What's New — February 2021

Hello everyone,

This month, we focused on virtual events—more specifically Backstage OnAir, our in-house virtual events solution. We introduced new features, improved its user interface, and squashed quite a few bugs. The result? A smoother and more intuitive virtual experience for your team, speakers, and attendees.

So in case you missed them, these are the updates for February.

The Zoho WorkDrive integration

Most speakers use visual aids—often a presentation or video—to engage attendees during sessions. And it’s always best to get these session materials uploaded into your event management software well before the event. In Backstage, this is done by uploading all files into the Content Library that’s available on the Manage dashboard.

With this latest integration, you can connect your Zoho WorkDrive and Zoho Backstage accounts for easy file sharing. This means you can easily import presentations and videos from your WorkDrive account and add them to your presentation and video libraries in Backstage. You can then assign them to sessions in the Sessions tab. Pretty convenient, right?

To do this: Go to Manage > Content library > Presentation or Video library > Pick from Zoho WorkDrive

Other updates

We’ve recently added an option that allows hosts, co-hosts, and speakers to rehearse their sessions. This way, they can get a better hang of Backstage before the event day. Plus, this is totally secure. Only organizers and speakers can attend rehearsal sessions.
When conducting virtual sessions, you can now center your attendees’ attention on one speaker by pinning them to the screen.
Attendees can participate in virtual sessions—ask questions, respond to polls, and even take part in discussions—from right within the Zoho Backstage for Attendees mobile app.

That’s it for now. However, stay tuned because we’ve got a lot of interesting updates lined up for the next months that make the Backstage experience even better.

On a different note, if you’re looking to make a return to onsite events, these safety tools from Backstage can help you host safe, socially distanced gatherings. Apart from this, we’ve also created a set of resources to help event organizers prepare for beyond COVID-19. Do give it a look when possible.

Finally, if you have questions, feedback, or need us to do something for you, send an email to support@zohobackstage.com. We’d love to help!