Understanding Event Timing

You can host all kinds of events on Altar Live - services, prayer meetings, Bible studies, social occasions, youth groups, etc. Every event will have a different flow, but here is a list and visual of the basic functions in Altar Live to help you create a hospitable and well-run event.

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Types of Events

One-time events: If you want to set up a one-time event, create an event that Does Not Repeat. Each event you create will have a unique URL.

Recurring events: If you want to use the same URL for a certain type of event (i.e. weekly Sunday service, morning Bible study, etc), you will want to create a recurring event series.

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Event timing

Joining an event: As soon as you publish the event, anyone with the link will be able to click on it and join it. They will see the pre-event slides and countdown slides.

Event start time: This start time will be displayed on the event details when you share the event with others. This is the actual start time of your live stream feed. Your feed will automatically start when the countdown timer hits 00:00.

Event end time: This end time will be displayed on the event details when you share the event with others. This is the approximate end time of when you will close the event and lobby for all guests. The event will not automatically end. The event will stay active until a Host clicks End Event for All.

Pre-event countdown & slides: The countdown timer will automatically be shown to anyone who joins the event. If you added slides, they will also be displayed on rotation until the specified event starts time and the live stream feed begins.

Go Live: A Greeter or Host can manually start the event early before the countdown timer ends by clicking Go Live.

Greeting new arrivals: Every new online participant who joins, whether anonymous or logged in, sees the pre-scripted greeting message on their welcome screen. For a Greeter or Host, a new chat is automatically formed with every new online attendee in their conversations panel. They can then begin to send personalized messages to participants as they want.

Moving everyone to the lobby: A Greeter or Host can move all online participants to the lobby at any time during an event.

Moving everyone back to the live event: A Greeter or Host can move all online participants back to the event from the lobby at any time.

Joining an event after it has started: If someone clicks on your event link after the live stream have already started, they will join the live stream where everyone else is watching. Whether you have connected an uploaded video, live or simulated live video, everyone will watch the video at the same pace. If someone joins while the event is in Lobby mode, they will automatically join the Lobby with everyone else.

Joining an event after it has ended: Anyone who clicks on the link after it ends will see an "event ended" screen and the link to your live stream feed from the source you connected.

Signing up or logging in during the event: An online participant is only prompted to sign up or log in when they choose to interact with other participants online. Online participants must sign up or log in to be able to direct chat with other online participants, and join a watch party, or a table. Because Altar Live has interactive peer-to-peer features, it requires at least one form of authentication in the form of signing up with email, Facebook, or Google.

Leaving an event: An online participant can leave the event at any time. If they signed up or were logged in, they will be returned to the community landing page. If they are an anonymous participant, they will be returned to the Altar Live login screen.

Ending event for all: A Host can end the event for all online participants at any time. Everyone will get a notification with a one-minute countdown timer when the Host ends the event. When the countdown timer ends, everyone sees an "event ended" screen and the link to your live stream feed from the source you connected.