Announcing Backstage OnAir, our in-house virtual events solution

Announcing Backstage OnAir, our in-house virtual events solution

These past months have seen a huge rise in the number of virtual events with some of the biggest events of the year going online. Though there's little possibility for virtual events to completely replace in-person ones, COVID-19 has shown how flexible and feasible they can be. Considering all of this, it's likely organizations will continue hosting online events in the future if only for the sheer convenience of it.
 
At Backstage, we started work on our own virtual events solution back in March. Since then, we've steadily added on to our existing features so you can leverage virtual events as soon as possible. However, our ultimate goal has always been to build a virtual events solution that is just as intuitive and seamless as Backstage is for live events. Today, after a little more than four months, we're ready to introduce Backstage OnAir, our virtual events extension.



From webcasting sessions and engaging with attendees in real-time to getting detailed post-session analytics, Backstage OnAir's features will help you host virtual events that are just as good as in-person ones. The best part—you can host both your online and live events from a single platform. Convenient, right?
 
Here's a quick rundown of how the many features of Backstage OnAir—combined with tools Backstage already possesses—can benefit you before, during, and even after your online event.
 

Before the event 

Creating an online event on Backstage is pretty similar to creating a live event. Begin with the usual stuff—create your online event just as you would an in-person one or convert one of your existing events from in-person to virtual.
 
Then add event details like the agenda and speakers, onboard your team, and set up event registration. The next step is designing your event microsite. Here, you can use Backstage's 10 themes and various custom pages and sections to build an event microsite that's spot-on with your brand.
 

 
Other things you can do at this stage include promoting your event with promotional codes, affiliates, and social sharing, as well as sending emails to attendees and prospects to keep them updated with the latest event news.
 

During the event 

The difference between virtual and in-person events is mostly seen on the event day—from attendee check-in to session presentation, everything has to be done through online means, and this can lead to a lot of challenges. At Backstage, we've made all the options flexible so you have more choice and control over how things proceed.

Attendee check-in


 
Checking in to an online event is the attendee's responsibility in Backstage. On the event day, a banner will run on the event microsite to inform attendees about the status of the event—whether it has begun or not and if sessions are running. It will also prompt them to check in to the event. Once they've checked in, they can participate in the sessions, network with other attendees, and contribute to discussions. 

Session presentation


The next step is presenting your sessions remotely. We've got three options for broadcasting your sessions, and you can use any of them—Backstage OnAir, Zoho Meeting, and other third-party web-conferencing software.


 
The actual session experience depends largely on the tool you're using and the features it has to offer. We, of course, recommend Backstage OnAir for this. It comes with options like webcasting live sessions, detailed session analytics, and virtual engagement tools (polls, chat, whiteboard, and questions) to interact with attendees in real-time and make them feel like they're a part of the event. Currently, you can webcast your session to a maximum of 200 attendees though in the future, we will be increasing this number to accommodate more attendees. In addition, after each session ends, attendees can join the next session automatically. 
 

Networking


Most event organizers find networking to be a real challenge with virtual events. At Backstage, we've got a pretty handy feature to help you with this—discussion channels. You can create both public and private channels to help attendees network with others who share the same interests or even continue their discussions with speakers after the session is over.


 
You can also announce impromptu discussions or meets so everyone knows what's happening and they don't miss out on the opportunity to interact with others.
 

After the event

 

 
Once your event is over, you can post behind-the-scenes photos in the event gallery and give your attendees a peek into what really went on backstage. You can also ask your attendees to post photos. The gallery is a good place to bond with them over photos and memories. This is especially important with virtual events as a lot of things here happen over text and voice. Pictures can help make the experience more authentic, real, and personal.


 
The other important thing to do after the event is study the analytics so you know what went right and what went wrong. Backstage already offers two equally important types of analytics—sales analytics and session analytics—and the great thing about the OnAir extension is that your virtual event can still leverage all the Backstage features you normally use for in-person events. While the former tells you how interested people were in your event, the latter tells you how satisfying the experience was. You can also make use of our PageSense integration to step this up a little and get detailed website analytics.
 
Also, members subscribed to our Enterprise and Ultimate plans can use Backstage OnAir free of charge to present remote sessions and host virtual events until September 30, 2020.
 
Power your virtual events with Backstage OnAir and give your attendees an experience they won't forget any time soon! Let us know what you think in the comments below. For product-related questions or suggestions, write to us at support@zohobackstage.com.

Happy organizing!


    • Sticky Posts

    • Important notice: Changes in sender domains

      Hello Backstage users, This is a heads-up about a major change with sender domains in Zoho Backstage. In response to Google's new guidelines for email senders, Backstage won't be able to send emails with the sender domain "gmail.com" or "googlemail.com".

    • Announcing Backstage OnAir, our in-house virtual events solution

      These past months have seen a huge rise in the number of virtual events with some of the biggest events of the year going online. Though there's little possibility for virtual events to completely replace in-person ones, COVID-19 has shown how flexible

    • Introducing the mobile app for event organizers

      It doesn't matter if you're planning your first trade show or an annual executive retreat—organizing an event requires your undivided attention. This is especially true on event day, when things can quickly get out of hand. So how can you stay on top of everything happening at your event? Introducing the Zoho Backstage for Event Organizers mobile app, for Android and iOS—designed to improve and simplify your event management. Getting things started on time, checking in attendees on event day, following

    • Announcing Zoho Backstage: Your complete event management software

      With just a few months till the event, you're still racking your brain. Did you advertise to the right audience? Is your event website design appealing? How will you keep attendees engaged and interested during sessions? It doesn't matter if you're organizing

    • Recent Topics

    • Setting checkbox value on template in Sign from Creator

      Good day, Please help me understand how do I set a tick from a checkbox in Creator into a checkbox on a Sign template. Below is the only values on the Sign template and the code from Creator, "field_boolean_data": {}, "field_date_data": {}, "field_radio_data":

    • 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

    • How to Delete, Disable, or Remove Streams from the Mail App?

      Is there a way to remove Streams from the mail app sidebar? I get too many notifications, it doesn't add any value to Zoho's functionality (especially since you can just make comments inside an email), and is distracting. I do not want notifications/alerts

    • Remove the mandatory Name Card buttons (or at least make them optional)

      Please remove the mandatory Name Card buttons (or at least make them optional) A recent change to the Name Card in Zoho SalesIQ (currently affecting WhatsApp) introduced mandatory buttons before a visitor can provide their name. I believe this change

    • Zoho Wont Login

      Can anyone tell me why my password stops logging in all the time? Is it a ploy to make you change your password? I have to use OTP all the time. I dont want to change passwords all the time. Over the last couple of years I've found myself using Zoho (as

    • Frustrated with Zoho Assist QuickSUpport

      Trialling Zoho Assist and I have a variety of clients. A lot are computer illiterate. Some have poor vision. The current support sessions are using apps which have desktop icons for the appropriate apps. I either connect on demand then the client approves

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | April & May 2026

      Hello users, We're excited to roll out the latest Zoho Inventory updates for April and May 2026. These enhancements are designed to make your daily operations smoother and more efficient, from advanced inventory management and flexible pricing to automated

    • Gemini Action - Add "inineData" Support

      Thank you guys for adding a Gemini action. I like Gemini models for the "grunt work" of AI, as they have the cheapest tokens of the trustworthy providers One thing that's missing in the action, though, is the ability to pass file data. If you pass a base64-encoded

    • HR Helpdesk Cases

      We have Zoho One Enterprise. I'm trying to find HR Helpdesk Cases, but my UI does not match the documentation. I'm not sure how to move forward.

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • Zoho CRM Copilot Connector

      Hello, Are there plans to release a connector for Zoho CRM and Copilot? I'm in the early research stages of potentially switching our CRM solution to Microsoft Dynamics because of its out of the box integration with Copilot. The advantage being that we

    • Zoho Projects - Will there ever be a send email feature in Zoho Project?

      Hi team, Are there plans to or will there ever be a sendemail feature in Zoho Projects, brining it in line with other similar platforms like Asana, ClickUp and Monday? I know that you can add comments via email to a specific task, but I believe this only

    • Introducing Microsoft Word Integration in Zoho Contracts

      We are excited to announce a new feature that brings contract authoring and negotiation in your familiar environment — the Microsoft Word Integration. What This Integration Brings The Microsoft Word Integration connects Zoho Contracts with the Microsoft

    • Share Video Response Card ion Zobot

      I am using the zobot codeless bot builder in SalesIQ. I want to share a video but delay the next response card until after the video has finished playing or has been stopped. Is this possible?

    • Customer image field

      I created a custom image field for estimates, and it works as expected. The only issue I have is that I want to be able to place the custom image field in the estimate invoice. Is there a way I can do that, the field does not give the option to display

    • Sub Folders

      It would be great if there could be sub-folders in reports. We have a ton of individual reports and folders that would be easier to navigate this way 

    • Goals API - Zoho People

      Hi Team, I would like to get the API details for retrieving organisation-wise Goals from Zoho People. Currently, I am able to retrieve individual employee goals using the following API: https://people.zoho.com/api/v3/performance/goal/{emp_id} However,

    • Question and responses disapear

      I have a form where several people have had issues where the questions, responses or submission simply disappear when trying to complete the form. It seems to be random with no pattern of question, browser or OS. Hopefully there is a fix in the platform

    • Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain

      Hi, Now when I try to reply to an email, I see the Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain voicemessagedownloader.com error. I tested sending an email when I set it up in the past and it worked. I have checked the Zoho Organization

    • Guide customers to the right booking page with routing forms

      Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We're excited to introduce Routing Forms in Zoho Bookings. Routing forms let you collect information from customers before they schedule an appointment and automatically direct them to the most appropriate booking

    • Analytics Dashboard User Filters Default Value

      User Filters on Dashboard do not allow Unknown to be set as a default filter value. I have to include NULL values in my dashboard among other values but I can't include NULL/Unknown by default in Dashboard User Filters.

    • Horrible download speed

      Using a trial of Zoho Assist and downloading a 316 MB file on a 500/500 fibre connection to a remote computer on the same network took 7 mins to complete. On AnyDesk it took 1 min or so.

    • How to Backup Zoho to PST?

      I'm looking for a simple way to backup Zoho Mail emails to PST format. I tried the IMAP method with Outlook, but it seems slow and complicated for large mailboxes. I need a solution that can: Export Zoho emails to PST Preserve attachments and folder hierarchy

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | August 2026

      Hello users, July has been an exciting month for Zoho Books! This month, we're excited to introduce HTML PDF Templates, Placeholders as Pills, expanded approval workflows for Sales Returns and Journals, and significant compliance updates across the India,

    • Action required: WhatsApp now uses BSUID as the primary identifier

      Important If your support team uses WhatsApp to engage with customers, there is an important platform change you need to know about. BSUID support is now mandatory for all WhatsApp Business Platform partners and businesses. WhatsApp is introducing usernames,

    • Tip #83- Give Customers a Faster Way to Reach You with the Quick Support Plugin – 'Insider Insights'

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! Think about the last time a customer needed urgent support. They emailed in, waited for a response, got a session link, couldn't find it in their inbox, called back, and by the time the session actually started, a good chunk

    • Final Notice: Migrate Your ASAP Mobile SDK by August 31

      Alert August 31, 2026 is the deadline. After this date, older ASAP Mobile SDK versions will no longer work with the ASAP Help Widget. If your app hasn't been migrated to a supported SDK version, users will no longer be able to access the ASAP Help Widget

    • Approval Process configuration is now more flexible and fully customizable

      Hello everyone! Zoho CRM's Approval Process is back with a better user experience that makes it easier to add rules to your processes. This enhancement includes some UI updates that help you create highly structured approval stages—and more. Let's look

    • Kaizen #255 - Building a Real-Time Operational Dashboard with Zoho CRM Queries

      Hello Everyone, Welcome back to another edition of the Kaizen series, where we uncover powerful ways to extend and customize Zoho CRM. In the previous Query Kaizens, we explored how Queries can retrieve CRM data, invoke REST APIs, and even update CRM

    • 【Zoho CRM】キオスクに「ループ機能」が追加｜同じ処理を繰り返し実行可能に

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。 コミュニティグループの中野です。 Zoho CRMのキオスクに、同じ処理を繰り返し実行できる「ループ機能」が追加されました。 これまでは、同じ処理を複数回実行したい場合、同じ設定を繰り返し作成する必要がありました。 ループ機能を使うと、処理を一度設定するだけで、指定した回数や 取得したデータ数に応じて自動的に繰り返すことができます。 目次 ループ機能とは 設定方法 注意点 1. ループ機能とは ループ機能を使うと、キオスク内の画面や処理を指定した条件に応じて繰り返し実行できます。

    • Es posible cambiar el lenguaje de los modulos del ASAP?

      Es posible cambiar el lenguaje de estos textos? Tengo Zoho configurado en español pero aun así me muestra estos textos en ingles:

    • Where do I edit the "Welcome to [portal name]" message

      I am looking for a way to edit the "Welcome to" part of the message that is seen on the landing page (ex: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/home). When I use the French interface, it doesn't make sense... I want to change it from "Bienvenue chez" to" Bienvenue au". Thanks!

    • Zoho ERP | Product updates | July 2026

      Hello users, We're back with another round of updates to help you streamline your operations. This month's release brings new features and enhancements designed to help you work more efficiently. Read on to discover everything that's new in Zoho ERP this

    • Automate Backups

      This is a feature request. Consider adding an auto backup feature. Where when you turn it on, it will auto backup on the 15-day schedule. For additional consideration, allow for the export of module data via API calls. Thank you for your consideration.

    • Shared Snippets Everyone

      Hi, Now that the Shared Snippets have been released and I think will be the most used feature implemented in 2023 :) Creating and Using Snippets in Ticket Responses - Online Help | Zoho Desk Maintain consistency in ticket responses with shared snippets

    • Multi-currency and Products

      One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support. However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK. However, we maintain different price lists for each. There

    • Remove "Subject" as a required field on quotations

      Not sure why, but Zoho has made 'Subject' a system defined required field. I'm not entirely sure why subject would be required as a key field (i.e. you cannot deactivate it or change it from required). It doesn't make much sense on many product quotations,

    • Displaying only unread tickets in ticket view

      Hello, I was wondering if someone might be able to help me with this one. We use filters to display our ticket list, typically using a saved filter which displays the tickets which are overdue or due today. What I'd really like is another filter that

    • Best way to setup Inventory bin tracking for products with multiple boxes/crates

      Hi - we need some advice from the community on setting up Items in the Inventory for products with multiple crates. We have large products in our warehouse where the product is delivered as two large (double pallet) crates. We've setup the Items for these

    • Can't find field from ZCRM for a trigger

      Hello, Currently I am revamping our CRM system and we have created second layouts from to try out new processes while not disrupting the old one. Moreover, we want to use different layouts for different processes. The issue is that when creating the ZCRM

    • Next Page