I think that folks are confusing the “Practice Mode” with “Start Webinar before clicking the Start Broadcast button.” Those are two different places with different effects.
If you start in Practice Mode (I rarely do), Attendees cannot connect to the webinar. They will get a message that the “meeting will begin when the organizer arrives.”
In Practice Mode you can talk with other Panelist and Organizers. You can share your screen and/or webcam. The Attendees cannot see or hear anything, because they have not yet connected to the webinar.
In this case, these Panelist and Organizers are those that you have set up ahead of time. You cannot promote someone from Attendee to Panelist while in Practice Mode, because you do not see the names of the people who are waiting to get into the webinar. They are not yet Attendees.
When you have completed the Practice session with your Panelists and Organizers, you can now click the Start Webinar button.
If you Start the Webinar from the Dashboard, from a Practice session, or any other way, the Attendees can now connect to the webinar. The Attendees will see the Waiting Room for the webinar. The Attendees cannot hear anything. The Attendees are visible in the Attendee list.
At this time, the Panelists and Organizers can talk among themselves. During this time you cannot unmute an Attendee.
Since the Attendees have joined the webinar, even though the broadcast has not started, you can look for John Smith in the Attendee list and promote John to be a Panelist or Organizer. After you do that, John can now speak with the other Panelists and Organizers. The Attendees will not hear John speak.
If you or any other Panelist or Organizer shares their screen or webcam, the Attendees will see it. When you are clicking to share your screen be careful to not click the Start Broadcast button.
During this time, I like to post my first PowerPoint slide on the screen so everyone can see it. Because I use the closed caption feature in PowerPoint, I have to start the PowerPoint show, in GoTo I share my second display which has the PowerPoint show, and then before anyone starts to speak, I must pause the screen in GoToWebinar control panel. If I don’t do this, then the Attendees will be able to see the text of our voices even though they cannot hear us.
I use this time to find my presenters in the Attendee list, promote them to be Panelists, check their microphones, etc.
All this time, the Attendees see my First PowerPoint slide, but cannot hear any of us talking.
At five minutes before the time the webinar is supposed to start, I warn my Panelists and Organizers that we are going live and that everyone will hear us. I press the Start Broadcast button. I also un-pause my screen in the GoToWebinar control panel, which allows the Attendees to see the closed captions. Then I announce to the audience that we will be starting in five minutes. Often we have five minutes of preshow discussion among the Panelists and Organizers.
Practice Mode = Attendees cannot hear or see anything
Start Webinar = Attendees can see everything, but not hear anything
Start Broadcast = Attendees can see and hear everything
