You've been invited to moderate a session at an event running on Bizzabo. As a moderator, you keep the session on track behind the scenes so your speakers can focus on presenting. This guide walks you through logging in to the moderator portal, finding your way around it, and moderating your session's Q&A and chat, whichever streaming setup your event uses.
The event organizer has added you as a moderator on one or more sessions. Depending on how they've set up your session, you may be:
Check with the event organizer ahead of time so you know which of these are yours, when you're expected to be in the session, and how your session is being streamed. The streaming setup decides which button you'll use to join.
You'll receive an email with the subject line "[Event Name] Moderators Portal Invite". It'll look something like this. Don't lose this email, as you'll need it again when it's time for the event.
Click the "Join Portal" link, and you'll be taken to a login screen asking for your email and password.
Enter the email you received the email to, and choose a password between 6 and 25 characters.
Now you're logged in; you will see a list of sessions you're participating in chronological order.
If you've been invited to more than one event as a speaker or moderator, click your profile icon in the bottom left corner and select Switch Portal. The My Portals tab lists every portal you've joined, across all of your events.
Each session card in your portal has a button for each way in. Which one you use depends on how your session is streamed and what you're there to do.
| Your session is streamed with: | To run the stage: | To moderate Q&A and chat: |
| Bizzabo Ultimate | Enter Virtual Room | Manage Collaboration Tools |
| Bizzabo Broadcast | Not available from the moderator portal | Stream Session View |
| A 3rd party option (such as Google Meet) | Not available from the moderator portal | Manage Collaboration Tools |
In Manage Collaboration Tools, click Show Player to watch your Bizzabo Ultimate session while you moderate. Click Hide Player to close it. While the player is open, you'll see:
If Ask the Speaker is turned on for your session, attendees can send in questions from the panel next to the session content. Open your moderation view (Manage Collaboration Tools, or Stream Session View for Broadcast) to start moderating.
Your session's Q&A uses one of two moderation options:
Fully moderated: Every question waits for you to review it before anyone else can see it. New questions land in the Opened tab, and you can sort them by Recently Asked, First Asked, or Most Voted.
Auto-approved: Questions go live as soon as attendees submit them. You won't see the Opened tab, but you can still reply to, highlight, mark as answered, or dismiss any question.
Questions and answers are limited to 1,000 characters each.
Opened questions are only visible to you and the attendee who asked them.
Click the checkmark to approve a question and move it to the Approved tab.
Approved questions are visible to everyone in the session. From the Approved tab, you can:
Highlight a question: Click Highlight to show attendees that the speaker is answering it live. Highlighted questions appear first with a colored background. Only one question can be highlighted at a time. Click Stop Highlight when the speaker moves on.
Answered questions stay visible to attendees, greyed out at the bottom of the question list. From the Answered tab, you can:
Click the three dots next to a question to move it back to the Opened or Dismissed tab.
Dismissed questions are only visible to you and the attendee who asked them. From the Dismissed tab, you can:
Click Reply to send the attendee a private answer. Only you and that attendee will see it, which makes this a handy way to follow up on something that isn't right for the whole room.
Click the cog wheel icon at the top of the Q&A section to adjust these settings for your session:
Enable/Disable the Q&A: Turn off Q&A if your session can't take questions.
Enable/Disable upvote: Choose whether attendees can upvote each other's questions.
Enable/Disable anonymous questions: Choose whether attendees can ask without their name showing.
Customize admin name: Change the name that appears when you answer questions.
Your session can have up to three chat channels, each with its own title. You'll find them in your moderation view next to the Q&A. Attendees can move between channels, react with emoji, and reply in threads.
To moderate a message, hover over it and click the three dots. From there, you can:
Pin a message: Select Pin Message to keep it at the top of the channel. This works well for a channel description, an announcement, or a great attendee comment. You can pin more than one message. The latest pin shows at the top along with a count, and attendees can click it to see the full list. To remove a pin, select Unpin Message. Attendees can't pin messages themselves.
Delete a message: Select the delete option to remove a message that doesn't meet the event's standards. You'll be asked to confirm first. Deleted messages are permanently removed and can't be restored.
Block an attendee: Covered in the next section.
Reply to chats: Select Reply underneath the attendee chat to respond, or select the emoji icon to react to the chat.
If an attendee keeps posting inappropriate or off-brand messages, you can block them from the session's chat.
Hover over one of their messages and click the three dots.
When blocked, the attendee will no longer have access to session chats or direct messaging and will be notified of this. You can later choose to unblock this attendee.
You can review the attendees blocked from your session from the Blocked Attendees tab. To unblock an attendee, select the three dots next to their name and select the Unblock attendee option.
Use Google Chrome: It's the recommended browser for the moderator portal.
Agree on roles with your speakers: Meet before the session to decide who's answering questions in chat and who's highlighting Q&A.
Use dismissed-question replies for one-on-one follow-ups: They're private between you and the attendee.