Chat Moderation - Audience Engagement

Chat offers a variety of audience engagement features, including the ability to:

Chat with other attendees
React to specific messages
Reply to a specific message within Chat
Edit a message after it’s been sent
@mention someone who is an active Chat user
React using a general sentiment
Direct Message the Moderation team

Chatting with Other Attendees

Adding Chat to your online event increases overall engagement of your audience. By encouraging them to engage with other attendees, comment and react to event content, or clarify questions with your Moderation team, you help them feel more connected during your event.

One of the ways we can help event audiences feel more connected, is by creating opportunities for them to express their general sentiment or react to other attendees’ chat engagement.

Responding to Others in Chat

There are several ways in which a user can respond to a specific message within Chat.

Responding to a Message

The most direct way to respond, is to use the Reply feature. This feature will help Chat users link the response to the original message, as shown below

When wanting to reply to a specific message, chat users can access the reply modal by clicking on the person icon next to the message

A reply modal will then appear

If you need to edit your message after it has been sent, you can do so here

Mention Someone in a Comment

Another way to respond to other Chat users - while getting their attention- is to use the @mention feature.

To use this feature, users can simply type the @ symbol, followed by the person’s name in the Chat who they want to direct the message to. Chat user suggestions, based on the current active Chat users, may appear to select from.

The Viewer who was @messaged will see their name highlighted in blue, to help get their visual attention in Chat

Direct Messaging the Moderation Team

For online events, our Chat feature offers direct messaging capability between attendees and the Moderation team.

There are two main options available for this direct messaging feature:

Direct Messages must be initiated first by a Moderator (the Moderator toggle appears when a Moderator direct messages an attendee)
Attendees can first Direct Message Moderators (the Moderator toggle in Chat is always visible)

Note: Please discuss any preferences you have related to this feature with the Sardius team.

The Moderation room is a private Direct Message room between the Chat user & the Moderation Team.

Helpful Tip: Only Moderators and attendees can direct message one another privately.

Here’s an example of how conversations appear in this private room

Other Important Features

Bad Word Filter

Sardius Media’s Chat filter includes a “banned words” filter. The filter includes a list of inappropriate words, along with variations of those words. If user comments include any of the content being filtered for, a message will appear indicating their message will not be delivered in Chat

Watch Parties (aka Chat Rooms)

For events that have larger audiences, it is helpful to segment your audience into different groups. We can do this through the use of Watch Parties/Chat Rooms, in which your audience can select to join a Watch Party/Chat Room upon entering Chat.

Helpful Tip: This feature is especially helpful with global audiences, when you may want to segment your audience based on Region or language.

When an event doesn’t include Watch Parties/Chat Rooms, users simply land in one main Chat room that is used by all attendees.

Chat Announcement Feature

Depending on the layout you are using, you may also have the option to add a brief announcement to Chat. The announcement appears as a small banner in Chat whenever Chat is opened on the site. The message appears for a short duration and then disappears.

We recommend including a short customizable Welcome Message for your audience. For longer messages, have a Moderator pin messages of continued importance.

This feature is only included in select layouts and needs to be activated for an event. If you wish to include a customized message here, please communicate that with your Online Event Coordinator.

Screen Names

Our Chat feature also includes the option to allow users to change their screen name during an event (instead of displaying the name they registered with).

Helpful Tip: This may be helpful during events that have special considerations or security concerns for their attendees.

This feature needs to be activated for an event. If you want to give this option to your audience, please communicate that with your Online Event Coordinator.

When Chat opens during an event, attendees will be prompted to set their Screen Name for the event (Once they do so, it will be remembered every time they enter Chat- so they only have to update it once).