Overview
USC faculty and staff have the ability to create and host Zoom webinars with up to 500 attendees on their USC Zoom account.
Hosting large webinars or requesting webinar support
DTS can host webinars with up to 3,000 attendees and manage the technical details for you. If you would like DTS to host your webinar, fill out our form:
Creating a Zoom webinar
Quick guide
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us and click Sign in.
- If prompted, sign in using your USC NetID@usc.edu and passphrase, and complete Duo authentication.
- In the upper right, click the product menu
and select Webinars. You may have to scroll down.
- Zoom Webinars opens in a new tab. Click + Schedule a Webinar.
- Fill out the webinar details, and click Schedule. We recommend requiring registration and adding at least one alternative host.
- The webinar is created, and you can customize it before sharing or distributing the registration link.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us and click Sign in.
- If prompted, sign in using your USC NetID@usc.edu and passphrase, and complete Duo authentication.
- In the upper right, click the product menu and select Webinars. You may have to scroll down.
- Zoom Webinars opens in a new tab. Click + Schedule a Webinar.
- Fill out the webinar details, and click Schedule. We recommend requiring registration and adding at least one alternative host.
- The webinar is created, and you can customize it before sharing or distributing the registration link.
Convert a Zoom meeting to a webinar
If you initially created an event as a Zoom meeting and now want to convert it to the webinar format, you can do so on its meeting details page:
Editing the registration form, email notifications, and other settings
Once the webinar is created, use the navigation at the top of the page to configure its settings. If you are not on this page, you can locate the webinar following these steps:
Quick guide
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us and click Sign in.
- If prompted, sign in using your USC NetID@usc.edu and passphrase, and complete Duo authentication.
- In the upper right, click the product menu and select Webinars. You may have to scroll down.
- Zoom Webinars opens in a new tab. Click on a webinar to view and edit its detailed settings.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us and click Sign in.
- If prompted, sign in using your USC NetID@usc.edu and passphrase, and complete Duo authentication.
- In the upper right, click the product menu and select Webinars. You may have to scroll down.
- Zoom Webinars opens in a new tab. Click on a webinar to view and edit its detailed settings.
Registration form
Use the Invitations tab to edit the webinar registration settings. To customize the registration form, refer to the following guide:
Panelists
Anyone can be invited as a panelist, including non-USC guests. Keep in mind that USC panelists can be added as alternative hosts, but non-USC panelists cannot. Once a webinar starts, you can elevate non-USC panelists to co-hosts.
Quick guide
- Select the Invitations tab.
- In the Invite Panelists field, click Edit.
- Add each panelist by name and email address.
- Once you finish adding panelists, click Save Changes. Zoom immediately emails an invitation to each panelist.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Select the Invitations tab.
- In the Invite Panelists field, click Edit.
- Add each panelist by name and email address.
- Once you finish adding panelists, click Save Changes. Zoom immediately emails an invitation to each panelist.
Email notifications
To configure webinar email notifications to registrants, refer to our guide:
Branding
Use the Branding tab to optionally customize webinar features such as:
- Session branding: Wallpaper, virtual background, and name tag design
- Registration branding: Banner, logo, and theme
Additional settings
Use the navigation tabs at the top to configure additional settings. For instance, if you want to create interactivity by launching polls during the webinar, you can do so in the Polls/Quizzes tab.
Webinar preparation suggestions
Check the registrant list
You can view the registrant list or generate a registration report at any point:
Assign duties to alternative hosts and panelists
We recommend ensuring that you have assistance with tasks such as making announcements, monitoring the chat and Q&A, and ensuring that the webinar is recorded. It can be difficult to manage all of these tasks while simultaneously presenting the webinar and keeping track of time.
Prepare a backup plan
Some situations you may want to prepare for:
Internet connectivity issues
- Agree on a backup method of communication (for instance, using the Slack app on a mobile device or exchanging phone numbers in advance).
- If you have a mobile device or tablet, make sure that the Zoom app is installed and up to date, and be prepared to activate your mobile hotspot if needed.
- Have a plan for communicating with attendees if technical issues arise during the webinar, and make sure you have the contact information for DTS (213-740-2775) and ITS (213-740-5555).
Webinar rescheduling on short notice
- Inform registrants in advance. You can obtain their email addresses from the registrant list.
- Place a notice in the webinar waiting room. Go to the Waiting Room tab and customize the waiting room message to communicate the new webinar date and time. This message will appear for any registrants who try to join the webinar at the originally scheduled time.
Disruptive attendees in the chat or Q&A
- Review the Zoom interface buttons in advance and make sure that someone is in charge of monitoring messages during the webinar.
- Be prepared to swiftly remove the person and lock the webinar so they cannot rejoin. Be aware that locking the webinar will also prevent anyone else from joining.
Additional webinar suggestions
Sign in early
We recommend having all panelists join the webinar early to confirm that their audio, video, and screensharing work. Panelists should use the link in their Zoom invitation email: this link lets them bypass the registration form and directly join the webinar.
Make sure to confirm who is responsible for which task. At a minimum, we recommend having someone besides the presenter be the one to monitor the Q&A and chat.
Prepare an introductory slide
We recommend including an introductory slide with the webinar name and description while you wait for registrants to join. Additionally, attendees frequently ask whether the webinar is being recorded or the slides will be shared, so we recommend mentioning that proactively.
Post-webinar actions
Share the recording
If you recorded your webinar to the cloud, typically Zoom will process and make the recording available later the same day. To configure the recording settings and share the recording, refer to the following guide:
Run reports
You can run these reports after the webinar ends:
- Attendee
- Performance
- Q&A
- Poll
- Survey
Quick guide
- In the upper right, click your profile icon and select My account.
- In the left menu, select Reports and then select Meetings & Webinars.
- Select Meeting and webinar history.
- If you do not see the webinar, adjust the date range at the top and click Search.
- Click the Generate detailed report
icon, and select a report.
- The report downloads to your computer as a CSV file. If it is a large file, you can check the Report queue for its status.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- In the upper right, click your profile icon and select My account.
- In the left menu, select Reports and then select Meetings & Webinars.
- Select Meeting and webinar history.
- If you do not see the webinar, adjust the date range at the top and click Search.
- Click the Generate detailed report icon, and select a report.
- The report downloads to your computer as a CSV file. If it is a large file, you can check the Report queue for its status.
