Live webinar or pre-recorded premiere? Which to choose

The short answer

Run it live when the audience is part of the session: questions, discussion, a demo that depends on what people ask, a class where you watch them follow along.

Run a pre-recorded premiere when the content is the point and it is better polished: a course module, a talk you have given many times, a session with edited slides and clean audio. Everyone still watches together at a set time, so it keeps the feel of an event.

Many hosts end up using both: a premiere for the teaching, and a short live session afterwards for questions.

What each one is

A live webinar happens in your meeting tool, such as Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. You present in real time, and people join with a link.

A pre-recorded premiere is a finished video that plays at a scheduled start time, for everyone at once, as if it were live. Nobody can pause or skip ahead, so the whole audience is at the same moment. Someone who joins ten minutes late picks up ten minutes in.

A replay is different again: a recording people can watch whenever they like after the event. It can follow either kind.

Live webinars: the strengths

• Questions and answers. People can ask, and you can adjust.
• Energy. A real person reacting in real time keeps attention.
• Less preparation. You don’t need to record and edit a video first.
• Breakouts and exercises, if your meeting tool has them.

Live webinars: the risks

• Things go wrong on the day. Internet drops, a microphone fails, a slide deck won’t share.
• You have to be there, at that time, every time you run it.
• It is only as good as that take. A stumble is part of the session.
• The link can be forwarded, like any meeting link.

Pre-recorded premieres: the strengths

• The best version, every time. Record it until you are happy, edit it, add captions.
• Nothing breaks on the day. The video plays whether your home internet behaves or not.
• Run it again without presenting again, at a time that suits another time zone.
• It still feels like an event. A start time, a countdown, other people watching at the same moment.

Pre-recorded premieres: the trade-offs

• No live interaction in the room. There is no chat and no Q&A, just the video.
• No changes on the fly. If something has changed since you recorded, the video won’t say so.
• Recording takes time. A polished video is more work up front than turning on a camera.

How a premiere works on One Ticket

On One Ticket, a premiere is a pre-recorded webinar played in a watch room. It is a Pro and Team feature. Pro and Team are open now: upgrade any time in Settings › Plan. Limited-time offer: A$1 for your first year (first 100 organisers), then A$29/month for Pro or A$79/month for Team. Cancel anytime. Here is how it works:

1. Upload your video to Vimeo and allow it to be embedded on One Ticket. Add its link and length to the event.
2. Set the date and start time. A premiere has one showing. To show it at another time, for a different time zone, say, duplicate the event and set the new time.
3. Choose when the room opens: at the start time or up to an hour before. You can add a YouTube countdown video that plays first and finishes as yours begins.
4. Choose how late people can join: until it ends, or until the last few minutes. Late joiners start where it’s up to.
5. Add tickets. Each ticket has its own Watch link, on the ticket page and in the emails, and plays on one screen at a time. Open it on a second screen and the viewer chooses which one plays.

On the day, everyone booked gets a “Starting in 15 minutes” email. Once two or more people are watching, the room shows how many. Viewers have their own volume, captions where your video has them, and full screen. When the video ends, the room shows your closing message.

Afterwards, your attendee list shows who joined the room and how many minutes each ticket watched, so you know who turned up. The webinar ticketing page sets out a live webinar and a premiere side by side.

How a live webinar works on One Ticket

A live webinar works on every plan, including Free:

1. Schedule the meeting in your own tool and copy its join link.
2. Create an online event and paste the link. Only ticket holders see it.
3. Add your tickets, free or paid.
4. Share the page.

Everyone who books gets the link on their ticket page, in the ticket email, in a calendar file, in reminders the day before and the morning of, and in a “Starting in 15 minutes” email. One Ticket doesn’t create the meeting or connect to your meeting tool’s account; you set it up there and paste the link. See Zoom, Google Meet or Teams: hosting a ticketed webinar for how each fits.

And replays

A replay lets people catch up afterwards, which helps anyone in an awkward time zone or who couldn’t make it. On One Ticket you add the recording link (and a password, if it has one) and choose when it goes out: when the event ends, straight away, or at a date and time you pick. Everyone with a ticket is emailed the link and finds it on their ticket, and it takes the place of the join link there. Replays are on Pro and Team too.

Offering a replay can lower attendance on the day, because people know they can watch later. If the live moment matters, say so: “the replay is for people who can’t make it; questions are only answered live.”

Which one should you pick?

Ask these questions:

• Do people need to ask you things during the session? Live.
• Is it a session you will run many times, unchanged? Premiere.
• Is your audience spread over many time zones? A premiere is easy to show again at a second time. A replay also helps.
• Is your internet or set-up unreliable? Premiere.
• Is it a class where you watch people do something? Live.
• Are you selling content that needs to look polished? Premiere.

If you are still unsure, start live. It is quicker to set up, it works on the Free plan, and running it live a few times tells you what people ask, which makes for a better recording later.

A combined approach

A popular pattern is a premiere followed by a live question session. Sell the premiere as one event and the live Q&A as a second, online event straight afterwards, with its own join link. People can book one or both.

Whichever you choose, our step-by-step guide on how to sell tickets to a webinar walks through the set-up.