Whether you're running a fully virtual event or mixing in-person with online attendance, HOST handles both without needing any complicated setup. The key is knowing where to go in your admin panel and what to fill in at each stage. This guide walks you through the whole thing from start to finish.
Head to app.hostlife.io/login and sign in. From the left-hand navigation, click Setup, then select Basic Info.
Scroll down to the Venue field. Enter the name of your physical venue if you have one, then click Save before moving on. For fully virtual events, you can leave this as your online platform name or simply note that it's a virtual event.
In the left-hand menu, click the Content tab and select Schedules from the dropdown. This brings up your full agenda view with all your event dates and sessions laid out.
Select the date you want to work with. From there, either click New Session to start fresh, or click the edit icon on an existing session to open it. Fill in the session title, date, start and end times, description, and location as needed.
Once you've filled in the basic session details, scroll past the speaker, exhibitor, and sponsor sections. You'll find a tab called Files and Streaming — click into it.
Inside Files and Streaming, find the Session Live Video field. This is where you paste in your Zoom Meeting ID, your YouTube Live URL, or any other direct streaming link you're using. If you're using Zoom, make sure the meeting is already created in your Zoom account before pasting the ID here. Once saved, attendees will see a Watch Live Session button directly inside the HOST app.
Still inside Files and Streaming, scroll to the Other Video Links section. This is a good place to drop in recordings, pre-session prep videos, or replays. Both in-person and virtual attendees can access these, which is particularly useful for hybrid events where you want everyone to have the same content regardless of how they joined.
If you have handouts, slide decks, or PDFs to share with attendees, use the Upload File option in the same section. Attendees can download these straight from the app before or during the session.
Click Save at the bottom of the form. That session is now set up with a virtual link attached. Repeat this for any other sessions in your schedule that have a virtual component.
Once everything is saved, here's what the experience looks like for attendees joining virtually through the HOST app. They open the app and log in, go to the side menu and select Schedules, find and tap the session they want to join, scroll to the live video section where they'll see the Watch Live Session button, and tap it to be taken to the Zoom meeting or YouTube Live stream. From there they just tap Join Meeting and they're in. If you're using Zoom, it's worth reminding attendees to have the Zoom app installed on their device so the handoff from browser to app is seamless.
Yes, that's exactly what hybrid mode is for. You can have physical attendees on-site while virtual attendees join through the streaming links you've added to each session. Both groups live inside the same event on HOST, so you're managing everything from one place.
HOST works with Zoom via Meeting ID and YouTube Live via URL through the Session Live Video field. For any other platform such as Microsoft Teams, Hopin, or a custom stream, you can paste the direct URL into the same field and it will work just as well.
Go to Content then Schedules, open the session you want to update, and navigate to the Files and Streaming section within that session. The field is labelled Session Live Video and accepts a Zoom Meeting ID or any live URL.
Yes. The streaming link is set at the individual session level, not the event level. So if you have five sessions across two tracks, each one can point to a completely different Zoom meeting, YouTube channel, or URL. This is particularly useful for multi-track conferences where different rooms are running in parallel.
Absolutely. If you're not going live, you can still add a video URL by pasting it into the Session Live Video field or using the Other Video Links section for supplementary recordings. Attendees will see the Watch button and can access the video at the scheduled time or on demand.
No problem at all. Just go back to Content then Schedules, open the session, navigate to Files and Streaming, and update the Session Live Video field. Save again and the new link is live immediately. Since attendees aren't automatically notified of changes, it's worth sending a quick push notification or email through the Outreach section to let them know.
Yes, at any point. Head to Setup, then Basic Info, then Venue and update the event type. You don't need to recreate anything — just change the setting, update the relevant session details, and save. Everything else stays exactly as it was.
There is no limit. You can add streaming links to as many sessions as your event needs, across as many tracks and dates as you have.
Not automatically. HOST doesn't send a notification when session content is updated. If you add or change a streaming link, it's good practice to send a manual notification through Outreach via Push Notification or Email Notification so attendees know where to tune in.
For anything else, you can reach the HOST support team at hello@hostlife.io.
