Manage Your Microphone, Camera & Screen Sharing

In this article, we will cover everything about how to manage your microphone, camera, and screen sharing in the event room. Just click on Event room at the top right of your event's dashboard. All contributors can go into the event room at any time!

As a presenter, we really encourage you to use Chrome to ensure overall stability to carry out your session without any resolution or connectivity issues. Feel free to check our dedicated article about Technical Requirements to Use Livestorm.

Specifications

• You will be streaming with WebRTC 1080p quality (Full HD).

Allow Access to Your Microphone & Camera

When you join the event room for the very first time, you will have to allow your browser to access your webcam and microphone.

Click on Allow to allow access.

If you don't allow permissions, you won't be able to join to share your audio/video with your attendees. 

If you blocked these permissions by error, don't worry! You can always allow them again by clicking on the lock icon on the left of your address bar.

Join the Stage in the Event

There are different options to join the stage in an event. You can either: 

• Join the stage when you join the room
• Join the stage once you're already in the room.

In order to speak and enable your camera from a computer, you would need to use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari (v.12.1 and up), or Microsoft Edge (v.79 and up). From mobile/tablet, you would need to use iOS>12.1 or Android.

Join the Stage in the Event When You Join the Room

If you’re a team member (admin or member), or a guest speaker who is assigned to the event, you have the option to join the stage proactively. When you will want to enter the room, you will first join the lobby, allowing you to join the stage if there are fewer than 25 simultaneous speakers and whatever the speaking permissions of the event are. 

Joining the stage means that you will have the possibility to share your webcam, audio, and/or screen with the other participants and be then seen and heard by everyone in the room. 

Even though "Everyone can speak" is selected in the speaking permissions of the event, there is still a limit of 25 simultaneous speakers.

In the lobby, you'll be able to configure and verify your settings before participating in the event. Indeed, you'll have the possibility to:

1

Choose your camera device.

2

Choose your mic device.

3

Mute/unmute your mic.

4

Turn on/off your camera.

5

Choose a virtual background.

6

Participate in the event (or  watch the event).

When clicking on Participate in the event, you'll be joining the stage with the settings you've set up.

If you click on Watch event, you will attend the event like an attendee, but with the rights related to your team member role, such as sharing a presentation and moderating the event.

Next time you’ll enter the room, your settings will remain the same. 👌

Livestorm Tip 👉 To have everything working fine when going live, we strongly advise you to check our best practices.

Join the Stage in the Event Once You Are Already in the Room

If you are already in the room as a viewer (not on the stage), you will be able to join the stage during the event. This is only possible if fewer than 25 people are already on stage or if one of these 25 persons leaves the stage during the event. 

1

Choose or verify your settings before joining the stage. To do so, click on the Settings button that you can see on your dock. 

2

A window will open, allowing you to configure and verify your settings. You can:

• Test your configuration
• Mute/unmute your microphone
• Enable/disable your camera
• Choose a virtual background
• Check if the sound is working thanks to the green bar
• Choose a specific camera
• Choose a specific microphone

3

Once you're done, click on the Save device settings button.

4

You can now click on the Join stage button on the left of your dock.

5

That's it, you're on stage! 🎉

Use an External Camera or Microphone

If you'd like to use an external device (for example, an external USB microphone or webcam), you can select it when you first enter the event room (as explained above) or when you join the stage once in the room.

If the external device does not appear in the select menu, refresh the page first and open the device settings again. Your device should appear in the dropdown menu afterward.

Leave the Event

There are  two different ways to leave the event. You can: 

• Close the browser tab
• Click on the Leave button.

Leave the Event by Closing the Browser Tab

When you're in the event room, you can simply leave the event by closing your browser tab.

1

To do so, click on the grey cross on the right of the tab.

2

Your browser will display a message to ensure you actually want to leave the site. You can now click on the Leave button to close the tab and leave the event.

Leave the Event by Clicking on the Leave Button

1

You can leave the event by clicking on the corresponding button on your dock.

2

Then, click on Leave event.

3

You will then land on a screen that will allow you to go back to the event if necessary.

Share Your Screen

Screen sharing is great for presenting a Powerpoint or software and having it recorded in the replay. In a few clicks, you can share everything happening on any app or on your entire screen. Click on the Share button on your dock, then Share screen.

Bear in mind that you need to be on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari (v.13 and up) and connect from a computer to share your screen.

Mobile/tablet devices do not yet support screen sharing. However, you can still share your mobile/tablet screen by connecting it to a computer and sharing your screen from there. We have all the details how-to here!💡

Livestorm Tip 👉 You can share your screen without clicking on Participate as well! All you have to do in this case is to click on Share and choose Share screen.

Chrome

Once you click Enable screen sharing, this will trigger a window. You can share your entire screen or just share an application window or a tab.

Sharing the audio with screen sharing:

• On macOS

It's only possible if you share a Chrome tab (Chrome 74+) and check the "Share audio" box. Your participants will then be able to hear the audio of the content you're sharing.

If you share audio content by sharing your Entire screen, your participants won't be able to hear it.

• On Windows

You can do it either by sharing a Chrome tab (Chrome 74+) and checking the "Share audio" box or by sharing your Entire screen.

If you use a Chrome version older than 72, you have to install our Chrome extension to use screen sharing. If the extension is not installed, we will display a notification pop-up asking to download the extension. Once you have installed it, you don't need to reload the page, just click on the screen icon again. 

Firefox

For Firefox, you don't have to download an extension. You'll be able to share an application window or your entire screen natively. 

1

First, click on the Share button on your dock.

2

Then, on Share screen.

3

Click on Select window or screen to display the possibilities and choose whether you'd like to share an entire screen or an application window.

4

Then, Firefox will ask you to give permission to Livestorm to allow screen sharing. To do so, click on Allow:

5

If you don't, you'll get this warning: 

6

In this case, click on the screen-sharing icon to the left of your address bar to manage your screen sharing permissions:

7

You can clear the blocked permission.

8

It doesn't appear anymore on the list.

9

Once removed, click again on the Share button in your dock.

10

Then, click on Share screen.

11

Firefox will ask you to give permission one more time. Click on  Allow.

12

You're now able to start your screen sharing!

Safari

Starting from version 13 and up, you can use screen sharing on Safari. In order to use Safari's screen sharing, please make sure to have given access to your browser. You can verify this in your Safari settings:

1

Click Safari > Settings for this website:

2

Check that the Screen Sharing field is not set on Deny. If it is, set it on Ask or Allow:

3

Once you have updated the settings, refresh your browser. You can now use screen sharing on Safari.

Edge

You can share your entire screen or just share an application window or a tab.

Sharing the audio with screen sharing:

• On macOS

It's only possible if you share a Microsoft Edge tab (Edge 79+) and check the "Share audio" box. Your participants will then be able to hear the audio of the content you're sharing.

If you share audio content by sharing your Entire Screen, your participants won't be able to hear it.

• On Windows

You can do it either by sharing a Microsoft Edge tab (Edge 79+) and checking the "Share audio" box or by sharing your Entire Screen.

Opera

In order to share your screen on Opera, click on the Share button and choose Share screen.

If your Opera version is older than 60, screen sharing will be a two-step process. As we don't have a native Opera extension for those versions, you'll have to use our Chrome extension instead:

First, you'll have to install the Chrome Extension for Opera. You can install the extension here.

Once that's added to your browser, you can download our Chrome extension. If the extension is not installed, we will display a notification pop-up asking to download the extension. Once you have installed it, you don't need to reload the page, just click on the screen share icon again in your dock to start your screen sharing. That's it, you're good to go!

In order to learn how to share a presentation properly, please refer to this tutorial. We cover every tip and trick to share a presentation with your attendees.

Screen Share Your Phone or Tablet

You can share the screen of your mobile or tablet in the event room. But first, you'd need to mirror your device's screen to your computer. Once mirrored, you can use screen sharing to project your device's screen in the event room.

Apple Devices

If you're using an iPhone or an iPad, you can use QuickTime Player to share your device's screen. Here are the steps:

1

Connect your device to your computer

2

Open up Quicktime on your computer. Select File then New Movie Recording

3

Select your device

4

Access your event room and start a screen share

Going from here, you have two options: 

👉 You can share your entire screen, including the device:

👉 Or share the screen of your device under Application window. It will be listed as a movie recording:

Livestorm Tip 👉 You can use a dedicated app to screen share your iPhone/iPad like PhoneCast.

Android Devices

If you'd like to mirror your Android devices, check out the hacks listed in this article. They might prove to be useful in this case 🖖

Use Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts won't be enabled if you're on another browser tab/application or if you're writing in the "Chat tab" of the event room.

When you're participating, you can use keyboard shortcuts in the room to:

• Mute/unmute your microphone by pressing M
• Push to talk by holding M
• Enable/disable your camera by pressing C

You can only "Push to talk" if you're already muted. While you are pressing the M key, your audience can hear you. As soon as you release it, you will go back to being muted.

For privacy reasons and better event management, no one can enable the camera or unmute someone else's microphone. Each person must manage their own stream settings. They will either need to do it themselves, or you can request them to do it.