November brings great improvements to our one and only Production Studio 🍂. We're excited to announce that Producers are now able to deactivate Studio Recordings as well as clear internal Studio Group chats. Additionally, both speakers and producers can now clear Direct chats.

Deactivate Auto-Recording

By default, live streams are recorded, but producers can now deactivate auto-recording. This is convenient for events with privacy considerations and other scenarios. 

To deactivate auto-recording for a Studio, simply navigate to Settings before going live and select the "General" tab. There, uncheck the option labeled “Auto-generate recordings for live streams." Deactivating auto-recording in one Studio won't impact other Studios within the same event. 

If auto-recording is unchecked, a notification will appear in the "Go Live" confirmation modal to confirm the recording status, as recordings for streams that aren't recorded can't be recovered later.

Clear Studio Chat History

We're happy to announce that Studio users are now able to clear their internal Studio chat history, including both Group and Direct chats. This new improvement is very useful to host multiple streams as Producers can start new chats with speakers.  

By clicking on the three-dot (⋯) icon on the right-hand side of the chat bar, users can clear the chat history. Only Producers can clear the Group chat, but both Producers and Speakers can clear their Direct chat history. One important note is that chats are deleted permanently and cannot be recovered.

That's all for today, folks! Be sure to explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform!

Event App 46.0
Studio 2.13.0

This month's release is bringing two great updates to our Production Studio. Grab your presentations and come to Production Studio! We now offer the ability to upload your PDF Presentations and present them easily with the Clicker from your mobile device. Keep reading to find out more!

PDF Presentations

We are excited to introduce another highly requested feature in Webex Events Production Studio. It will now be possible for both producers and speakers to upload their presentations in PDF format and use them onstage. 

From the new Add button, producers and speakers can access the Presentation gallery and add presentations or access previously uploaded ones. After uploaded, the presentation can be added as a card backstage. The card will be visible both to the producers and the speakers. It has arrows for the next and previous slides, as well as an option to jump to any slide.

Clicker

With Webex Events Production Studio, you no longer have to say, “next slide, please!” during your presentations. We are excited to introduce the new Clicker that enables speakers to effortlessly navigate between the slides of the presentation from their mobile devices.

• Speakers can enable or disable Clicker for the presentations they upload.
• In the Settings modal, there’s a URL for the Clicker that can be used to access it.
• Producers can change the Clicker URL by clicking on the Refresh Clicker button on the Settings page. 

Read our PDF Presentations and Clicker in Webex Events Productions Studio article for the deep dive and be sure to explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform!

Platform 7.5
Studio 2.12

At Webex Events, we love spring not only because it makes flowers blossom 🌸 but also brings many highly requested improvements to our platform. From being able to edit attendee email addresses and studio upgrades to enhancing our Add to Calendar function, continue reading to learn more about the upgrades our amazing Team released! 

Edit Attendee Email Addresses

This is a big one! Previously, once an attendee logged in to an event, it wasn’t possible to change their email. With this much desired update, planners can change attendees’ registration email even after they log into the platform. This will help attendees who initially logged in with the wrong email address, or attendees who need to make an update. Here's how:

Go to an attendee profile and click the Settings (⋯) icon next to the 'Attendee information' heading, then click Edit. From there, update the attendee's registration email as needed and click Save Changes. 

Add to Calendar improvements

We're very excited to announce this big improvement to our Add to Calendar function. In the past, a single setting controlled all three areas the Add to Calendar button appears: the Registration landing page, the confirmation email, and the confirmation message. Now, planners have full control over where the button appears, how they want it to function, and what information it includes.

We moved the Add to calendar setting for the Registration landing page from General Settings to the Appearance section. This enables planners to adjust the calendar settings when building the Registration. We added downloadable options for Outlook and Apple calendar. We also included a description field that you can customize.

Hide Events

Who doesn’t like a clean, organized view of their events? We're now enabling planners to archive their events with a single click. Previously, there wasn’t a way to remove an event from the planner’s view, and hiding it from attendees was manual. Now, on the My Events page, by clicking the three-dot (⋯) icon on an Event, you can choose to hide it. Once hidden, the event will be removed from the planner view, and attendees can no longer access it.

You can locate a hidden event by using the filters in the My Events page and unhide the same way. When an event is unhidden, attendees will be able to access it. Read our Hiding Events article for more details! 

Share Video Files

Producers speakers can now share videos directly from their computer in the Webex Events Production Studio. Click Share in the control bar, then Share video file, and choose your .mp4 or .webm video file from your folders. No need to upload in advance!

Unlike Overlay videos, which appear on top of everything else in the stream, these new shared video files appear on the backstage as a card, letting you use them in layouts like screen shares.  

In addition to playing or pausing video files, a time display backstage shows the total time of the video and the time played. You can use the progress bar to easily navigate to a specific moment in the video, or move forwards or backwards. Mute/unmute the card or adjust the volume before putting it onstage so speakers can also talk over the video.

Last but not least, we added a looping function so your video can play repeatedly on the stage. This is great for introduction, break, and closing segments of streams, and much more!

Send to Vidcast

We've added the ability to send videos and Studio recordings up to 5 GB to your Vidcast library. Vidcast is a powerful video messaging tool from Webex that makes recording, editing, and sharing videos easy. This new functionality is available if you login to the Webex Events platform using SSO with your Cisco account, which is the case if you’re a Suite Enterprise customer.

From your Event App’s Uploads or Recordings page under the Video Center, click a video’s three-dot (⋯) icon, then Send to Vidcast. Or, check multiple videos then click the top bulk action button with three dots, then Send to Vidcast. Click Yes to confirm sending and begin processing. From there, use Vidcast’s AI-powered platform to make every video even more engaging, discoverable, and memorable. Get more details on all the ways to use Vidcast and Webex Events together in our Vidcast & Webex Events article. 

Layout Controls

Back in January, we added Full-screen controls in Production Studio to enhance the broadcasting experience! Producers and speakers can enter this mode by clicking the full-screen icon located at the bottom right of the stage, or by using a keyboard shortcut.  

Now we’ve added a new item on the side menu, Layouts, so producers can change the layout when in full-screen mode. It’s true - we think of everything. Learn more about Full-screen Controls in our Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio article.

That's all for today, folks! Be sure to explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform!

Platform - 7.4
Studio - 2.11.0

We’ve done not one, but two releases this March! In this one, we’ve improved audio in Production Studio and added security updates to our platform login. Read below to find out more!

Advanced Noise Cancellation

Production Studio continues to rock with new improvements! We’ve implemented Webex’s impressive noise cancellation tech in our Studio. Previously, the Studio utilized the noise cancellation from the user’s browser, so sounds from kids, dogs, etc. could slip through. With this release, those background noises are reduced, and you’ll have a much clearer audio experience!
 
By default, noise suppression and echo cancellation are active for every producer and speaker in the Studio. If you prefer deactivating them, navigate to Audio Settings and uncheck them.

If you want to learn more about the features of our Production Studio, check out Introduction to Webex Events Production Studio and Webex Events Production Studio FAQ.

Password and Log out Requirements

Who doesn’t like a bit more peace of mind? To make our platform more secure, organizers will be logged out automatically after 7 days of inactivity. We’ve also increased the requirements for password strength. Here are the new requirements:

• At least 8 characters.
• One upper and one lower case character.
• At least one number.
• At least one special character.

Keep in mind that this change is for the organizers’ platform, not attendees, and only affects new users and users who are changing their password. Additionally, those who are using SSO to login are excluded from the new password requirements.

That's all for today, folks! Be sure to explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform!

Platform 7.3
Event App 45.0
Studio 2.10.0

We pulled a Captain Picard and "made it so" by releasing three major customer requests: eCDN support, and customizing Branded Apps' terms and networking settings. We've also added Safari support for Production Studio and removed the third-party accessibility overlay option from the Web App and Registration. Watch the release video or keep reading to learn more!

Kollective eCDN

We're excited to announce the launch of this highly demanded feature! During internal events like all-hands or town halls, without an enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN), many users simultaneously streaming could overwhelm your corporate virtual private network (VPN), leading to slow performance and buffering issues. Webex Events now offers an integration with Kollective eCDN to minimize the impact of heavy traffic on your network performance in a few simple steps!

How do I get access to the eCDN option?

This feature is available exclusively to Webex Suite Enterprise (Suite EA) customers. You'll also need to be a Kollective customer and get assistance from a Webex Control Hub admin. Get more details about configuration in our Set up Kollective eCDN for Webex Events article.

How do I activate eCDN in the Webex Events platform?

When editing a Session, expand the Live stream section and activate the Enable Live Stream toggle. Then, for either Sessions or the Live Stream feature, click the Stream Provider dropdown and select Production Studio, RTMP, or Simulive.

Next, activate the Enable Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) toggle. When you're done, click Save Changes. It's that easy!

Customize Terms

From the My Apps section of the platform, click the Settings (⋯) icon on your App, then the new Customize terms option. 

Click the toggle to customize several details, including links to your terms of service and privacy policy, then click Save & Continue.

If you're customizing terms for an existing app, on the subsequent Update Notice page, check the "Notify attendees of changes in your Terms?" box if you'd like existing users to accept the updates, then click Save Changes.

Networking Settings

Attendee networking has been a core part of our offering since the very beginning. However, some clients prefer to focus on other aspects of the attendee experience. With this update, you can now turn off attendee networking and Shake & Connect for all users of your Branded app. After you've updated your App to version 45.0 or later, you can update change these settings at any time.

From the My Apps section of the platform, click the Settings (⋯) icon on your App, then the new Networking settings option.

In this module, you can toggle off Attendee Networking plus the Shake & Connect feature, or only Shake & Connect. When Attendee Networking is toggled off, attendees can't add connections via the Attendee List feature or by clicking or tapping other attendees' names or profile images via other features. They also can't privately message each other, privately video chat, or propose meetings.

Safari support for Production Studio

We're thrilled to announce that Production Studio now supports Safari for speakers and producers using a computer, in addition to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. 

Third-party accessibility overlay removed

We've been working hard to make sure our platform offers the most accessible and inclusive experience for both event planners and attendees. For example, in August 2024 we launched alt text and focus indicators. As a part of our dedication to accessibility, we've removed the option to add the third-party accessibility overlay for the Web App and Registration. We're confident the experience is better without this overlay.

That's all for today, folks! Be sure to explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform!

Platform 7.2
Event App 44.0
Studio 2.9.0

We're kicking off 2025 with two key new features in the world of streaming! Watch the release video or keep reading to learn more. 🎥

Full-screen Controls

In full-screen mode, any mouse movement or keyboard input will display the control bar, at the bottom of the screen, and the sidebar, at the right of the screen. The control bar includes essential tools such as Mute/Unmute mic and Start/Stop camera. We've also added Interaction Bubbles in full-screen mode to let you preview Studio chat messages and audience interactions (chat and Q&A) in real-time.

Learn more about Full-screen Controls and Interaction Bubbles in our Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio article.

⭐️ As a last note in the realm of Production Studio, we've changed the name of the Media tab to Overlays. Since images and videos added here always appear on top of everything else when added to the stream, this new name is a better fit.

Backup Stream for RTMP

Who doesn't like having a fallback option? The new Backup Stream feature acts as a safeguard, automatically redirecting the broadcast to the backup stream if the primary stream encounters any technical issues caused by a 3rd party streaming tool. Get all the ins and outs on backup stream RTMP URLs and Stream Keys in our Stream to Webex Events from Third-party Software with RTMP article.

Platform 6.9
Event App 42.0
Studio 2.6.0

 On the Mobile App and Web App, Attendees can add alt text to images they post to the Wall feature, too! 

Event App 41.0
Production Studio 2.5.0

Today's update is all about live streaming improvements — two for Production Studio speakers and hosts and one for attendees tuning in to live streams on their iOS or Android devices. Keep reading or watch the video below to learn more. Let's dive in! 🏊

Production Studio keyboard shortcuts

Hosts and speakers now have access to convenient navigation and feature activation with 50 unique keyboard shortcuts in the Studio. With simple key combinations, control your mic and camera, control layouts, banners, and media, navigate the side menu, and more.

In the Studio, an item's shortcut appears when you hover over it, making it easy to learn shortcuts in context. 

If gradual learning isn't your thing, open the Studio's Settings page with Alt + Shift + 6 (PC) or ⌥ ⇧ 6 (Mac) and click the new 'Keyboard shortcuts' tab to read the full list of shortcuts.

Don't like a shortcut? Want to control your mic and camera with one shortcut? Simply click a current shortcut, then enter your own key combination to set a new one. Shortcuts can contain up to 3 keys and must start with 1-2 modifier keys, such as Shift and Option, and end with a letter, number, or symbol. Your custom shortcuts are stored in your browser cache, so you can set them once and they'll "follow you" in any Studio.

Learn more in our article about getting started with the Webex Events Producton Studio.

Production Studio Microsoft Edge support

To round out today's improvements to the Webex Events Production Studio, the Studio now supports Microsoft Edge for hosts and speakers on all devices. 'Nuff said!

Mobile App background audio play

Previously, the Webex Events App and Branded Apps required attendees to keep the app open to stream audio and video content. This meant that attendees couldn't interact with other apps or lock their phones without interrupting the stream.

Today, we've added continuous audio playback capabilities on both iOS and Android devices when attendees switch to different apps or lock their screens while a video is playing. This means that if an attendee is viewing a video and decides to check their email or lock their phone, the audio will continue to play without any disruption.

This improvement adds media controls to device lock screens and notification shades, making it easy for attendees to control playback and reopen the app.

Please note that background audio functionality is only available for Webex Events streaming products including the Production Studio, Simulive, Video on Demand (VoD), and the RTMP player.

That's all for today, folks! Here are your next steps:

1. Explore these new changes on the Webex Events platform
2. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for weekly updates, tips, and more!

It's gonna be – wait, it IS May! This month, we've rolled out a series of changes to simplify and improve your experience with managing teams, members, and credits:

• Attendee-based usage instead of product credit-based pricing
• Organizations
• New team and organization management interface

Learn all about these changes in the video below, or keep reading!

Attendee-based usage instead of product credit-based usage

For our Webex Suite Enterprise (Suite EA) customers, this change isn't a change at all. For everyone else, we've now transitioned away from product credit-based usage tracking for most products. How does it work now? Glad you asked!

• Attendees - With today's change, every Webex Events customer has a limit to the number of attendees who can join their Events, and you no longer have to use a Registration, Event App, or Onsite credit to use these features. 
• Streaming -Another change we've introduced is streaming hours. Instead of consuming one Streaming credit when you activate Webex Events Streaming, RTMP, or Simulive in your Event, streaming usage is now based on how long attendees watch your live streams. Here are two examples:
  • If 10 attendees watch a 1-hour stream for the entire hour, then 10 streaming hours are deducted.
  • If one of the 10 attendees only watches for 30 minutes, then 9.5 streaming hours are deducted.
• Branded Apps and Lead Retrieval - These products remain unchanged from before.

We know this is a big transition, so don't hesitate to talk to your Webex Events contact if you have questions. Our amazing team has been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for this change, and you may already have received specific communication from us about the transition. All existing customers have been transitioned to the new organization and plan structure, and all your teams and team members will remain in place and associated with their correct Events.

Introducing Organizations

Previously, multiple teams in the same organization weren’t linked to each other, so it was difficult for administrators to control and oversee usage at a high level.

We’ve now introduced Organizations. Instead of needing to be added to all teams in the organization, Organization admins only belong to the Organization team. This automatically gives visibility and control over all other teams and Events within the Organization. Admins can create, edit, and remove teams, allocate attendees and add-on credits to teams, and invite or remove team members.

If you have access to multiple organizations, click your current Organization name in the top right corner of the screen to switch between them.

Editors in the Organization team can view all teams and their Events, though they can't edit teams, members, or plans.

New organization and team management interface

In addition to the new Organizations, we've also improved the team creation and management interface! Your organization now has a single Organization team, and you can create as many sub-teams as you need. When you create a team, you can assign a limit to how many attendees the new team's Events can have from the organization's pool. Or don't create any extra teams and just use the Organization team for everything!

Inviting, editing, and removing team members will also be improved with an updated interface that lets you invite multiple team members at the same time!

Notable changes for Webex Suite EA customers

If you're a Webex Suite EA customer, there are a few additional changes that affect you with this release:

• The new Organization teams are synchronized with Control Hub (CH), so all administrators from CH are Organization admins in Webex Events. With this update, members of the Organization team will be able to create Events.
• External attendees for Communities and Event Apps are no longer be counted separately! Instead, they're now combined and counted from the same pool of 10 external attendes per Knowledge Worker (KW). External attendees are now counted based on their creation time rather than the time they joined the Event App.
• The logic for the Branded App, Lead Retrieval, and Streaming hours will remain unchanged and usage will be displayed on the 'Organization settings' page.
• We now no longer roll over any credits, and all credits will reset on the term end date.

Improved button color contrast

In our continual efforts to be as accessible as possible to everyone, we’ve made a little change with big impact. You’ll notice that all buttons throughout the platform now have a black background with white text. This greatly improves their color contrast, making the platform more accessible for users with color blindness or low vision.

We’re working on even more accessibility improvements, so stay tuned!

That's all for today, folks! Learn about all of these changes in our newly updated article about team, member, and credit management.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to talk to our support team or your Webex Events contact. Remember to subscribe to these updates so you don't miss any news. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for weekly updates, tips, and more!