Zoom Meetings vs. Webinars

Owned by Grosshandler, Mike
Last updated: May 06, 2024 by Taitt, Latoya
3 min read

All UAlbany faculty, and staff are provided with licenses that allow them to conduct meetings with up to 500 participants, and also a Zoom Webinar license for up to 500 participants. The University currently has a small number of Zoom Webinar licenses available upon request to host webinars for up to 1,000 participants. This page describes the differences between the Meetings and Webinars and provides suggestions for setting up a Meeting to function something like a Webinar.

Request a Zoom Webinar License

Differences between Zoom Meetings and Webinars

A Zoom Meeting is a Zoom event where one person hosts, and all other participants have equal footing. The host can share hosting responsibilities with other participants. Any host has the ability to allow a meeting participant to share their screen. Meetings can have up to 500 participants.  Meetings are designed to be a collaborative event with the option for all participants to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance.

A Zoom Webinar is a more controlled environment. While there is no minimum size for a webinar, many more people can attend (up to 1,000 with appropriate licensing). Webinar roles are separated into panelists (as well as host/co-hosts) who are able to present in the webinar, and attendees who can join in live Q&A, chat, and answering polling questions.  Webinars are designed so that the host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio and screen. In a Webinars, only a host/co-host/panelist can see the participant list.  By default, Webinar attendees are automatically muted; the host can also unmute the attendees.

For more information, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005474943-Meeting-and-Webinar-Comparison

Configure a Zoom Meeting to function more like a Webinar

  1. Mute All participants and then un-check the option to Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves during a meeting:

  2. Mute/disable all participants' videos one by one. However, the audio is the most disrupting part and that takes care of most of the issues.

  3. Configure chat so that participants can chat with the Host only, and no other participants:

  4. You can also disable participants from sharing their screen so only the host can do so:


    (This is the default for UAlbany Zoom Meetings.)

  5. Require registration for Meetings. Please learn more here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/211579443-Registration-for-Meetings

  6. For more information on Managing participants in a meeting, visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005759423