You can now run Zoom webinars as livestream events in the Discourse Events plugin, letting members watch the webinar and participate in chat without leaving Discourse.
For customers on our hosting, Discourse Events is available on the Business and Enterprise plans.
How it works
Once you have configured your community to support Zoom webinars (instructions here!), you can add your Zoom webinar URL and then set an event to be a livestream event.
When members visit the event topic, they’ll see a chat window on the right side of the screen which they can join by RSVPing as “Going” to the event. Within 30 minutes of the event start time, they can click Join Zoom to attempt to join the call. They’ll be connected to the webinar once the host starts it.
When members join the Zoom, they’ll be prompted to connect audio. Then they can watch the webinar as it streams, participate in chat, and even use limited Zoom functionality like raising their hand (which the host can then acknowledge to invite them to speak, if desired).
One of the big advantages of conducting your webinar in Discourse is what happens after the event — members can keep chatting in the event channel, and any loose ends from the chat that weren’t addressed during the call can be converted into topics for broader discussion.
What do you think?
We’d love to hear how livestream webinars go in your community. Have you noticed any issues that we can fix or have you found any opportunities for us to improve the integration?