Get to know public live streams

Last updated: September, 2026

Public live streams are an excellent option for reaching a wider audience, showcasing your activities and content, and attracting paid memberships. Whether your community is private or public, you can set up an event with public access.

There are two ways of going live to non-members in your community:

• Start an instant live stream: Go live with your audience anytime.

• Schedule a live event: Plan your public live stream event in one of your event spaces.

Let's take a look at how a public live stream works:

You can either schedule a live event or start an instant live stream with visibility set to Public. This visibility makes the live stream accessible to anyone with the public live URL.

Once your public live stream is set up, you’ll get a public live URL. This link allows visitors to access and join the stream. You can share the URL through your preferred communication channels, such as email, social media, or messaging platforms.

• Instant live stream: If you're starting an instant live stream, the public live URL is generated as soon as you enter the backstage. You can also access this link from the Stream Information panel (click the “i” icon on the control bar) during your live stream session.

• Scheduled live stream event: For scheduled events, a public live URL will be created once you publish the event. To access the public live URL, click the More actions (three dots) icon next to the event and select Edit event. Then, go to the Overview tab and click the Copy public live URL option.

  • You can also publicly share the event details page using the Share event feature. From this page, visitors can join the live stream directly.

  • ℹ️ Note: If you’ve created any live events before September 6, 2024, the live session will be created 30 minutes before the event’s start time. For these events, the live link and the option to join the live event will only be available once the live session is created.

Visitors can access the live stream in several ways, depending on your preference and whether your community is public or private: 

• Public live URL: This is one of the most convenient options for sharing a direct link with visitors to join the live stream.

• Event link: If you have shared the event details page publicly using the Share events feature, visitors can also join the stream from there.

• Live banner: When you start a public live stream, a live banner also appears in your community's left sidebar. If your community is public, visitors can join the stream directly from this banner.

ℹ️ Note: Visitors are included in the total participant limit. For more information about live stream limits under your community plan, see the following:

• Welcome to Circle live

• Circle pricing

Visitors who join instant live streams receive view-only access. They can watch the stream, view the participants' list, and chat messages. However, they can't participate in the chat or be invited to co-host.

Scheduled live streams let you enable non-member RSVPs. When a visitor RSVPs and joins a public stream, they will have full access to the chat and can be invited to co-host.

📚 To learn more, see Allow non-members to RSVP to events.

📚 For more information about going live to the public in your community, see the following articles:

• Host a public live stream in your community

• Join a public live stream as a visitor

• Participate in a public live stream as a visitor