# Host a live session alongside your classroom

Written by Geeta Thakker
Updated 2026-10-04

Host the live meeting in Zoom and keep the explainx classroom open for prompts, questions, and follow-up. The classroom provides the teaching conversation; it does not start or host a video meeting.

## Confirm the meeting and host access before students arrive

1. Open **Manage run** in [your instructor dashboard](https://explainx.ai/instructor/dashboard).
2. Check that day's title, start time, duration, **Zoom Meeting URL**, and **Zoom Password**. Save any corrections to the right session.
3. Coordinate host access with the explainx team and test your agreed Zoom setup. The session form stores meeting details but has no separate host-link field or **Start meeting** control. Instructor assignment alone is not Zoom host access.
4. Open the classroom's day channel and check your teaching prompts and pinned instructions.

Students join from the workshop dashboard; the joining window opens five minutes before the scheduled start and closes at the scheduled end. Direct students to their own dashboard rather than sharing host credentials. Use [Set up Zoom links and host access](/help/articles/meeting-links-and-host-access) and [Manage your run's sessions](/help/articles/manage-run-sessions).

## Keep the live exercise easy to follow in chat

1. Start with the day's output and first task. Pin the instruction students will need to find again.
2. Share reusable text in **#prompts**. Students can copy prompt cards; use a class-day tag when relevant. Follow [Share prompts and text files for class](/help/articles/share-class-prompts).
3. Ask learners to put the task, what they tried, and the point where they got stuck in **#doubts**. Answer in the thread so the discussion stays together.
4. Use **#general** or the day channel for progress checks, then return to the exercise.

As an assigned instructor, use `@everyone` for a necessary classroom-wide notice or `@here` for people currently online in the classroom. These are classroom pings, not a way to email everyone. Reserve them for actionable information; [Post classroom messages and replies](/help/articles/post-classroom-messages) covers the controls.

## Review contributions without losing the teaching thread

1. Ask your moderator to watch **Review** during practice time.
2. Check member messages and replies held for external links, email addresses, or imported `.txt` text; approve useful contributions or remove unsuitable ones.
3. Keep a question's context with its reply and return to unresolved doubts after the demonstration.

Assigned instructors and admins bypass that hold. Ordinary photo attachments do not enter this queue just because they are photos. Text-file imports place checked text in the composer; they are not general file storage. See [Moderate classroom messages and members](/help/articles/moderate-classroom-messages).

## Close the lesson and verify its recording

1. Post a recap and one next practice task using the [classroom message templates](/help/articles/classroom-teaching-message-templates).
2. Coordinate recording processing, then check sound, readability, and sharing permissions.
3. Add the supported **Recording source** to the correct session when ready. It appears to students after the session has ended.
4. Check **#updates** before adding a manual recording announcement: automatic updates may already have posted one. Send students through **Recordings** in the classroom header.

Do not promise immediate publication. Follow [Find and share workshop recordings](/help/articles/workshop-recordings), then [plan the post-class follow-up](/help/articles/keep-students-learning-after-class).