How to run a live Q&A for members: formats, questions in advance, chat and the replay

To run a live Q&A for members, pick one format and a regular slot, collect questions a few days before, answer the submitted questions first and then the chat, and give everyone the replay. On WithMe you can collect questions in a community post, go live from your browser in a membership post with live chat, and the recording is saved automatically for the tier you choose.

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. More than 8,000 creators use it.

Why run a live Q&A for members?

A Q&A is the cheapest live format to run. You prepare questions, not a full lesson, and members get answers to the thing they are actually stuck on. It also tells you what to teach next: the same question asked three months running is a lesson or a product waiting to be made.

Which Q&A format fits your members?

• Office hours: a regular open slot, weekly or monthly, where members bring anything. Easy to keep up and good for a busy membership.
• Themed Q&A: one topic per session, such as nutrition, pricing or technique. Easier to promote and the replay is easier to find later.
• Questions-in-advance only: you answer a list that members submitted beforehand. Good when you are new to live video or your members are in many time zones.
• Hot seat: one member at a time gets coaching in front of the group. This needs two-way video, so run it as a group Coaching Call or a Webinar on Google Meet or Zoom, not as a broadcast.

How do you collect questions in advance?

• Write a community post a few days before: the date, the time, the theme, and ask members to reply with their question. A community has posts, comments and threads, and members can post and reply.
• If you do not run a community, ask for questions in the comments of a membership post instead.
• Ask for context, not just the question: what they tried, what happened, and what they want instead. You give a better answer in less time.
• Set a deadline, such as the evening before, then group the questions by theme and choose the order. Answer the most common question first.

How do you run the session itself?

1. Open on time with a two-minute welcome, the theme, and how to ask a question in the chat.
2. Answer the submitted questions first, saying the member's first name and the question out loud, so the replay makes sense to people who were not there.
3. Then take questions from the chat. Read each one out before you answer it.
4. Keep answers short. If a question needs 20 minutes, give a short answer and turn it into a lesson or a post later.
5. Close with what is coming next: the next Q&A date, a new lesson, or an offer for people who want one to one help.

How do you moderate the live chat?

• In a WithMe Go Live stream, you can delete any message in the chat, and members can delete their own. Deleted messages show as deleted.
• Post short rules in the session post: questions on the theme, no selling, and personal or medical details kept out of the chat.
• If a member asks something personal or long, answer briefly and invite them to a one to one option, such as a Coaching Call or paid messages.
• If the chat is busy, say that you will collect unanswered questions and reply to them in the community afterwards.

What happens to the replay?

A Go Live stream is recorded automatically. When you stop, the recording plays in the same post, product or lesson.

You set who can watch live and who can watch the recording separately. When the stream ends, the recording access you chose replaces the live access. For example, your top tier joins live and asks questions, and every paying tier gets the recording.

After the session, add a community post listing the questions you answered, so members can find the replay that covers their problem.

How do you set up a live Q&A on WithMe?

1. Post in your community a few days before with the date, time and theme, and ask members to reply with questions.
2. Send a broadcast to the members of that membership the day before with the time. WithMe does not send an alert when you go live.
3. Add a membership post with Go Live as the media type and a thumbnail. Set Live Tier type and Post Recording Tier type.
4. Start straight away, or set a schedule date and choose Setup Live Stream from the post's menu at the start time.
5. Allow your camera and microphone, choose portrait or landscape, and press Start transmission. Live chat becomes active as soon as the broadcast begins.
6. Press Stop transmission at the end. The recording is saved automatically in the same post.

What is not included?

The live chat has no question upvoting, pinned messages, polls, slow mode or banning: you can delete messages, and that is the moderation tool. You cannot share your screen, members cannot join you on camera, and there is no stream key for OBS. Go Live is not available inside a community, so the stream lives in a membership post, a digital product or a course lesson while questions can be collected in the community. There is no automatic going-live alert.

How much does WithMe cost?

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. Free migration of up to 10 GB of your courses and members comes with the yearly plan. One plan covers courses, memberships, community, coaching, webinars and digital products.

Live Q&A questions

Start your 14-day trial at https://www.withme.so/become-a-creator.

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