Running a weekly online class or workshop series on Zoom

The short answer

A weekly online class is a series: the same class on a pattern, sold one session at a time, by subscription, or both. The Zoom side has one rule worth following: give every session its own Zoom link. A link that opens every class forever ends up in group chats and inboxes you never meant it to reach. A link per session expires with the session.

On One Ticket you make the class repeat, sell it as single tickets or a subscription, and either paste each session’s link or let One Ticket create a unique Zoom meeting for every session.

Why one link forever is a problem

Many teachers schedule one recurring Zoom meeting and use its link for every class. It’s easy, but:

• It can’t be taken back. Anyone who ever had it, including people who came once two years ago, can join any class.
• It ignores who paid. A ticket to this week means nothing if last term’s link still works.
• It hides who came. With one shared link, you can’t tell which session someone joined from.

A link for each session fixes all three: the link on this week’s ticket opens this week’s class.

Step 1: Make the class repeat

1. Choose New event, add the class name, description and tickets.
2. In the place, choose Online.
3. Choose Pick a date, set the first date and the times.
4. Under Repeats, choose Weekly (or daily, every weekday, fortnightly or monthly), and the days.
5. Under Ends, choose after a number of times, on a date, or never.
6. Set Sell how many weeks ahead. Sessions further out are added as the weeks pass.
7. Check the list of dates, then Save and Publish.

Each date becomes a session: an event of its own with its own tickets, capacity and attendee list, all listed on one series page. The guide on repeating events has every option, and our post on setting up a recurring event walks through the choices.

Step 2: Give every session its own Zoom link

Pasting links works on every plan: schedule a separate Zoom meeting for each class and paste each one into its session. It’s fine for a short course and tedious for a year of classes.

Creating them automatically is on Pro and Team. 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. Connect your own Zoom account in Settings › Zoom (once), then:

1. Open any session’s place, and under Generate with Zoom choose Meeting.
2. Choose Create a unique Zoom link for each session.
3. Every upcoming session that has no link, or shares its link with another session, gets its own Zoom meeting at its own date and time, soonest first, 26 at a time. If more are left, press it again.

When you save a single session with Generate with Zoom chosen, One Ticket creates the Zoom meeting for you when you save the event. As new sessions are added over the weeks, they start with the link of the session before them, so press the button again every so often to give them their own. The full set-up is in how to create a Zoom link automatically.

If more than one person on your account teaches, Meetings run on picks whose Zoom account hosts the series' meetings.

Step 3: Choose how people pay

Drop-in tickets suit casual classes. People book the sessions they want, and each ticket carries that session’s link.

A subscription suits regulars. They pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly or on another cycle you set, and get a ticket to every session while it runs. Each subscriber’s ticket is made about a week before every session and arrives with the reminder the day before, carrying that session’s link. Nobody has to book again. See subscriptions for a series and our post on how recurring ticket sales work.

Many classes offer both: a drop-in price for first-timers and a subscription for regulars. Subscribers' places count against each session’s capacity first, so the class never oversells. If you have to call a class off, skip a week means subscribers aren’t charged for that week, and the complete guide to recurring events covers the rest of running a series.

Step 4: Let the emails do the reminding

Every ticket holder gets the session’s link on their ticket and in the ticket email, calendar links that carry it, reminders the day before and on the morning, and a “Starting in 15 minutes” email just before class. For a weekly class, that last email puts the way in on their phone just as class is about to start.

You can also hold the link back until 15, 30 or 60 minutes before each class, under Ticket holders see the link. It’s one choice for the whole series: set it on any session, or with Edit all sessions, and every online class follows. Held back, the link is emailed to everyone 15 minutes before each class, and their tickets say so until then. See keeping your Zoom link private.

Running the term

• Sessions shows every class on a calendar, with how many places have gone. Not filling yet lists sessions in the next week that are under a third full, so you can share them in time. See the sessions calendar.
• Attendees on each session shows who opened the join link from their ticket.
• Roll call on the series page shows who’s new, your regulars and who has stopped coming.
• Changing one class means opening that session. Changing many at once is Edit all sessions; online sessions keep their own links.

If you move one class to another day or time, check its Zoom meeting matches, and make it again from the place if it doesn’t.

Workshops and short courses

A six-week workshop is the same set-up with an end: Ends after six times. Sell each week separately, or offer a subscription to the series for people who want every week. For one-off workshops that repeat on a few dates, see workshop booking for one-off courses and repeat dates.

Recordings for people who miss a class

Zoom can record each class. On any plan, you can send a session’s recording to everyone with a ticket to it as a replay. 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. See replays.

The complete guide to selling tickets to a Zoom event links the rest of this series. Subscriptions are on the subscriptions page, online tickets on the webinars page, and fees on the pricing page.