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!

Production Studio: 2.3
Event App: 39.0

We’ve got a few announcements today that should pair nicely with your morning (or evening) coffee. Watch the following video, or keep reading to learn more. 📚

Taglines in Webex Events Production Studio

Hi, I’m Emily! My pronouns are she/they, and I’m particularly excited to share this new addition to the Webex Events Production Studio with you. With this month’s release, Webex Events Production Studio producers and speakers can now add a tagline that appears under their name. This is a great place for participants to enter their pronouns, profession, or company name. Or, why not add all three, as long as the tagline is under 50 characters!

Participants simply add a tagline in the ‘Tagline (Optional)’ field in the Studio’s “green room” before entering the Studio. If they need to edit their tagline after entering the Studio, they can either select the Edit info option in the Speaker settings menu on their speaker card, or they can make changes from the Personal Information tab in Settings.

Taglines are optional, and producers have the power to control whether to include taglines under a speaker’s name on the stage. Simply click Settings, then the General tab, and check or uncheck the Include taglines option. For existing Studios, taglines are deactivated by default, and for Studios created as of April 25th, 2024, taglines are activated automatically.

⭐ Keep in mind, the ‘Show participant names’ option in General Settings must be activated to show taglines.

For more information about this and other Studio features, read our Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio article.

Export Production Studio speaker links

We also made a convenient improvement to help producers quickly find and share Webex Events Production Studio speaker links with speakers. If your event has multiple live stream Sessions, you’ll love this. You can now easily retrieve speaker links for all Studios by exporting Sessions from the Webex Events platform. Simply download the Sessions export and find the links in the ‘RTMP List’ sheet under the Speaker Links column.

For more information on exporting content from Webex Events, read our Import or Export Data from Webex Events article.

Webex Events Academy is now part of Webex Academy! 

We're excited to share that Webex Events Academy has merged with Webex Academy. This will be the same free platform you're used to with courses, on-demand videos, and interactive walkthroughs to help you gain event knowledge. Plus, you'll now be able to access learning content for all other products in the Webex Suite in one place.

To ensure your progress from Webex Events Academy transfers seamlessly to Webex Academy, read instructions in the Webex Events Resources and Support article on the Webex Events knowledge base.

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

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

Over the last eight years, Webex Events (formerly Socio) has become the leading end-to-end events management platform. We have successfully delivered on our mission to bring people together by powering your in-person, virtual, and hybrid events throughout the industry's most transformative and defining periods.

Starting April 30, 2025, Webex Events will embark on a new chapter as we shift our focus to exclusively supporting Webex Suite Enterprise Agreement (Suite EA) customers. This strategic transformation will allow us to dedicate all our resources to enhancing the Webex suite of products and services.

Starting on April 29, 2024, we will no longer sell standalone products and services outside of the Webex Suite Enterprise Agreement (Suite EA). However, we will continue to provide existing customers with the same standards of care and support until the end of their agreements.

Our commitment to providing the world's best end-to-end event management platform remains our north star, and we look forward to strengthening our connection with Suite customers and partners to unlock new possibilities and future innovation.

Here’s to the future of seamless, integrated, and impactful events! Thank you for being part of our journey.

Learn more about these changes in our Subscriptions & purchasing options changes FAQ, and chat with our support team or your Webex Events contact if you have any additional questions.

Webex Events Platform 6.5
Event App 37.0

In today's update, we're bringing you two small yet highly-requested improvements for the Event App. Watch the video below, or keep reading to learn more! 📖

Web App Collapsible Left Menu

Before now, the features list on the left side of the Web App was always visible, whether attendees were watching a live stream, joining a video room, or exploring a speakers or sponsors feature.

With today's release, attendees can now click a single button to collapse and then re-expand the features list so the feature content they're viewing takes center stage!

As always, the right side panel that appears in some features is still collapsible, and we've moved the collapse/expand button to the middle of the panel to match the new button on the left.

Internally Link to Features from Announcements and Banners

Internal links connect features and feature items you've created in your Webex Events App, like linking a Session to a speaker or sponsor. This provides your attendees with robust, intuitive navigation throughout the app. One highly-requested upgrade to this feature that we've received is the ability to link to an entire feature.

Today, we've added the ability to link Announcements and Banners to any feature in the Event App!

When you add an internal link to an announcement or banner, typing the name of a feature such as 'sponsors' reveals all items in the sponsors list with the feature at the top. Additionally, all items now show the name of their associated feature on the right side of the selection drop-down.

This improvement gives you more options to lead attendees to general areas instead of individual items within features. This means more intentional and actionable announcements and banners. Want to promote the Event Game with an announcement? Link the announcement to the Game feature so attendees can click to tap to go right there. Want to promote your in-app help center in a banner? Easy!

Important things to know

• Announcements and banners can only link to a single feature or item
• Feature items can only link to other feature items

Read our article about Internal Links for complete information.

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

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