Deliver a live session

Deliver a live session

TrainerCentral allows you to broadcast your voice and video, screen share, showcase videos and present slideshows to attendees in different locations. By default, when you begin, TrainerCentral audio and video will be enabled.

You can start a session either by uploading a presentation, showcasing a video or sharing your screen with remote learners.

Launch a remote session
  • Click the Create Session button in the upper-right corner of the Sessions page.
  • Enter a name for your session in the pop-up window.
  • Enable registration for your scheduled session and share the session details with attendees by email or through social media.
  • You can record your sessions if required. View the total space available (as per your subscribed plan) and the storage space consumed.
There are three ways you can launch a session:

Train with a presentation

  1. If you would like to begin with a presentation and poll, you can create (using Zoho Show)/ upload or import one.
  2. Share the link or the session details with attendees.
  3. If you have already chosen to use a presentation, it will appear on your screen and your attendee's screen.
Note: You can also start a session without a presentation by clicking on Launch, then click Start Broadcast and choose what you would like to share by clicking Share material.

Train with screen share

TrainerCentral allows you to share the content from your screen with your attendees and fellow trainers. With this feature, you can share presentations, demonstrate training walkthroughs, and collaborate with your co-trainers and attendees in real time.
Steps to Follow:
  1. Create a session and launch it. Once attendees join the session.
  2. Click Screen share at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Choose the screen type you want to share with the attendees:
  4. Tab
  5. Window
  6. Entire screen
    Sharing your screen will not disturb your existing view. The screen sharing window will be displayed at the bottom and can be dragged and dropped at the preferred place.
    The following functionalities are available in the shared window:
  7. Enable/Disable speaker icon: Enable or disable the shared tab's audio.
  8. Show/Hide preview icon: Show or hide the shared screen.
  9. Stop sharing: Stop screen sharing.

Train with a video


1. Click on Share Material and choose the video file that you wish to broadcast.




2. You can also add new materials to your training during the live session by clicking on Pick from Library. 




3. The trainer is given complete control of the video. The viewer will not be able to control (stop, re-wind, fast forward) the video when it is being played during the live training. You can also use the video toggle bar to move to the specific portion of the video that you wish to show your audience.


   

In this changing online elearning landscape, trainers are always striving to show more and tell less when introducing learners to new information, concepts, and skills.  We hope that adding video clips to your online trainings can better assist your audience in gaining that deeper understanding of your training sessions.

Live Workshop settings - During a session


TrainerCentral offers various live session settings helping you control and customise the experience of the session for you and your learners even when the workshop is live. 



1. You can allow/disallow your learners to join the session with their camera and microphone. 
2. You can allow/disallow your learners to chat and post questions during the session. You can also opt to use private questions where questions raised by the learners will be visible to the trainers and not to other learners. 
3. For optimum seamless streaming experience, TrainerCentral sometimes encourages disabling one's video if the internet connection is weak. You can choose to opt out of this if you wish. 

Types of views


When a live session is being streamed, TrainerCentral also allows you to choose from various kinds of views namely Speaker, Grid and Grid Dynamic. 




1. Speaker View - This view highlights the video of the person speaking in the centre of the screen. 



2. Grid View - This view showcases the stream of all participants on the screen in equally sized blocks.  


3. Grid Dynamic View - In this view, the stream of your participants is adjusted the to fill the entire screen. The video frame of individual participants may not be in the desired aspect ratio in this view. If you feel that the video of a participant is unnecessarily cropped, kindly make sure you use the Fit to Frame option to resize the video to optimum aspect ratio.



Add to Spotlight 

Trainers can now use the spotlight feature to make video feeds visible in the center of the screen for everyone in the session. This feature enables the trainer to highlight a specific video feed, ensuring that all of the attendees can clearly see and hear the person speaking.

To enable the spotlight mode: 

You can spotlight your own video feed and the attendee's video feed.

 


  1. Create a session and launch it. Once attendees join the session.
  2. Click the More options icon in the top-right corner of the video feed that you want to spotlight (either yourself or attendees).
  3. Click the Add to Spotlight option.

The video feed with the Add to spotlight icon in the top-left corner will be displayed in the center of the screen for all attendees, while the other video feed will be displayed in the side pane.




Alternatively, you can follow these steps to initiate Add to spotlight for the video feeds of attendees.
  1. Click the People tab at the top-left of the screen. By default, the Attendee and the Currently active under the Attendee tab will be selected. In the Currently active tab, a list of attendees attending the session will be displayed.
  2. Click the More icon next to the attendee's name.
  3. Select the Add to spotlight option, and the video will be spotlighted with the spotlight icon at the top-left of the video feed.

You can spotlight four video feeds (of either trainers or attendees) in a session at a time. 

 

 To disable spotlight individually :

 

 

Click the Remove spotlight icon at the top-left corner of the spotlighted video. 

Alternatively, click the More options icon at the top-right corner of the spotlighted video and select the Remove from spotlight option. The video feed will be removed from the center of the screen and moved to the side pane.

 

 To disable spotlight for everyone:       

  1. Click the Views tab at the bottom of the pane.
  2. Select the Remove spotlight option.
All spotlighted videos will be removed from the spotlight and the video feeds will be in the default grid layout.

Focus mode

In TrainerCentral, you can now minimize your attendees' distractions with the help of the focus mode. In focus mode, attendees will not be able to view other attendees' video feeds (they can hear them, though) other than focused video feeds. 

When you initiate focus mode, the trainer's video feed will automatically come into focus mode and be displayed in the center of the screen for all attendees. To include any other attendees' video feed in focus mode, you have to spotlight their video feed manually, and then it will come into focus mode.
To enable focus mode:

  1. Create a session and launch it. Once attendees join the session.
  2. Click the Views tab at the bottom pane of the screen. By default, Grid view will be selected.
  3. Select the Start focus mode option and the confirmation window will be displayed
  4. Click the Start button to start the focus mode.
Once focus mode is initiated, all of the attendees will be able to view only your video feed in the center of the screen. 
To include any other attendee's video feed in focus mode: 

  1. Click the More options icon in the right corner of the attendee's video feed.
  2. Select the Add to spotlight option. 

Alternatively, follow these steps to initiate focus mode for attendees.

  1. Click the People tab at the top-left of the screen. By default, the Attendee tab and the Currently active tab under the Attendee tab will be selected. In the Currently active tab, a list of attendees attending the session will be displayed.
  2. Click the More options icon next to the attendee's name.
  3. Select the Add to spotlight option and the video feed will be spotlighted, with the spotlight icon appearing at the top-left of the video feed.
Now your video feed and the attendee's video feed are in focus mode, and the other attendees can view only these two video feeds on their screens.  
You can focus on four (trainers or attendees) video feeds in a session at a time. 
 To disable focus mode: 

  1. Click the Views tab at the bottom pane of the screen.
  2. Click the Stop focus mode option and a confirmation window will be displayed.
  3. Click the Yes button to stop the focus mode.
Now the focus mode is terminated and the attendees will be able to view other attendees video feeds.

Pin a video

TrainerCentral offers an option to pin video feeds so they can be displayed in the center of your screen. The pinned video feed will only appear as pinned on your screen and not on other attendees' screens. The option is available only after video sharing and if there are two or more attendees. This feature might be useful when a trainer or an attendee doesn't want to miss seeing other attendees' video feeds.


To pin a video:   
  1. Create a session and launch it. 
  2. Click the More options icon in the right corner of your video feed or the attendee's video feed you want to pin.
  3. Select the Pin option.
The pinned video feed will be displayed at the center of your screen and have a pin icon in the top-left corner, while the other video feeds will be displayed on the side of the screen.
You can pin five video feeds (trainer/attendee) in a session at a time.
To unpin a video:

Click the pin icon displayed in the top-left corner of the pinned video feed.
The video feed will be unpinned.
Alternatively, click the More options icon in the right corner of the pinned video feed and select the Unpin option.
Once you unpin a video, the video feed will be moved to the side pane from the center of the screen. When all the videos are unpinned, they will be displayed in the default Grid view.

Change your Virtual Background image

Virtual background allows you to replace your image background with a preferred image. This can add professionalism as well as privacy to your space.
This option is available for both trainers and learners.

To enable virtual background:
  1. Create a session and launch it. Once attendees join the session.
  2. Click the Settings tab at the bottom of the left pane. The Settings window will open.
  3. Click the Virtual background tab.
  4. Choose a virtual background image from the options available.
  5. Default backgrounds: These are the images available by default in TrainerCentral.
  6. Custom backgrounds: These are the images you upload from your device.
  7. Filters: These are the images with color shades available by default in TrainerCentral.
Alternatively, you can click the More options icon at the top-right of the video feed and select the Virtual Background option.

Join From a Mobile Device

There are three ways for attendees to join your session from their mobile devices:
  • Connect through a web browser: The attendee goes to attend.zoho.com and enters the Join key from the instruction slide.
  • Connect through a "Join" link: The attendee clicks the Join link sent in the registration email.
  • Connect through the Viewer app: The attendee downloads the Viewer app from either the Play Store or the App Store, and once they're in the app, enters the Join key.
  1. Once attendees are connected, they can use their mobile devices to view your slides, answer poll questions, pose questions about slides, and "like" other attendee's questions.

Recording a Session

Recording a live session will help you document it for future reference. The recording will be saved in the Recording Library. You can access it from either the Recording Library or the Lesson Details tab.
As a step toward GDPR compliance, we will provide an alert message to all attendees and trainers before the recording begins to obtain their consent. They can either consent to the recording and stay in the session or leave the session.
Start Recording
Click Record at the bottom menu of the screen. The REC with timer will be displayed at the bottom-left. You can record the audio and video, and screen share.
Alternatively, you can automate the recording process through the Settings. It will automatically initiate the recording when the session starts.
Stop Recording
Click Stop Recording in the bottom menu. The recording will be stopped and it will be saved in the library.



Play, download, or delete a recorded session
The recording can be accessed under the Recording in the Lesson details. It will displayed with Title, Size, Date added, and Action. You can play, download, or delete a recorded session.  The file will be downloaded in MP4 format. 
You can start and stop your recording multiple times during the session. Every time you start and stop recording, a video file corresponding to that recording will be generated. In case of a network problem, if the screen reloads within one minute your screen recording will continue the session else the recording will end. 
Send Recording
In TrainerCentral, we facilitate sending the recording to attendees, registrants, and registrants who missed the session, or interested person.
Send recording to all registrants: Click this link at the bottom of the screen to send the recording to all registrants.
Send recording to attendees: Click this link at the bottom of the screen to send the recording to attendees.
Send recording to registrants who failed to attend: Click this link at the bottom of the screen to send the session to registrants who didn't attend the session.



Alternatively, you can share the recording to people with their email address.  
  1. Navigate to Library at the left pane.
  2. Click the Recording tab.
  3. Select the share icon of the recording you want to share. The Share recording window will display.
  4. Enter the email address you want to share the recording. Click Share.


Screen share


When you select Screen share on the Options page, you will be prompted to select Your entire screen, Application window, or Browser Tab. Select one and click Share.

Google Chrome users have to install the extension to use TrainerCentral's screen share.

Choose what you would like to share: Your Entire Screen, Application Window, or Browser Tab. Select one and click Share.
  • Your Entire Screen - Share your entire screen with attendees.
  • Application Window - Share a particular application window with attendees. They will be able to view only the application and nothing else on your screen.
  • Browser Tab - Share a particular browser tab with your attendees.

When you share a screen, your attendees will be able to view the shared screen on their mobile devices or laptops. When the live streaming begins you will see "Screen share is in progress. Your attendees can view the screen that you choose to share." During the process of choosing an application to share, your attendees will see the screen "Trainer is gearing up for the session. Please wait."

To switch between screens during screen share:

If you would like to share a different screen with your attendees, click the Screen Share icon. A screen share pop-up will prompt you to choose what you would like to share with your attendees.

Stop Sharing

Once you're done, click Stop Sharing. If the session was started with a presentation, you'll be returned to it. If the session was started directly with screen share, when you click Stop Sharing you will be taken back to the Options page to choose a Presentation or Screen share. Your attendees will still be able to hear and see you. You can also still conduct polls and receive the questions attendees pose.

Exit

Once the session is completed, click Exit in the bottom-left corner of the screen. You will be prompted if you want to end click End Broadcast to quit the session. Request attendees to provide a rating and feedback when they are prompted.

Using Whiteboard in TrainerCentral 

TrainerCentral offers a virtual whiteboard in your online training room, allowing you to draw, place shapes, and lay text that is viewed in real-time. Whiteboards help you educate your audience through illustrations and explain difficult concepts to your learners in a simplified manner. In TrainerCentral's whiteboard, you can use a handy set of tools such as text boxes, shapes, drawing tools such as pen/marker, and much more. 
 
To use the whiteboard feature:
 
Click on Whiteboard at the bottom of your screen once after you launch your session.



This will open a white canvas board in a new tab. Now, you can begin to draw and practice on this whiteboard using different set of drawing tools available. Note that your participants will not be able to see this whiteboard window unless you share your screen. 
 
To share the whiteboard:

1. Choose Start ScreenShare at the bottom of your whiteboard window and click Select window -> Whiteboard  

  

Note: The Whiteboard contents can't be saved or downloaded for future use. 
 
TrainerCentral offers various tools like textboxes, shapes, line, pen, marker etc. You can also click on Selection on the top to change colors, font etc. To know how to use these, refer to the video below. 


2. Once you're done using the whiteboard, click Stop Sharing at the bottom to stop sharing your screen. 


 
3. To exit the whiteboard tab, click Close whiteboard. This will redirect into your TrainerCentral session.



Use external drawing boards as Whiteboard.

TrainerCentral allows you to use external devices such as IPad, Wacom etc. as a drawing board for your whiteboard. Once you setup the external device, you can start drawing on them to display workflows and training content to your audience.

Here are few guidelines on how to connect common external devices:

To know how to use your IPad as a second display for your Mac with Sidecar - click this link. 
To know how to use the Wacom drawing board as second display - click this link.


Presentation Slideshow Navigation

This section is applicable only when you choose to deliver a session with a presentation.

Forward and Backward
Navigate between the next and previous slides in TrainerCentral using the arrow icons at the bottom-right corner of the screen or with the arrow keys, page up, and page down keys of your keyboard. Attendees will be able to view your current slide and any that preceded it.

Next Slide
This area displays the next slide/animation. To move directly to another slide, click the numbered button to the left of the navigation buttons or select it from the All Slides tab.

All Slides
This tab displays a view of all the slides in your presentation.

Slide Notes
Use Slide Notes when creating your presentation to remember key points of your slides and improve your delivery. Notes are displayed to the right of your current slide and are not visible to attendees.



Enable and mute audio/Video


Click the Microphone/Video icon above the bottom right corner of your screen to enable and mute audio/video during your session. By default, the audio and the video will be enabled when the session starts. Attendees will not be able to enable audio unless you do. Audio and video works while you give a presentation as well when you share the screen with attendees.

Enable microphone and camera for all attendees

In any session, trainers has control of other attendees' microphone and camera access. During the session, attendees will request microphone and camera access and trainers might grant it to them individually. It is a daunting task for trainers to grant access individually. This feature will help trainers give microphone and camera access to all attendees at the same time.

 

  1. Click Settings at the bottom-left side of the left pane. The Settings window will open. By default, the General tab will be selected.

  2. Click the Enable microphone for all and Enable camera for all options under the Settings tab.

Now you have provided microphone and camera access to all attendees during the session. As soon as the attendees share their video feed, microphone and camera access will be granted.

 
Track your time
Time management is vital during a presentation. Use the Timer tab on the left side of the screen to stay on track.

Initiate Screen share
To initiate screen share while you deliver a session, click the Screen share icon on the left side of the screen.


Know your attendees

Click the Audience tab on the left side of the screen to learn more about the attendees: the number of attendees present, their status (active or offline) and engagement level, and which slides they're currently viewing.



Search for attendee with name or email address

 
When there are hundreds of learners joining the virtual training, it might sometimes be difficult to pick or identify a particular trainee. Trainers can now search for an attendee with their name or email address inside TrainerCentral's virtual classroom. This helps them connect with any specific individual much faster, monitor their involvement, and build a personal connection. 


An open mic for attendees


Invite attendees to voice their opinion during the session using the Open Mic feature.

To request an attendee to talk, go to the Attendee tab. A list of attendees' who are online will appear, along with their engagement level. Click the Grant Mic Access button next to the corresponding attendee to send a request. The attendee will be notified. When they accept, they will be able to voice their opinion. The trainer is able to mute and unmute mic access anytime during a session.

If the trainer mutes the mic permission for all the attendees, then each attendee who wants to voice their opinion can request open mic access from the trainer. Once the trainer accepts the request, the attendee can start to speak. Only one attendee can request open mic access. A trainer accepting a new open mic request will revoke the access given to the earlier attendee.



Allow attendee to share their mic/cam


You and your trainers can allow your session attendees to share their mic and camera during a live workshop. Click on the People tab in the left pane and choose Grant mic/cam access next to the attendee's name. 



You can also revoke this attendee's camera and mic access if you wish. 



Allow attendees to share their screen


You and your trainers can allow attendees to share their screen to you and your audience by granting screenshare access to them. Click on the People tab in the left pane and choose Grant screenshare access next to the attendee's name. 



You can also remove this access if you wish. Once removed, the attendee will not be able to share their screen to your audience. 


View Raised hands

The "Raise hand" feature is an effective tool to gain the trainer's attention during a session. When an attendee raises their hand, it indicates their willingness to participate and communicate with the trainer. As a trainer, you can either give them an opportunity to speak, or lower their hands if you choose not to allow them to speak. This feature helps to maintain a structured and organized environment, preventing chaos in the session, as attendees patiently wait for their turn to speak. 
The "Raise hand" option is only visible to the attendees, and trainers can only view the raised hands.            
To view raised hand:
You can view all of the attendees who raised their hands in the session and allow them to speak up.
Click the People tab at the top-left corner of the screen and, by default, the Attendees tab and Currently active tab within it will open. In the Currently active tab, you can view the Raised hand icon next to the attendee's name. 
Alternatively, you can view the Raised hand icon in the top-left corner of the attendees' video feeds. 
The attendees will not be able to see the raised hands of other attendees, and only the trainers can view the raised hands. 
To filter raised hands:
To view only the attendees who have raised their hands during the session, you can use the filter option.
  1. Click the People tab and, by default, the Attendees tab and Currently active tab within it will open.
  2. Click the filter icon next to the search box and select the Raised hands option. Now, you can view attendees' raised hands in the Raised hands tab.

  1. Click the People tab and, by default, the Attendees tab and Currently active tab within it will open. 
  2. Click the filter icon next to the search box and select the Raised hands option. Now, you can view attendees' raised hands in the Raised hands tab.
To lower an attendee's hand:
You can lower an attendee's hand in the session.Once the attendee has gotten the opportunity to speak up, or if you want to deny their hand raise request, you can utilize this feature.


  1. Click the People tab at the top-left corner of the screen and, by default, the Attendees tab and Currently active tab within it will open. In the Currently active tab, you can view the raised hand icon next to the attendee's name.
  2. Click the  icon to lower the attendee's hand.
Alternatively, you can click on the  icon in the top-left corner of the video feed of the attendee to lower their hand. In another option to lower the attendee's hand, you can click the More icon of the attendee's video feed and select the Lower hand option.
An attendee can also lower their hand by clicking on the Raise hand icon in their own video feed.
To lower all attendees' hands:
You can lower all of the attendees' hands if you want to deny their request.

  1. Click the People tab at the top-left corner of the screen and, by default, the Attendees tab and Currently active tab within it will open.
  2. Click the Filter icon next to the Search box and select the Raised hands option.
  3. Click Lower all hands at the bottom of the attendees list.

Remove an Attendee

As a presenter, when you transition into a different segment of the training, you may feel that the session becomes irrelevant to some of your attendees. Dismissing those participants helps you reach the right audience and increase the impact of the session content on your trainee's learning comprehension. We have the "Remove" feature with which you can use to remove participants from your live trainings.

Here are the steps to remove an attendee from an ongoing session: 

1. Click the People tab in the top left to see the list of all attendees available in your session. 
2. Now, click next to the participant's name you want to remove and select Remove. 



3. The attendee will receive a notification saying they have been removed from the session and will not be able to join again with the same email address.
 
Please note that you cannot add the participant back to your current session once they've been removed.

Answer Questions

The Questions tab allows attendees to interact with you by posing questions throughout the session. Decide which questions are relevant and make answering them part of your session. Attendees will see the questions you've chosen to display and can "up-vote" or "down-vote" them.

To use the Questions function:

Click the Questions tab. New questions will be displayed in the Unanswered section, along with the names of the attendees who submitted them.


Select the question you wish to reply to. Choose Private reply to respond just to the submitter, or Public Reply to everyone to make your response visible to all attendees.
To display the question and reply, click Project.


Questions you have responded to are then moved to the Answered section.


Chat


The Chat function allows attendees to exchange messages with you during your session. To start a conversation, click the Chat tab on the left side of the screen, enter your message in the text box, and press Enter or click Send. Here you can view the chat conversation along with the name of the attendee and the time at which the question was raised.



Note: All attendees can exchange messages be it they are logged in or not.

End the broadcast

You can exit the session at any time by clicking Exit at the bottom-left of the screen.

Get instant feedback

At the end of your session:

A "Session details" summary will appear on your screen. View details like the name of the session, the total number of attendees, the time duration of your session, and the number of slides presented.

A rating window will appear on your attendees' screens. Ask them to rate and provide feedback about your presentation. When they submit the rating and feedback, a customized thank you message from the trainer will pop up on their devices.



Broadcast a message 


You can broadcast a message to your entire audience if you wish to notify them about something and this notification would be displayed right in the centre of their screen.

1. To broadcast a message, after launching a session, click on Broadcast message from the left pane. 



2. Enter the message you wish to display to your audience and click on Broadcast. 







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