Understanding RingCentral Webinar roles

Last updated on March 15, 2022

A webinar has four roles: host, cohost, panelist, and attendee. A webinar host can invite up to 99 cohosts and panelists and up to 10,000 attendees.

Host: If you are assigned a RingCentral Webinar license, you can schedule, start, and run the webinar. You can also manage your webinar, panelist, and attendee settings in the Webinar menu of the RingCentral app desktop and web.
Cohost: You can start and run the webinar for the host or co-run the webinar with them. You and the host have complete host controls during the webinar.
Panelist: You are an identified speaker who will present onstage to attendees. You will receive a direct email invitation separate from the webinar attendees.
Attendee: You are an invited, view-only participant. You can view presentations and panel discussions during a webinar.

Pre-webinar capabilities

Feature	Host	Cohost	Panelist	Attendee
Schedule a webinar using the RingCentral desktop and web app	✔	✘	✘	✘
Invite cohosts and panelists using your RingCentral contacts list or a .csv file	✔	✘	✘	✘
Invite attendees in Outlook, Google Calendar, or a .ics file	✔	✘	✘	✘
Invite additional cohosts, panelists, and attendees during the webinar	✔	✘	✘	✘
Invite cohosts and panelists to practice up to one hour before the start of the webinar	✔	✘	✘	✘
Manage webinar settings (e.g., allow non-signed-in participants to join the webinar, audio/video/screen share permissions, Q&A, and auto-recording)	✔	✘	✘	✘

Feature	Host	Cohost	Panelist	Attendee
Run the webinar in prep session mode	✔	✔	✘	✘
Go live to attendees with a single click	✔	✔	✘	✘
End webinar for all attendees	✔	✔	✘	✘
Join via RingCentral desktop and web app, RingCentral mobile app, or RingCentral Rooms	Can only start the webinar via RingCentral desktop and web app	✔	✔	✔
Start, pause, and resume recording	✔	✔	✘	✘
Manage participants (e.g., mute panelists, remove participants, turn off panelist videos, allow panelists to screen share, promote/demote participants)	✔	✔	✘	✘
Lock the webinar	✔	✔	✘	✘
Show your video and speak during the webinar	✔	✔	✔	✘
Manage the presentation (e.g., virtual background, touch up appearance, presentation modes)	✔	✔	✔	✘
Set video layout seen by attendees	✔	✔	✘	✘
Group chat among host, co-hosts, and panelists	✔	✔	✔	✘
Allow or disallow attendees to ask questions in the Q&A	✔	✔	✘	✘
Manage questions; mark a question as answered, answered live, or dismissed	✔	✔	✔	✘
Ask questions publicly or anonymously in the Q&A	✔	✔	✔	✔
View answers and vote for questions in the Q&A	✔	✔	✔	✔

Feature	Host	Cohost	Panelist	Attendee
Download an attendee list	✔	✘	✘	✘
Download the Q&A report	✔	✘	✘	✘
Share a link to the recording with recipients (no downloads)	✔	✘	✘	✘
Download the recording as a .mp4 file	✔	✘	✘	✘
View shared webinar recordings	✔	✔	✔	✔