Committee Webmaster Website Configuration Tutorial

“Webinar Management and Execution Procedures”

Revision Number 1.00
Revised 12/19/2016
Copyright 2016

Information Technology Committee

it@azwater.org
 Webinar Management and Execution Procedures
Before presenting a webinar please review GoToWebinar’s “Organizer Quick Start Guide”. Moderators should familiarize
themselves with the process for presenting a webinar. In particular Moderators will need to review the ‘Present’ section of
the guide as this section explains how to conduct the webinar.
During the webinar the Moderator should follow the procedures below to manage and execute a webinar. These
procedures cover presenting a webinar from start to finish.
Please note that multiple practice webinars can be executed prior to the scheduled webinar. Practice webinars are
typically attended by the Moderator and Organizers, Panelists and Presenters. Practice webinars can be executed ‘on-
the-fly’ and should be used by the Moderator to fine tune things before the scheduled webinar.
Practice webinars do not need to be scripted. However, a scheduled webinar should have a custom script developed that
details how the webinar is going to be executed and what is going to be discussed during the webinar. The Moderator
should use the webinar script to execute the webinar.

Recommendation: The Moderator should prepare and share the webinar script will the Organizers, Panelists and
Presenters participating in the webinar in advance of the scheduled webinar. This will assist these
individuals with planning for the webinar and in understanding how the webinar will be executed.
A practice webinar, using the webinar script, is recommended to be executed in advance of the
scheduled webinar to ensure that the webinar is a success.

Several webinar script examples have been posted on the Information Technology Committee’s ‘Downloads’ web page
that demonstrate how to execute a webinar.
The Moderator should allow 30 minutes before the start of the scheduled webinar for initialization, sound checks,
presenter coordination, start-up, etc., activities and approximately 15 minutes after the end of the webinar for close-out,
de-initialization, etc., activities.

Important: The Moderator, Organizers, Panelists and Presenters should work in a quiet environment during the
webinar. They should turn down the ring volume on their phones and close their office door. They should
also close all non-webinar related programs on their computer so as to avoid any strange noises or other
distractions during the webinar.
This is particularly important if a non-headset microphone or telephone is used for the webinar’s audio as
any background sounds will be heard by the audience during the webinar.
If a telephone is used for the webinar’s audio then it is strongly recommended that the telephone not be put
on speakerphone during the webinar as can degrade the audio quality of the webinar.
Also, if the Moderator is using a telephone for the webinar’s audio then the Moderator will need to be
familiar with the ‘Organizer Telephone Commands’ shown on page 4 of GoToWebinar’s “Organizer Quick
Start Guide” as these commands are used to control the webinar’s audio connection.

Sign-in and Launch the Webinar

In your web browser go the GoToWebinar website (www.gotowebinar.com). Sign-in to the GoToWebinar website
using the AZ Water Association’s account via the ‘Sign-in’ menu located at the top of the GoToWebinar home page.

Important: The Moderator must sign-in to the GoToWebinar website using the AZ Water Association’s account.
Do not use a notification email’s start or join webinar link as this is inappropriate for the webinar’s
Moderator since the Moderator must be the webinar’s Organizer to control the webinar.

After sign-in the ‘My Webinars’ web should be displayed as it is the default web page. If necessary, click the ‘My
Webinars’ menu to display the ‘My Webinars’ web page.
On the ‘My Webinars’ web page locate your webinar from the upcoming webinars list. If necessary, click the
‘Upcoming Webinars’ tab to display the upcoming webinars.
Practice Webinar(s)
A practice webinar allows a Moderator to practice with the webinar’s Organizers, Panelists and Presenters in
advance of the actual webinar. Multiple practice webinars may be conducted at any time prior to the
scheduled webinar.
To launch a practice webinar locate the webinar on the ‘My Webinars’ web page and click its ‘Practice’ menu.

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When a webinar is launched the GoToWebinar launcher web page is displayed. The launcher web page
loads the webinar and subsequently opens the GoToWebinar Control Panel. After the Control Panel is
displayed the launcher web page can be closed.

Note: If using a computer (versus using a telephone) for the webinar’s audio then a pop-up window may
appear in addition to the Control Panel. The audio pop-up window can be used to test the
microphone’s sensitivity and adjust the speaker or headphone volume.

When a practice webinar is launched this will be identified by the “In Practice Mode” message displayed in the
status pane located near the top of the Control Panel as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Status Pane – Practice Webinar with the “Mic & Speakers” Option
For a practice webinar the Moderator must start the webinar before any registrants, including the webinar’s
Organizers, Panelists and Presenters, can join the webinar.
If the Moderator used the “Mic & Speakers“ option for your audio connection then the ‘Start’ button on the
GoToWebinar Control Panel must be clicked to start the webinar and allow registrants to join.
If the Moderator used the “Telephone” option for your audio connection then *1 must be pressed on the
telephone to start the webinar and allow registrants to join.
Scheduled Webinar
To launch the scheduled webinar locate the webinar on the ‘My Webinars’ web page and click its ‘Start’
menu.
When a webinar is launched the GoToWebinar launcher web page is displayed. The launcher web page
loads the webinar and subsequently opens the GoToWebinar Control Panel. After the Control Panel is
displayed the launcher web page can be closed.

Note: If using a computer (versus using a telephone) for the webinar’s audio then a pop-up window may
appear in addition to the Control Panel. The audio pop-up window can be used to test the
microphone’s sensitivity and adjust the speaker or headphone volume.

When a scheduled webinar is launched this will be identified by the “Attendees Still On Hold” message
displayed in the status pane located near the top of the Control Panel as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Status Pane – Scheduled Webinar with the “Mic & Speakers” Option
Do not click the ‘Start Broadcast’ button. For a scheduled webinar the broadcast must be started after the
pre-webinar execution activities are complete.

Pre-Webinar Execution Activities

After a webinar has been launched, registrants can join the webinar using their registrant link contained in their
registration confirmation email.
All registrants, including the webinar’s Organizers, Panelists and Presenters, join the webinar as Attendees and
appear in the Attendees tab in the GoToWebinar Control Panel’s Attendee List Pane.
Since the Moderator launched the webinar as the Organizer, the Moderator will appear in the Staff tab in the
GoToWebinar Control Panel’s Attendee List Pane.
The Moderator can now:
• Promote the Panelists and Presenters from the Attendees List.
• Perform Sound Checks with each Panelist and/or Presenter.
• Verify that each Presenter’s shared Application (e.g. a PowerPoint presentation) is ready to be shared and can
be properly displayed on the screen.

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Each of these actions should be performed by the Moderator before the webinar recording/broadcast is started.
Promoting an Attendee to an Organizer, Panelist or Presenter
The Moderator must manually promote each of the Attendees who are the webinar’s Organizers, Panelists or
Presenters to allow them the ability to mute/unmute their microphone, share their applications and participate
in the webinar under the control of the Moderator.
Organizers, Panelists or Presenters are promoted from within GoToWebinar Control Panel’s Attendees/Staff
Pane as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Attendees/Staff Pane

To promote an Attendee the Moderator should position their mouse cursor on the organizer’s, panelist’s or
presenter’s name in Attendees Tab in the Control Panel’s Attendees/Staff Pane, right click the mouse to
display the pop-up context menu and then click the ‘Make Organizer’, ‘Make Panelist’ or the ‘Make Presenter’
menu option as appropriate to make the Attendee an Organizer, Panelist or a Presenter.

Note: The Moderator should never have to promote a person that was added as a co-Organizer when the
webinar was configured.
Co-Organizers are sent a registrant link contained in their registration confirmation email that identifies
them as an Organizer. If they join the webinar using this link they will automatically be listed as an
Organizer in the Staff tab of the GoToWebinar Control Panel’s Attendee List Pane.

Each Attendee promoted to an Organizer, Panelist or Presenter will have their name removed from the
Attendees list and added to the Staff list within the Attendees/Staff pane in the Control Panel.

Note: When an Attendee is promoted to an Organizer, Presenter or Panelist a dialog window will be
displayed prompting them to share their Application. The Moderator should instruct the Organizer,
Presenter or Panelist to decline sharing their Application at this time.
Application sharing will be verified and tested in the ‘Application Sharing’ subsection below.

After each Attendee has promoted to an Organizer, Panelist or Presenter the Moderator will perform sound
checks and Application sharing tests with each Organizer, Panelist and Presenter.

Warning: If any co-Organizers are assisting the Moderator and leave the webinar while it is in progress then
a dialog window is displayed asking the co-Organizer if they want to end the webinar.
Make sure that the co-Organizer does not end the webinar when they leave the webinar as if they
do so the webinar will be ended for *all* participants. Only the Moderator should end a webinar.

Sound Checks
The Moderator should perform a sound check with each Organizer, Panelist and Presenter to verify that they
can hear the Moderator and the Moderator can hear them.
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 Webinar Management and Execution Procedures
Important: Attendees who are promoted to Organizers, Panelists or Presenters and join the webinar via
telephone must enter their Audio PIN so that the Moderator has full audio control through the
Control Panel.
If the Audio PIN has not been entered, the Moderator can position their mouse cursor on the
organizer’s, panelist’s or presenter’s name in GoToWebinar Control Panel’s Attendees/Staff
Pane, right click the mouse to display the pop-up context menu and then click the ‘Send Audio
PIN’ menu option. This will send a pop-up message with the Audio PIN to the Panelist or
Presenter.

Use the ‘Mute’ button next to each to Organizer’s, Panelist’s or Presenter’s name in the GoToWebinar
Control Panel’s Staff List Pane to turn their microphone/telephone on and off.
Each Organizer, Panelist and Presenter should adjust their headset or telephone volume during the sound
check.
Application Sharing
Presenters typically share an Application as part of the webinar. Typically the shared Application is a
Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation.
Applications are shared using the ‘Show’ button in the Presenter’s GoToWebinar Control Panel Sharing Pane
shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Sharing Pane

Presenters can show their complete desktops, a clean screen with no icons or taskbar, or a specific
application window to all webinar attendees. The Presenter’s Control Panel Audience View Pane, shown in
Figure 5, provides a thumbnail view of what the audience is seeing.

Figure 5: Audience View Pane

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The controls on the Sharing Pane are as follows:
• The status field at the top of the Sharing Pane shows the Presenter the screen sharing status.
• The ‘Show My Screen’ button displays the Presenter’s entire desktop to attendees.
• The ‘Screen’ drop down list box allows the Presenter to share a specific Application window or a clean
screen with attendees.
• The ‘Stop Showing Screen’ button stops sharing of the Presenter’s screen.
• The ‘Give Keyboard & Mouse’ button grants shared mouse and keyboard control to another Attendee.
• The ‘Change Presenter’ button passes the Presenter role to another Attendee.
• The ‘Start Recording’ and ‘Stop Recording’ (shown while recording) buttons are used to start and stop
recording of the webinar. These buttons should only be used by the Moderator or a co-Organizer
assisting the Moderator.
To share their presentation the Presenter would select the appropriate Application from the ‘Screen’ drop
down list. To stop sharing their presentation the Presenter would click the ‘Stop Showing Screen’ button.

Recommendation: Presenters should not arbitrarily click the ‘Show’ button as this will share their computer
desktop screen. Sharing the desktop is not necessary, does not allow resizing of the
presentation on the Attendees screen and is very confusing to Attendees.
Instead, Presenters should select the specific presentation Application they wish to
share using the ‘Screen’ drop down list box.

The Moderator should have each Presenter stop and start sharing of their presentation Application to verify
that each Presenter’s Application is ready and can be properly shared during the webinar.
When Application sharing has been verified for all Presenters the Moderator should instruct the Presenters to
stop all sharing of Applications and the Moderator, Organizer’s, Panelist’s and Presenter’s should prepare to
execute the webinar.

Webinar Execution
When all of the pre-webinar execution activities are complete the Moderator can execute the webinar per the webinar
script.

Recommendation: The Moderator should display the webinar script on their computer screen during the webinar.
The script will act as a prompt for the Moderator and help the Moderator to keep things on track
during the webinar.

Post Webinar Execution Activities

After the webinar has ended the following tasks, at the discretion of the Moderator, will need to be completed:
1. Convert the webinar recording.
2. Generate the webinar’s reports and analytics.
3. Create a ‘Downloads’ web page.
These tasks may be completed by the Moderator, co-Organizer and/or webmaster.
Convert the Webinar Recording
If the Moderator or co-Organizer recorded the webinar then the recording is stored on the Moderator’s or co-
Organizer’s computer and needs to be converted to a standard video file format.
The recording can be found on a Windows computer by two different ways as follows:
• Select the Windows icon to open the start menu and select ‘Documents’.
• Open the Windows Explorer folder in the menu bar and select ‘Documents’ in the left menu.
The recording will be in the ‘Documents’ folder.
The recording can be found on a Mac computer by two different ways as follows:
• When the recording is complete the computer's ‘Recording’ folder will launch. Find your recording in
that folder.
• Select the Finder folder to open your ‘Documents’ and then select the ‘Recordings’ folder.
The recording will be in the ‘Recordings’ folder.

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The default file name of the recording is <[date][webinar name]>.g2m. The .g2m file is a proprietary
GoToWebinar formatted file and must be converted to a standard video file format (e.g. an .mp4 format) so
that it can be viewed.
Depending on the length of the webinar, the recording conversion process can take 45 - 90 minutes to
complete. Typically a one hour long webinar recording .g2m file will be converted to an .mp4 file that is
approximately 90 MB in size.
This conversion process does not have to be performed immediately after the webinar ends but should occur
within 2 – 3 days after the webinar. The conversion process will need to occur on either the Moderator’s or
co-Organizer’s computer depending on which ever computer contains the recording.
During the conversion process the user should minimize the use of their computer as the recording
conversion process is computer resource intensive.

Recommendation: Prior to converting the recording it is recommended that a backup copy of the .g2m file
be made as this file is automatically erased when the conversion process is finished.
A backup copy is also prudent in case the conversion process does not succeed and
the file becomes corrupted.

To convert the recording, navigate to the folder containing the <[date][webinar name]>.g2m file and
open the file. This will open the Recording Manager as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Recording Manager

Select the name of the webinar recording to be converted, chose the desired video file format and then click
the ‘Convert Recording’ button.

Recommendation: It is strongly recommended that the .mp4 file format be used as video files in this
format can be displayed on desktop and laptop computers as well as mobile devices
such as tablets and smart phones.
Other video file formats such as Microsoft’s .wmv file format are not web friendly and
video files in this format may not be able to be displayed on these devices.

A progress dialog will be displayed while the .g2m file is being converted. When the conversion is finished
the Recording Manager can be closed.

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The source .g2m file is erased when conversion is complete. The converted .mp4 formatted file is stored in
the same folder as the source .g2m file.

Important: Webinar recordings must not be uploaded to GoToWebinar using the ‘My Recordings’ option.
The AZ Water Association is using their YouTube® account to store webinar recordings and
make them available to the public.
Refer to the ‘Posting and Viewing Video Files Using YouTube®” tutorial for information regarding
uploading videos to the Association’s YouTube account and embedding videos in custom web
pages for viewing. This tutorial is posted on the Information Technology Committee’s
‘Resources’ web page.

Generate Webinar’s Reports and Analytics

Webinar reports and analytics should be downloaded from the GoToWebinar website after the webinar.
These reports can be downloaded by the Moderator or co-Organizer.
These reports do not need to be downloaded immediately after the webinar ends but should occur within 2 –
3 days after the webinar.
The default set of reports generated by GoToWebinar include:
• Registration Report – Shows when each person registered for the webinar or its associated
recording, and their answers to the registration questions.
• Attendee Report – Shows details about each attendee, including questions they asked during the
webinar and how long they attended it.
• Performance Report – Shows high-level engagement statistics about registration, attendance and
feedback.
• Recording Report – Shows when each person registered to view a recording, as well as their name
and email address. This report is not used as the AZ Water Association is using their YouTube®
account to store webinar recordings and make them available to the public.
• Survey Report – Shows survey questions and attendees' answers. This report is only used if survey
questions have been configured for the webinar.
• Webinar Analytics – Shows charts and data about attendance and engagement.
Most of these reports can be downloaded as a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet.
The Registration, Attendee and Performance Reports and the Webinar Analytics can provide useful feedback
to the Moderator about the webinar. These reports can be used to determine the level of interest in the
webinar’s topic and presentation.

Recommendation: The Moderator should download and send a copy of the Registration and Performance
Reports to the Presenter(s).
The Registration Report can be downloaded before the webinar. The Attendees email
address can provide valuable information about the make-up of the audience. The
Presenter can use this information to tailor their presentation to the audience.
The Performance Report is downloaded after the webinar. The data in this report can
be used by the Presenter to determine the level of engagement of the audience during
their presentation.

A survey can be implemented when a GoToWebinar webinar is configured. If a survey was configured then
the Survey Report can be used to study and analyze the Attendees responses to the survey questions.
The Webinar Analytics provide a graphic representation of dynamic data about the Attendees that was
captured during the webinar such as time in session, attentiveness, interest ratings, Q&A activity, polling
responses, etc. This data can be used by the Moderator to make improvements for future webinars.
Create a ‘Downloads’ Web Page
A ‘Downloads’ web page should be created on the AZ Water Association’s website if there are presentations
available for download and/or a video recording to be viewed after the webinar.
Typically webinars occur at Committee level so the Committee’s webmaster should create a custom web
page for the webinar’s downloads and/or video recording.
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The webinar’s custom web page should be accessed via the Committee’s ‘Downloads’ web page and should
be configured similar to the typical webinar downloads web page shown in Figure 7.
If both a downloadable presentation(s) and a video recording are available then the webmaster should
configure the custom web page with ‘Presentations’ and ‘Video’ sections.

Figure 7: Typical Webinar Downloads Web Page

Presentations should be formatted as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. PDF files can be displayed on desktop and
laptop computers as well as mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. Other file formats such as
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. are not web friendly and may not be able to be displayed on these
devices.
The links to the presentation files should be configured to open the files in a new browser window.
If a video recording of the webinar is available then it should be made available for viewing as an embedded
YouTube® file as show in Figure 7.
Please refer to the “Posting and Viewing Video Files Using YouTube® ” Tutorial on the Information
Technology Committee’s ‘Resources’ web page for details how the webinar recording can be embedded as a
YouTube® file on a custom web page.

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