11 - Creating in-person, virtual, or hybrid live sessions

As you build your agenda for your event, you will need to associate the individual sessions in the agenda to individual live sessions.

Live sessions in Backstage are used to add live engagement functionalities to your agenda sessions, such as live streaming, Q&A, polls, etc.

There are three types of live sessions that you can create for your event, and the functionalities that are included in the live session can vary depending on the type of session:

• Virtual session- attendees typically join via the web app, watch and interact with a live stream of the session with integrated Q&A & polls.
• In-person session - attendees typically join via the mobile app, interact via Q&A and polls on mobile, and can also watch live displays.
• Hybrid session- the session offers both the virtual and in-person experience, based on how the attendees choose to attend.

For hybrid live sessions, the "Attending" field in the users' profiles in Backstage is very important. It is used by the platform to know what type of experience to deliver to the attendee.

• Selecting "in-person" means that the system will automatically deliver a streamless experience to the attendee, who will typically access polls and Q&A via the mobile app.
• Selecting "Virtual" means that the system will automatically deliver a live streamed experience to the attendee, who will typically access the live stream, polls and Q&A (and any other enabled options), the via the web app.

If nothing is selected for the Attending option, the system will consider that the attendee is attending virtually and will provide a live stream experience.

More details on how the platform delivers the in-person and virtual experience simultaneously is available in the Hybrid events - participants attending virtually or in-person article.

This "Attending" field can be updated via Backstage for all users, or it can be a field that is added to a Registration page for attendees to complete.

To successfully set-up a hybrid event, you will therefore need to know in advance how the attendees will be attending (in person or remote). Attendees will not be able to switch between attending in person or attending remotely during the event.

Creating the live session

In the main menu of your workspace, go to Interactivity > Live sessions, and click on New live session:

Enter a name for the live session, as well as a start date and time.

Next, select whether you are configuring a virtual, in person, or hybrid session.

Important: Once you have selected a session type for the live session, you will not be able to modify it later.

Configuring a virtual session

Select Virtual if your attendees will join the session via the web app. By doing so they will watch the session via live stream, and interact via claps and the integrated Q&A & polls:

• Select your Streaming provider: will you use SpotMe Studio, RTMPS, or embed?
  More information about the different streaming providers.
• Enable live interpretation if needed, and add the Interprefy project ID.
• Enable closed captioning if needed. More information on the options that are available for  adding closed captions to your live sessions.
• Enable/disable the Show viewers, i.e if you want the Viewers tab (list of live attendees) to appear in the web app (next to the Q&A tab).
• Enable/disable Q&A based on your needs, and choose whether you want to moderate the Q&A questions, allow attendees to post questions anonymously, enable upvoting on your Q&A session, or make your Q&A completely private. More information on using Q&A.
• Enable/disable Polls based on your needs, where you can run multiple choice question or word cloud polls, configure targeting, and select whether or not you want to send poll notifications to your attendees.
• Choose to enable or disable clapping for your remote attendees. 

Once you have selected your options for your virtual session, click on Save.

Depending on the selected streaming provider (Studio, RTMPS, Embed), you'll find more information on how to configure virtual sessions and live streaming below:
Virtual events and session streaming
How can I stream?
Streaming with RTMPS
Streaming with SpotMe Studio
Embed (third-party) streaming

Configuring an in-person session

Select In-person if your attendees will be present at the venue, or attending the session in-person but via a separate hub (venue or office for example). No live stream is needed.

By doing so, the attendees will use the mobile app to interact with the live session. You may also wish to use live displays to better show your Q&As and polls.

Note: In-person sessions are currently not supported on the web app.

Here you can:

• Enable closed captioning if needed. More information on the options that are available for  adding closed captions to your live sessions.
• Enable/disable Q&A based on your needs, and choose whether you want to moderate the Q&A questions, allow attendees to post questions anonymously, enable upvoting on your Q&A session, or make your Q&A completely private. More information on using Q&A.
• Enable/disable Polls based on your needs, where you can run multiple choice question or word cloud polls, configure targeting, and select whether or not you want to send poll notifications to your attendees.
• Configure a live display for your the session, to show the live stream, Q&A, and polls on one or more large screen(s) at the venue or in remote hub(s).

Configuring a hybrid session

Select Hybrid if you want your attendees to be able to join in-person or remotely. The session will offer both the virtual and in-person experience, based on how the attendees choose to attend.

For hybrid live sessions, the "Attending" field in the users' profiles in Backstage is very important. It is used by the platform to know what type of experience to deliver to the attendee. More information

• Selecting "in-person" means that the system will automatically deliver a streamless experience to the attendee, who will access polls and Q&A via the mobile app.
• Selecting "Virtual" means that the system will automatically deliver a live streamed experience to the attendee, who will access the live streamed session, including polls and Q&A (and any other enabled options), the via the web app.

This "Attending" field can be updated via Backstage for all users, or it can be a field that is added to a Registration page for attendees to complete. To successfully set-up a hybrid event, you will therefore need to know in advance how the attendees will be attending (in person or remote). Attendees will also not be able to switch between attending in person or attending remotely during the event.

You may also wish to use live displays to better display your live session on a big screen, as well as Q&As and polls.

• Select your Streaming provider: will you use SpotMe Studio, RTMPS, or embed to broadcast the virtual session to web app users? More information on the different streaming providers.
• Enable live interpretation if needed, and add the Interprefy project ID.
• Enable/disable the Show viewers, if you do not want the Viewers list (list of live attendees) to appear in the app.
• Enable closed captioning if needed. More information on the options that are available for  adding closed captions to your live sessions.
• Enable/disable Q&A based on your needs, and choose whether you want to moderate the Q&A questions, allow attendees to post questions anonymously, enable upvoting on your Q&A session, or make your Q&A completely private. More information on using Q&A.
• Enable/disable Polls based on your needs, where you can run multiple choice question or word cloud polls, configure targeting, and select whether or not you want to send poll notifications to your attendees.
• Choose to enable or disable clapping for your remote attendees.
• Add and configure a live display for your the session, to show the live stream, Q&A, and polls on one or more large screen(s) at the venue or in remote hub(s).

Once you have selected your options, click on Save.

Depending on the selected streaming provider for the virtual aspect of the hybrid session, you will find more information on virtual sessions, live streaming, and the related interactive functionalities below:
Virtual events and session streaming
How can I stream?
Streaming with RTMPS
Streaming with SpotMe Studio
Embed (third-party) streaming
How to use live displays
How to set-up and run live polls
How to set-up an run live Q&A