About
This article explains how moderators can use the Live Stage tab in the Chat & Collaboration (C&C) widget to manage live Kaltura Room and webcast sessions in real time.
From the Live Stage tab, moderators can monitor session activity, communicate with attendees and speakers, manage Q&A, pin messages, control participant roles, and keep the session running smoothly from start to finish.
Moderators can manage the C&C widget per session via the media edit page (Chat tab), tailoring the experience to meet specific needs. Check out our article Manage chat settings for Kaltura Room for details.
Access the Live stage tab
In your Kaltura Room, at the upper-right of your screen, click the Live stage tab.
The engagement panel opens.
What’s in the Live stage tab?
The Live stage tab has the following sub-tabs:
- Chat - Manage group chat
- Q&A - Manage audience questions
- Feed - Track published interactions and pinned messages
- Backchannel - Private moderator/speaker chat
- Participants - Manage roles and permissions
Also in the engagement panel:
- Mini session analytics dashboard - Displays real-time stats such as turnout, attendee count, engagement rate, and time remaining in the session.
Chat sub-tab
The Chat sub-tab provides a space for group chat within a specific session or context.
- Attendees can write, like, and reply to messages, as well as delete their own messages.
- Moderators can pin messages, delete all messages, block users, and launch interaction tools.
The interface and options differ slightly between attendees, speakers and moderators.
- To chat, type your message in the text field and click Send.
- Hover over any message to:
- Like, reply to, or delete it
- Pin it to the top of the list (pinned messages can be unpinned by a moderator)
- Block the user from group chat
- Click the three-dot menu to Clear chat history (attendees won’t see cleared chats, but they remain in reports)
All actions (like, reply, delete) are available on mobile by tapping. Long-press or tap the three dots icon to access moderation tools like pinning or blocking.
Q&A sub-tab
The Q&A tab allows attendees to submit questions directly to moderators. Kaltura Rooms supports two configurations:
- Single thread (default) - all of a participant’s questions appear in one thread
- Multi-thread - each question is shown as a separate thread
Admin settings control which mode is used.
Single thread example:
Multi-thread example:
The Q&A experience supports both single and multi-thread layouts on mobile. Tap to open and navigate threads. Some interface elements may appear stacked or compact.
We will be demonstrating the multi-thread capability in this article. Please contact your Kaltura representative for additional information.
If there are messages from attendees, the following is displayed. To read a pending or claimed chat, click on the chat (not the Reply button).
The number of pending chats and claimed chats are displayed, along with arrows allowing you to either expand or collapse both lists.
To respond to a question:
- Click Reply next to an attendee's name to start a private thread with that attendee.
- Type your message (the banner “Answering as [Session Name]” means all moderators can see the reply).
To un-claim and send the chat back to pending chats, click the three dots and select Send back to pending chats button.
Additional moderation actions include:
Hover over any message to:
- Like, reply to, or delete it
- Pin the message to the top of the list. (Pinned messages can be unpinned by a moderator.)
- Block the user from the group chat.
Feed sub-tab
The Feed displays all published interactions and pinned messages during the session. It's visible to participants and keeps them updated throughout the session.
Moderators can:
- Hide results of a poll, end polls, and unpublish polls
- Pin / unpin messages from Chat and Q&A
Feed items like polls and reactions are fully visible and interactive on mobile. Layouts are stacked vertically for easier scrolling.
Backchannel sub-tab
The Backchannel is a private space for moderators and speakers to communicate during a session. It works like the regular Chat tab, but only they can see and use it. They can post, like, reply to, and delete their own messages.
The tab only appears for users who’ve been added as speakers or moderators for that session.
Backchannel tab populated with messages- Type your message in the "Write your message" field to start chatting with other moderators.
- Hover over a message to 'Like' or reply to a message from another moderator.
- Hover over any one of your messages and select the trashcan icon to delete the message.
An alert at the bottom reminds users they’re in a moderator/speaker-only space.
Participants sub-tab
The Participants sub-tab shows all users in the room and lets moderators manage participant roles and actions.
Participants are grouped into:
- Raised hands
- On stage
- Viewers
Each section indicates the number of users in that section, as well as their names and a label for moderator or custom permissions. Icons for raised hand and microphone are displayed when relevant, to the right of each name.
Click the v to the left of each section name to collapse the section. When there are many participants in a section, you will also see clickable options to See more and See less.
Search the participants list
Wondering if someone is in your room? Or who is on stage? The search bar is a handy tool to navigate the Participants list. You can start typing in the search bar, and the list will display results for the text you've entered as well as in which section the user(s) appear.
Manage participants
At the top of the list, you'll see All participants with the count, and a three-dot menu. This menu lets you:
- Mute all microphones (except yours)
- Turn off all cameras (except yours)
- Clear raised hands
To manage a specific user, hover over their name in the list:
- Click the raised hand icon to lower it
- Click the microphone icon to mute/unmute (available when the user is on stage)
- There is a three-dot menu next to each name which offers more actions depending on your role. (Only users with the right permissions can manage participant streams):
- Invite to stage / Remove from stage - Invite to stage sends the user a 'Set devices' popup window where they can Decline invitation or Join stage. Until the participant responds to an invitation, you'll have the option to Revoke invite on stage (even if another moderator initiated the invitation).
- Turn off camera - Turns off the participant's camera.
- Remove from stage - Adds/removes the participant from the stage. That participant can always join the stage again if enabled by a moderator.
- Set as moderator - Sets that participant as a moderator.
- Set as speaker - Sets that participant as a speaker.
- Edit permissions - Edits the participant's user permission. See User permissions for more information.
- Remove from room - Removes the user from the room.
- Clicking the three-dot menu next to your own name gives you options to Turn off camera if on stage, and Join stage/Remove from stage.
Mini session analytics dashboard
As a moderator, you can get a quick snapshot of how your session is doing, in real time.
What you’ll see:
- Attendees - Number of users currently watching the session
- Turnout - Percentage of attendees vs. registrants
- Engagement rate - Real-time engagement metrics
- Time to end - Displays how much time is left in scheduled sessions
Activity indicators
Activity indicators help you stay in sync across all tabs by signaling when there's new activity in tabs you're not currently viewing. These visual cues make sure you never miss what matters - even when you're multi-tasking across multiple tabs.
- A notification dot on the Chat or Backchannel sub-tabs indicates there is a new message.
- A notification dot on the Q&A sub-tab indicates new questions or new chat under existing answers.
- A notification dot on the Feed tab indicates that a new item has been published to the feed.
In our example below, the user is focused on the Chat sub-tab. A red dot on the Feed sub-tab indicates that a new item has been published to the feed.
A notification dot also displays on the Live Stage icon when widget is closed and there's activity in any tab.
