There are a number of titles we use for people involved in an event. Here’s a quick list of many of those titles and a brief description.
Producer
Like on a TV show or movie, there can be a number of Producers. Here we’re mostly talking about the technical title of Executive Producer, who is the person ultimately responsible for the overall event, and to whom all of the others look to for overall guidance and decisions. In many cases this might be more of an oversight role, but still, it’s the person who has ultimate authority for any decision that nobody else wants to make.
With some non-profit organizations, GoodClix works directly with the Board of Directors or other official group, who seem to make “group decisions” without an actual leader in charge. We will insist that there be one person who is the ultimate decision authority, but we’re happy to work with a group to help coordinate the overall event.
For some events, the Producer is also the Coordinator, but generally the Producer takes care of high-level things like the budget, inviting any VIP attendees, approving the overall schedule and perhaps the individual presenter selection. The Producer also makes major decisions on things such as whether or not a presenter can pre-record their presentation, how often the breaks occur in between sessions
Technical Director
That’s usually GoodClix’s role, to be the lead decision-maker of technical issues regarding the event. See Wikipedia’s entry for Technical Director as it relates to TV studios, and you’ll have a good idea of what we do, except we’re using Zoom and a few other technical tools to get the show on the road.
Coordinator
The Coordinator is typically the main person directly involved with the Presenters, making sure everyone knows the schedule, when they’ll be presenting, whether they’ll be needed for a Q&A panel, do they have all their slides and videos ready on-time, etc.
The Coordinator is also generally responsible for ensuring that any necessary documentation is produced, such as a Program Guide or Session Schedule, and the availability of handouts to the attendees. While this may be a coordinated effort between the Producer, Technical Director, and other technical staff, it’s the Coordinator’s job to — well, you get it: Coordinate.
Event Moderator or “Emcee”
We like to have one person who will be the “face of the organization” from the time Zoom is open for attendees to the time the event shuts down. For a multi-day event, this can be split up among a few people, but not always necessary. This moderator introduces each session — typically by introducing either the Session Moderator or the Presenter. The moderator also acts as “time keeper” to ensure each session starts on time.
The Event Moderator makes on-the-fly decisions (possibly in consultation with the Producer, Coordinator, and/or Technical Director) about such things as… what happens when a presenter cancels on short notice. Most organizations have someone “in the wings” ready to make an unscheduled presentation in situations like this, and it’s one of the Event Moderator’s jobs to make the decision on when to cut to the new presenter.
Session Moderator
In a large group, it’s advisable to have someone to introduce the Presenter and assist with getting Screen Sharing going, making sure the Presenter is unmuted, and other not-too-technical issues of the session’s activities. The Session Moderator then keeps an eye on the Chat, and in a Webinar, also the Q&A window, and either gathers up the questions and comments for the end of the presentation
Some events don’t warrant a special person at each session to introduce the presenter. In some events, the Producer makes the decision that long introductions are forbidden and that Attendees can read about the Presenter’s credentials in the Program Guide, under the theory of “Let’s not waste people’s time telling them what they can read for themselves.” In other events, often retaining an air of formality like many in-person conferences, like to have someone mention why this Presenter was selected, a little about their credentials and background, and maybe something funny or personal about them.
Presenter
A Presenter is someone who presents some information. Duh! But usually this is one person presenting one topic, followed by a Q&A session (see Panelist below). The presentation may include PowerPoint slides, a short video, or even a pre-recorded presentation. If there is a detailed introduction from the Event or Session Moderator, usually the Presenter just starts off presenting! Each Presenter usually decides whether they prefer having questions at the end of the presentation, or prefer being interrupted as they go along. Still, the Moderator should monitor the impact of questions on the session time and gently cut off questions that seem to sidetrack or unreasonably prolong the presentation, to ensure that the start time of the next session is not affected.
Panelist
In some session there are multiple people involved, and this can take a number of forms. In some cases, there area series of related mini-presentations, each given by “a member of the panel” who then hands off the session to the next panelist, with Q&A occurring for all panelists at the end. In some situations, there may be one slide deck and several presenters who take turns presenting a portion of the slides, typically all related to a specific central topic but with special focus by each panelist.
And sometimes, it really is just a panel of people who introduce a topic with a couple of quicks slides or statements, and then open up the floor for questions.
Attendee
So “Attendee” pretty much covers everyone else. If this is a Zoom Meeting, then Attendees can typically show their camera video and unmute themselves to talk, though this can be controlled by the
Zoom Terms for People
So the above sections really are general definitions that work as much for an on-site, in-person event as they do for an online event. But there are a few terms we want to give you that are specific to Zoom.
Host
This person has ultimate control over the Zoom session, and can do such things as start/stop recordings and make changes to security settings, such as whether or not Panelists and Attendees can change their display name, whether Chat is enabled, and for Webinars, whether Q&A is enabled.
Co-Host
Co-Hosts have much of the same ability as Hosts, but have to be granted the Co-Host permission.
For Webinars: Participants, Panelists, and Attendees
In a Zoom Webinar, everyone in attendance is a Participant.
A Participant’s window is not visible to Attendees in Zoom Webinar. For Panelists it has two tabs, one for Panelists (think of “people on the stage and behind the scenes”, since it includes Hosts and Co-Hosts) and one for Attendees (“people in the audience”).
Only Panelists can display their camera video and unmute themselves to speak. Attendees can’t display their camera video, and can only speak if a Host or Co-Host enables the specific Attendee to unmute themselves — typically in response to a “Raised Hand” or some other request to speak.
Gallery
The term Gallery is used in the View menu in the upper right corner of your Zoom client window. When you select Gallery, you will see all or most of the camera videos of Participants in a Meeting, or Panelists in a Webinar. There are options which show or hide people who don’t have their camera enabled.
See the “Spotlighting and Highlighting the Current Speaker” below for helpful information which applies to both Gallery and Speaker views.
Speaker
Speaker is another term used in the View menu in the upper right corner of your Zoom client window. When selecting Speaker view, you will see a limited number of Participant’s camera videos.
Spotlighting and Highlighting the Current Speaker
If the Host has “spotlighted” one or more Participants, only their camera video will show.
If there are no “spotlighted” Participants, those who are speaking (when Zoom detects audio) are shown. If multiple people are speaking, all speakers might be shown, and if someone doesn’t speak for several seconds, they will be removed from the display, but reappear once they speak again. If there is more than one camera video in the view, the person that Zoom determines is “speaking the most” is highlighted with a yellow box around their video, and anyone else who is speaking “in the background” will have a small yellow line about halfway across the bottom of the video box.