Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars and Live Streaming provide comparable features, but there are some differences to consider when deciding which best meets your need. This article will provide a feature comparison and scenarios to help you decide which option is best for your event.
Comparing Zoom Meetings, Webinars and Live Streaming
When choosing a platform for your event, you'll want to start by considering the experience you want to provide for your participants.
- Meetings are more interactive and provide different ways for participants to engage.
- Webinars provide the host the opportunity to have full control over presenting to a very large group with full permissions to manage the webinar, panelists, and attendees.
- Live Streaming when you expect more attendees than your Zoom Meeting or Webinar allows, and you don’t require interactive features or control over the chat feature.
Review the guidance below to help you decide what Zoom platform best meets your need. As part of our enterprise license, we currently offer 3 licenses for large events. These spaces can be reserved in EMS (ems.davidson.edu). Requesting one of the licensed spaces will generate a request to T&I and a member of our team will reach out to you to coordinate the license assignment.
- 2 webinar licenses for up to 1,000 attendees
- 1 large meeting license for up to 1,000 attendees
| Zoom Meetings | Zoom Webinar or Large Meeting | Live Streaming | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of Participants | Up to 300 | Up to 1,000 (license required) | Unlimited |
| Content Sharing | All Participants | Host, Co-host, and Panelists Only | Host, Co-host, and Panelists Only |
| Audio & Video | All Participants | Host, Co-host, and Panelist Only | Host, Co-host, and Panelist Only |
| Chat | All Participants (disable chat option) | Host, Co-host, and Panelists (disable chat option) | All Participants |
| Polling | Available | Available | Not Available |
| Breakout Rooms | Available | Not Available | Not Available |
| Q&A | Not Available | Available | Not Available |
| Live Stream | Available | Available | Available |
| Registration | Available | Registration or Registration-less | Not Required |
| Participants List | All participants | Hosts and Panelists | YouTube signed-in users |
Consider the following scenarios to help guide you in choosing the right solution for your event. Once selected, you'll begin the next phase: Preparing for your event
| Scenario | Considerations | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Staff Meeting | Less than 300 participants, video and audio of all participants, and the ability to content share. More participant engagement. | Meeting |
| Training Session | Less than 300 participants, breakout rooms, polling, and raise hand features ideal for training sessions. The host can mute all participants and turn on when appropriate. | Meeting |
| Accepted Students Event | Large audience/event that is open to the public and requires minimal audience engagement | Live Stream |
| Class | Ideal for interactive sessions encouraging lots of audience participation and offer breakout sessions for small group discussions. | Meeting |
| Lecture | A virtual lecture hall or auditorium set-up with a very large audience. Ability to use the Q&A feature for attendees to ask questions during class. | Webinar |
| Counseling Session | May be used with some types of sensitive data with the ability to lock meeting. | Meeting |
| Performance | Large audience/event that is open to the public and requires minimal audience engagement | Live Stream |
| Daily Stand-up | Ability to see all participants, everyone has audio and video and can chat publicly or privately. | Meeting |
| Town Hall | Large audience/event that is open to the public and requires minimal audience engagement. | Webinar |