Meeting and webinar comparison
There are a number of similarities between the Meetings and Webinar platforms, but there are a number of significant differences.
A meeting is supposed to be a collaborative event in which there is the opportunity for all participants to view each other’s screens, turn on their video and audio, and see other participants in attendance as well.
We design our webinars so that your host and any of the designated panelists, who may be participating in the webinar, can share their screen, audio and video. If necessary, your host can also remove the muted status from participants. Attendees who view only a webinar in conjunction with virtual sessions have the ability to interact with the webinar through Q&A, chat, and polls. It is not possible to change the name of a webinar participant.
Meetings versus webinars
Meeting | Webinar | |
A Zoom meeting is ideal for hosting interactive sessions where participants will have lots of opportunities to interact or if you want to break your meeting down into smaller groups. | Think about webinars as virtual lecture halls or auditoriums. For public events with large audiences, webinars are a great solution. Webinar participants tend not to interact with each other during the webinar session. The Zoom platform is an excellent tool for you to interact with your audience in a more social manner, but your typical webinar will consist of a few speakers speaking to a very large audience. | |
Generally speaking, Zoom is most effective with medium to large groups of 2+ attendees. |
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We have produced large events and public broadcasts (over 50 people in attendance) such as the following:
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for a variety of audiences |
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level of management, this publication is both free of charge and available on a subscription basis. | Paid Add-on, available to Pro or higher subscriptions. |
Meeting and webinar feature comparison
Feature | Meeting | Webinar |
Participant roles |
Learn more about Meeting Roles. |
Learn more about Webinar Roles. |
Audio sharing |
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Video sharing | All participants | Hosts and panelists |
Screen sharing | ✔ | ✔ |
Capacity | Up to 100 with free license, up to 1,000 depending on plan and large meeting add-on. | Ranging between 500-50,000 participants, depending on the license. |
Participants list | Visible to all participants | Visible to host and panelist |
Email reminders | N/A | If registration is enabled |
Chat | In-meeting chat | Webinar chat |
Meeting reactions | ✔ | Only raise hand |
Q&A | N/A | ✔ |
File transfer | ✔ | ✔ |
Whiteboard | ✔ | ✔ |
Annotation | ✔ | ✔ |
Polling | Polling for meetings | Polling for webinars |
Surveys | Surveys for meetings | Surveys for webinars |
Livestream | Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service | Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service |
Registration | Registration for meetings | Registration for webinars |
Closed captioning | ✔ | ✔ |
Recording | ✔ | ✔ |
Breakout rooms | ✔ | N/A |
Practice session | N/A | ✔ |
Waiting room | ✔ | N/A |
Paypal integration | N/A | ✔ |
Require password to join | ✔ | ✔ |
International dial-in numbers | ✔ | ✔ |
*Note:
The host or co-host can enable the attendees’ microphones, as well as mute and unmute themselves, if they allow Allow to talk to be enabled.