How to use WisePub Session and Track Webinars

Introduction

Sessions in WisePub allow you to track and analyze engagement for your webinars and live events. When you create a session, you can monitor who registers, who watches, chat activity, and generate detailed analytics reports. This powerful feature helps you understand your audience behavior and measure event success.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to create scheduled sessions, start impromptu sessions during live streams, configure tracking settings, and export valuable data for your events.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure you have:

• Admin access to your WisePub account
• A webinar room already created in WisePub
• Basic understanding of your event schedule and goals
• (Optional) Email tracking or CRM integration for public events

Understanding Sessions

A session represents a specific time-bound event happening in your WisePub room. It allows you to:

• Track attendees and registration data
• Monitor chat activity during the event
• Measure watch time and engagement
• Export detailed analytics reports
• Trigger webhooks based on viewer actions

Pro Tip: Sessions work for both scheduled webinars and spontaneous training sessions. You can plan them in advance or create them on-the-fly when starting a live stream.

---

Step 1: Access the Sessions Dashboard

Objective: Navigate to the Sessions management area

1. Click on the Sessions menu item in the top navigation bar (visible only to admin users)
2. You’ll see the Sessions dashboard with three categories:
   • Live Sessions – Currently running events
   • Upcoming Sessions – Scheduled future events
   • Completed Sessions – Past events with available analytics
3. Look for the Create Session button in the corner of the dashboard

Expected Result: You should see your Sessions dashboard displaying any existing sessions organized by status.

---

Step 2: Create a New Scheduled Session

Objective: Set up a session for a planned webinar or event

1. Click the Create Session button
2. Select your room from the dropdown menu (e.g., “Alpha Trader” room)
3. Enter a session name (e.g., “Super Event”) – this is for your internal tracking
4. (Optional) Add an internal description to help your team understand the session purpose

Expected Result: The session creation form opens with your selected room and basic information entered.

Pro Tip: Use descriptive session names that include the date or topic to easily identify them later in your analytics.

---

Step 3: Configure Session Timing

Objective: Define when your session starts and ends

1. Select “One-time event” as the session type
2. Choose your start date and time (e.g., today at 9:00 AM)
3. Choose your end date and time (e.g., today at 10:00 AM)
4. Configure the buffer time before and after the event:
   • Before buffer: Enter minutes before the official start (default: 15 minutes)
   • After buffer: Enter minutes after the official end (default: 15 minutes)

What the buffer does: The 15-minute buffer before 9 AM means tracking begins at 8:45 AM, capturing early arrivals. The after-buffer continues tracking for 15 minutes post-event.

Pro Tip: Set a 15-30 minute pre-event buffer to capture attendees who arrive early to test their connection or prepare for the event.

---

Step 4: Set Up Tracking Parameters

Objective: Configure what engagement metrics to capture

Minimal Watch Time Tracking

1. Locate the “Minimal watch time” field
2. Enter the minimum number of minutes someone must watch to be included in your engaged viewers list (default: 30 minutes)
3. Adjust based on your event length – shorter events might use 10-15 minutes

Total Watch Time Tracking

1. Enable “Track total watch time” option
2. This creates a detailed list showing how many seconds each person watched

Expected Result: WisePub will generate two separate lists – one for viewers who met the minimum threshold, and one with exact watch times in seconds for all viewers.

Pro Tip: For shorter 30-minute events, set the minimal watch time to 10-15 minutes. For longer webinars, 30-45 minutes provides better qualified lead data.

---

Step 5: Configure Session Start Actions

Objective: Automatically clean up your room interface when the session begins

When the session starts (including the buffer time before), you can automatically:

1. Clear the chat – Check this option to hide previous chat messages (they’re not deleted, just hidden from the interface)
2. Clear announcements – Remove any existing announcements for a clean slate
3. Remove all CTAs – Take down any call-to-action buttons currently displayed

Expected Result: 15 minutes before your scheduled start time, the selected elements will be automatically cleared, giving attendees a fresh, distraction-free experience.

Pro Tip: Always select “Clear the chat” for scheduled webinars to prevent confusion from old messages. This creates a cleaner experience for new attendees.

---

Step 6: Create and Review Your Session

Objective: Finalize and verify your session configuration

1. Review all your settings for accuracy
2. Click the “Create Session” button
3. Your session now appears in the “Upcoming” tab
4. Note the countdown showing time until the session starts (e.g., “Starts in 39 minutes”)

Making Changes Before Start

• Click the edit icon next to any upcoming session to modify settings
• Click the delete icon to remove a session if plans change
• Changes can only be made before the session start time

Expected Result: Your session is scheduled and will automatically begin tracking at the configured start time.

---

Step 7: Enable Room Tracking Settings

Objective: Ensure your room is properly configured to capture session data

1. Navigate to your webinar room (e.g., Alpha Trader room)
2. Click on Settings in the room
3. Go to the “Public Options” section
4. Configure the following settings:

For Public Events (Open to Anyone)

• Room visibility: Can be public or private (both work with sessions)
• Track attendees: Toggle ON (essential for session tracking)
• Require email: Toggle ON for public events
• Pass email via URL parameter: ?email=user@example.com

For Private Events (Authenticated Users Only)

• Track attendees: Toggle ON
• Require email: Toggle OFF (system already knows logged-in users)

Expected Result: Your room is now configured to properly track all session attendee data.

Pro Tip: If you use a CRM for email marketing, pass the email address in the URL parameter when sending event links. This automatically identifies attendees without requiring them to fill out a form. You can also pass UTM parameters for advanced tracking.

---

Step 8: View Live and Completed Session Analytics

Objective: Access detailed engagement data from your sessions

Accessing Session Stats

1. Go to Sessions in the main menu
2. For completed sessions, click the stats icon next to any session
3. Review the analytics dashboard showing:

Available Metrics

• Total messages sent – All chat activity during the session
• Unique users who chatted – Number of people who participated in chat
• Messages in moderation – Chat messages flagged for review (e.g., phone numbers)
• Registration data – List of people who registered for the event
• Watch time data – Total time watched per attendee

Exporting Data

1. Click “Export Chat” to download all chat messages with user information
2. Click “Download” next to watch time campaigns to get CSV files with:
   • Individual user watch times
   • UTM tracking parameters (if configured)
   • Registration timestamps
   • Email addresses and user data

Expected Result: You receive comprehensive CSV files containing all session engagement data for further analysis.

Pro Tip: Export data immediately after important webinars to identify your most engaged attendees for follow-up campaigns.

---

Step 9: Configure Webhooks for Automation

Objective: Set up automatic notifications when viewers hit engagement milestones

1. Navigate to your room’s Settings
2. Scroll to the Webhooks section at the bottom
3. Click “Add Webhook”
4. Configure webhook settings:
   • Name: Give your webhook a descriptive name
   • Endpoint URL: Enter your Zapier, Make.com, or custom API endpoint
   • Trigger event: Select when to send data (e.g., “User watches 30 minutes”)

What happens: When a viewer meets your criteria (like watching 30 minutes), WisePub automatically sends their data to your specified endpoint.

Expected Result: Your CRM, email platform, or automation tool receives real-time notifications when viewers engage with your content.

Pro Tip: Use webhooks to trigger immediate follow-up emails to highly engaged viewers, or to add qualified leads to your sales pipeline automatically.

---

Alternative Method: Creating Sessions During Live Streams

Objective: Start tracking an impromptu session while going live

Sometimes you’ll want to create a session on-the-fly during an unplanned training or webinar. Here’s how:

Step-by-Step Process

1. Navigate to your webinar room
2. Enter your stream URL in the streaming settings
3. Click the “Start Stream” button
4. In the streaming dialog, check “Create a new session”
5. Enter an expected duration (default: 2 hours) – this is flexible and can be adjusted
6. (Optional) Also enable “Start recording” if you want to save the stream
7. Click “Start the Stream”

Expected Result: Your stream begins broadcasting, and a new session is automatically created in the background. You can view it immediately in the “Live Sessions” tab.

Pro Tip: This method is perfect for daily training sessions or spontaneous Q&A events where you still want to capture engagement data without pre-scheduling.

---

Conclusion

You now have a complete understanding of how to create, manage, and analyze sessions in WisePub. Sessions give you powerful insights into your webinar performance and audience engagement.

Key Takeaways

• Scheduled sessions let you plan tracking for upcoming events with buffers and automatic cleanup
• On-demand sessions can be created instantly when starting a live stream
• Analytics exports provide detailed CSV data on watch time, chat, and registrations
• Webhooks enable real-time automation based on viewer engagement

Next Steps

1. Create your first session for an upcoming webinar
2. Configure webhook integrations with your CRM or email platform
3. Review exported analytics after your first session to identify highly engaged viewers
4. Use UTM parameters in your promotional links for advanced campaign tracking

Pro Tip: After running several sessions, compare analytics across events to identify which topics, times, or formats generate the most engagement. Use these insights to optimize your future webinar strategy.

---

Need Help? If you have questions about sessions or need assistance with tracking configuration, contact the WisePub support team or refer to our additional documentation on advanced tracking features.