Producers - Speaker Onboarding Guide

There are a lot of factors at play when onboarding speakers for your event. To help you onboard your speakers and solve any issues that may arise, we have provided you with the details below on our platform’s technical requirements and quick troubleshooting tips.

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Basic Requirements

Make sure you send your speakers these articles and have them go over them first as this will help you focus on critical issues they might be having rather than going over the basics.

• Before You Start
• Speaker Guide

These are the key steps to ensuring a smooth onboarding experience for your speakers. Before we get into the technical requirements and nitty-gritty. Let's watch an overview of what the speaker's experience would look like from their view.

Table of Contents

• Registration
• Browser
• Audio & Video
• Connection
• Screen sharing
• Troubleshooting

First and foremost have all your speakers please start with our Compatibility Checker.

• If the speakers have not already been on the platform, this is the best place to start as it will assess 90% of potential issues speakers may have.

Registration

Use one of the integrated email registration options (Google, LinkedIn, Outlook) if possible.

• When using one of the integrated email registration options, a speaker won’t have to wait for a confirmation email that might be blocked by their IT department or hidden in their junk/spam folder.

Technical Details

Browser

Computer (desktop/laptop)

• While screen sharing is now supported on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, we still recommend the latest version of Chrome. The latest update for Chrome can be found here.

Refreshing your Browser

• If you have any issues or blips one of the first things to do is to refresh your browser. This will resolve a large portion of issues. For multi-day events you are speaking in please make sure you refresh your browser between days. The video feed token generated in the browser has a 24hr duration. Simply refreshing your browser will generate a new one.

Keep your computer “clean” while presenting

• Conserve processing power and bandwidth as much as possible while presenting. To ensure a smooth experience, we recommend speakers close out all other tabs and browsers except the ones required while in the Welcome Platform (one instance of Welcome, a presentation, etc). Furthermore, disable any notifications and pop-ups on your device to avoid distractions.
• The best way to do this if you are unsure if applications are open is to hard restart your computer.

Maximize your browsing window

• If a speaker is presenting, it is best practice to have 2 screens (one for Welcome, one for the presentation). Minimized windows may block buttons and features on Welcome.

Use an Incognito window

• If you are having issues with your mic/camera, using an incognito or private window should clear up any potential conflicts in the Green Room and in lounges/breakouts.

Audio & Video

Browser Permissions

• The most common issues with mics and audio are the privacy/security permissions within the browser settings.

• Programs conflicting with each other can also throw an error. To ensure that your speaker has a smooth onboarding, please make sure that their mic/camera is not being used by other programs (Zoom, Skype, Hangouts, etc).
• Make sure to turn these off when joining a Welcome event. If you're not sure what could be causing the conflict, give your computer a hard restart.

Connection

Turn off VPNs and firewalls if possible

• If you are seeing a black/blank screen on the Welcome Platform it is most likely due to a VPN, please turn that off if possible.
• We see these turned on mostly for work computers and/or work wifi. Have your speakers try to use a personal computer on a home wifi network. In some extreme cases, you may want to suggest turning a mobile device into a wifi hotspot.
• Adblocking extensions can also cause issues with Welcome. We recommend turning those off or joining through an incognito/private window.
• In some rare cases, restarting the modem/router has fixed this issue.

Good internet speeds - at least 50mbps download and 25mbps upload

• We strongly recommend at least 50mbps download and 25mbps upload. If speeds are lower, your speakers will potentially experience choppy/laggy visuals and sound. It is best to have good speed on a solid router and use a hardwired connection whenever possible.
• To conserve bandwidth, make sure your speakers should try to minimize the number of devices using their internet while they are presenting (i.e. smart TVs, mobile devices, etc.)
• You can have your speakers do a speed test to determine their internet speeds. You can use this speed test here.

Screen Sharing

• If you are screen sharing a 4k display please scale your resolution down to 1080p for the event
• For the best experience screen sharing on Welcome, use a second monitor so you can see both your slides on one screen and the Welcome Platform on the other. If you are using PowerPoint, be sure you use slide show mode so that Welcome screen shares the entire presentation from your second monitor. If you are using Keynote with a second monitor, you can avoid the presenter view by playing your slideshow using the "Play Slideshow in Window" setting in the Play tab.
• When generating slides for the event be mindful that screenshares will appear side by side with your video when on stage.
• If your speaker is on a Mac, you will need to ensure their privacy/security settings to allow screen recording for Chrome. You may also need to confirm these settings for the microphone and camera as well.
• Go to System Preferences >Security & Privacy > Scroll down to Screen Recording > Check box for Google Chrome.

Troubleshooting

If everything has been followed and the speaker is still having issues try these:

• Refreshing the browser
• Try an Incognito/Private window
• Restart the computer
• Restart Router/modem

If issues continue to persist you can try using these resources

• Check our Common Speaker Issues article
• Use the Help Chat in the event (only if Welcome staff are on hand)

Still need help?

If none of the solutions work above and you're still experiencing issues, feel free to contact support@experiencewelcome.com.

To learn more about our webinar and virtual event features, click here: https://www.experiencewelcome.com/features

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