Is there a way to move items from one dashboard to another? I want to rearrange my dashboard now that I know what i'm doing but i don't want to remake my various widgets? Edit: Hey Zoho, This would be a good feature: to be able to move/copy widgets to

    • Can't delete/hide related lists

      Hi, Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't seem to find where I delete or hide related lists in a module. When I go to a record and click the little arrow on the right next to the related list, I only get the option to select what fields in that list

    • Make Widgets Clickable or Copiable

      Hi, I created a KPI Widget in Zoho Analytics whose content I would like the users that see my dashboard could copy or click and be redirected elsewhere. Yes, I'm aware I can create a Text Box for that instead of a Widget, but the problem is that the link

    • Custom API - Need to create a string return value, not only MAP

      @Support: When creating a Custom API it only allows a return from a function of MAP type. The service I'm using requires a string return, how can this be achieved?

    • Automate data upload process like reports

      I'll start with the end in mind.  I want to basically keep certain creator tables updated with data that are in a sql database/tables in our office (employees, active jobs, employee positions) so I can reference that data and not have to duplicate it by hand every time someone adds a new job or employee in the office desktop software.  Here are some thoughts I had about how to do this, but am unsure as to whether any of them are actually possible and how to go about it from there: Is there any way

    • Address Autofill

      Hi I'm having issues with the address autofill tutorial (https://zurl.co/rGXQ). I have followed each step in the tutorial, but when i paste the code into a workflow/function, i'm getting the following error code: Improper code format Correct format :

    • Sync custom module ID to Lead module

      Hello, I am trying to sync Contract ID (custom module) from Deal module. I have an existing function that whenever a contract is created, it will automatically creating deals based on the frequency of the contract. Now i am having problem to show the

    • In Kiosk, please support "File upload field" in the "Field Update" action

      Hello. Supporting "File upload field" in the "Field Update" actions would be a great addition to Kiosk Studio. I would appreciate it if you could evaluate it. Saludos,

    • can I link a contacts to multiple accounts

      can I link a contacts to multiple accounts

    • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

      I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

    • For security reasons your account has been blocked as you have exceeded the maximum number of requests per minute that can originate from one account.

      Hello Zoho Even if we open 10-15 windows in still we are getting our accounts locked with error " For security reasons your account has been blocked as you have exceeded the maximum number of requests per minute that can originate from one account. "

    • Zoho Creator - Zoho Analytics

      I am facing an issue in Zoho Analytics where I am still seeing deleted data from the Zoho Creator form I created. Could you please look into this and let me know what needs to be done?

    • The Social Wall: November 2024

      Hey everyone, As we move into December, we're excited to share all the updates that went live in Social during November. View, monitor, and respond to your WhatsApp and Telegram messages from Inbox Take your communication a step further by integrating

    • Launching CPQ for Zoho CRM! An in-built solution for bespoke quote management

      Hello everyone, We are thrilled to announce the public release of CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) for Zoho CRM, which is a fundamental block in sales management. NOTE: CPQ was a public early access feature from March 2023 — January 2024. Since February

    • Add an action to set agent as a member of a team in zoho desk

      Hi, Please add an action to zoho flow to set agent as a member of a team in zoho desk (add to a team or remove from a team). Regards, Ram

    • Power of Automation :: Automatically set the dependency between Parent task and the respective sub tasks

      A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and

    • Registration in community

      Namaste I am from Shimla, But there is no option selection of shimla.

    • Spell Check default language

      Hello All, Is it possible to set the Spell Check default language? I can't find it in the settings. Thanks a lot! Levente

    • Function #4: Schedule Customer Statements

      Regularly sending statements to customers is an imperative part of many business processes as it helps foster strong customer relationships and provides timely guidance on payments. While you can generate the statement of accounts and have it sent over

    • Music files on Zoho Docs

      1) Uploaded a ma3 music file from Itunes.  When I click on the link, i go to the page and see a music player but it doesn't play.  Clicking on the play arrow does nothing.  How to fix???? 2) Also, when i put up a .zip file  and goto the page, anyone download it.  That's fine. But with a music file, all I get is that non functional player with no way to simply download the song. Do I have to zip every song so it can be downloaded?

    • 5名限定 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ （12/19）

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。Zoho ユーザーコミュニティチームの藤澤です。 12月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 参加登録はこちら： https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqdOCrrDMtGdL3w__UraUPaZxJpeS_wcyt ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「Zoho ワークアウト」を開催します。

    • Next Page