Community Live Streaming in HighLevel

Updated: November 21, 2025  | 
Author: Bill Stilwell

This post covers how Go Live works, the difference between Meeting Room and Stream Software modes, what host controls are available, how recording and replays work, and how to run your first live session.

Reading time: about 9 minutes.

What Is Community Live Streaming in HighLevel?

Go Live is HighLevel’s built-in live session feature for community groups. It brings real-time video, audio, and chat into any group channel so admins can run workshops, Q&As, coaching calls, or broadcast announcements without directing members to Zoom, YouTube, or any external platform.

The feature is powered by Media-Core, HighLevel’s own media infrastructure, which handles low-latency delivery on both web and mobile. Members join directly from a desktop browser or the HighLevel mobile app – no extra software or account creation needed on their end.

Go Live is currently a Labs feature. An agency must enable it at the sub-account level before any community group admin can access it.

Once enabled, the Go Live button appears in any group the admin manages.

Meeting Room Mode vs. Stream Software Mode

Go Live offers two distinct modes. The choice comes down to whether you want an interactive session where participants can speak and collaborate, or a broadcast where you control the production from an external tool and members watch.

Meeting Room Mode Details

Meeting Room Mode puts everyone in the same interactive video space. The host has full control over who can speak, present, and share their screen – making it the right choice whenever you want real back-and-forth with your members.

Before joining, hosts and participants can preview their camera and microphone and select input devices. Once inside, the session supports live text chat, emoji reactions, and a raise-hand feature so attendees can signal they want to speak without interrupting.

The host can switch the layout between Grid view, which shows all participants equally, and Speaker view, which highlights the active speaker with other participants reduced. Any participant tile can be pinned to the stream using the three-dot menu on their tile.

Host controls are per-participant and granular. For each attendee, the host can mute or unmute, grant or revoke microphone access, grant or revoke camera access, grant or revoke screen sharing, or remove them from the session entirely.

This keeps the session clean without requiring constant manual moderation.

Stream Software Mode Details

Stream Software Mode is for hosts who already produce video through a tool like OBS, StreamYard, or Zoom. Instead of using the built-in camera, the host sends an RTMP feed from their encoder into the HighLevel community channel.

When setting up a Go Live session in this mode, HighLevel generates a Stream Key and Server URL. You paste those into the RTMP or custom streaming settings of your encoder, start the broadcast from there, and HighLevel displays the incoming feed live in the selected channel.

One useful detail: the Stream Key stays the same across future sessions. You do not need to reconfigure your encoder each time you go live.

If you ever need a fresh key – for example, if the key was shared accidentally – you can reset it from within the session setup.

While the host broadcasts from their encoder, community members watch the stream in the channel and interact through the chat and emoji reactions. The production quality, scenes, overlays, and camera setup all come from whatever the encoder is configured to do – HighLevel handles the delivery side.

Recording and Replays

Both modes support optional recording. When you set up a Go Live session, there is a toggle to keep the livestream as a post after it ends.

When this is enabled, the session is saved and a post appears in the selected channel once the stream concludes.

The post initially shows a “recording is processing” notice. Once Media-Core finishes processing – which typically takes a short time depending on session length – the recording becomes a watchable replay directly on the post.

Members who missed the live session can find the replay in the channel just like any other post. There is no separate replay link to share or manage – it lives in the community where the session was broadcast.

What Can You Do With It?

• Run weekly live coaching calls inside your community: Use Meeting Room Mode to host regular calls where paying members can ask questions and get answers without leaving the platform they already use daily.
• Broadcast polished product launches and announcements: Stream Software Mode lets you use your existing OBS setup, scenes, and overlays to deliver a professional broadcast while members watch and react in the community channel.
• Gate live sessions to paid members only: Publish the Go Live session to a private channel or paid group so only the right members can access it. Members outside that group or channel do not see the session at all.
• Turn sessions into evergreen content: Enable the Keep Livestream as Post option and every session automatically becomes a replay post in the channel – building a library of content from your live events with no extra work.
• Notify members the moment you go live: The Notify Members setting sends an in-app and push notification to everyone in the group when a session starts, pulling members in at the right moment without a separate email campaign.
• Bring guest speakers into interactive sessions: In Meeting Room Mode, invite guests and grant them speaking permissions on the spot. Multi-participant support means panels and roundtables work cleanly with host controls keeping things organized.
• Reuse your encoder setup for recurring sessions: Stream Software Mode’s persistent Stream Key means you configure OBS or StreamYard once and reuse the same settings for every future session – no weekly reconfiguration needed.

Key Definitions

Use Cases by Industry

Business Coaching and Consulting

A business coach runs weekly group coaching calls in Meeting Room Mode inside their paid community group. Clients join from any device, ask questions, and get answers live.

The session saves as a replay post so clients who attend at different time zones can catch up on their own schedule.

Result: Live coaching lives inside the community instead of a separate Zoom account, reducing the number of tools clients need to manage.

Online Education and Course Creators

A course creator uses Stream Software Mode to broadcast polished monthly masterclasses from their OBS setup. They stream once and members watch live in the course community channel.

Afterward, the replay is available alongside course content in the same space.

Result: Production quality improves because the creator uses their existing broadcast setup, and members never need to leave the platform to attend.

Marketing Agencies

An agency hosts a private client-only community and uses Go Live for quarterly strategy sessions. The sessions are published to a private channel only paying clients can access.

The Stream Key is configured once in OBS and reused every quarter without additional setup.

Result: High-value live content is gated to the right audience automatically, without managing separate Zoom links, passwords, or waiting rooms.

Fitness and Wellness

A fitness coach runs daily live workout sessions in Meeting Room Mode. Members join from mobile, follow along, and interact in the chat.

Each session saves as a post, building a searchable library of past workouts inside the community over time.

Result: Members have both live and on-demand access to workouts in one place, increasing the perceived value of the membership.

Professional Associations and Networks

An industry association broadcasts its monthly member townhall in Stream Software Mode using StreamYard for a branded, multi-guest presentation. Members watch live, ask questions via chat, and the replay is pinned in the announcement channel for members who missed it.

Result: The townhall feels like a professional broadcast while being contained entirely within the association’s HighLevel community.

Who Is This For?

How to Go Live in a HighLevel Community Group

Step 1: Enable Go Live in Labs

In the agency account, go to Settings, then Labs and enable Go Live for the relevant sub-account. This step must be completed before the feature is visible inside any community group.

Step 2: Open the community group

Go to Memberships, then Communities, then Groups. Find the group you want to stream in and click Login to enter it.

Step 3: Click the Go Live button

Look for the Go Live button – a red video-camera icon near the posting area. Click it to open the live session setup panel on the right side of the screen.

Step 4: Fill out post details

Enter a Title and Description for the session. Under Settings, toggle on Keep Livestream as Post if you want the session saved as a replay post afterward.

Toggle on Notify Members to send an in-app and push notification to group members when you go live.

Step 5: Choose the channel

Under Choose Where to Post, select the channel where the live session will appear. Access is controlled by the channel’s settings – use a private or paid channel to limit who can see the session.

Step 6: Select Meeting Room or Stream Software Mode

Under Select Video Source, choose your mode. Pick Meeting Room for an interactive session.

Pick Streaming Software to broadcast from an external encoder. Click Go Live to proceed.

Step 7: Connect your encoder (Stream Software Mode only)

Copy the Server URL and Stream Key HighLevel generates. Paste them into the RTMP settings inside OBS, StreamYard, or Zoom.

Start the broadcast from your encoder before returning to HighLevel to begin the session.

Step 8: Manage the session as host

In Meeting Room Mode, use the controls to manage participants – mute, grant or revoke permissions, switch layouts between Grid and Speaker view, pin speakers, and moderate the chat. End the session by clicking End Session and confirming.

Step 9: Confirm the replay post

After the session ends, check the selected channel for the post. It shows a recording-processing notice initially.

Once processing is complete, the replay is available directly on the post for any member who wants to watch it later.

How Does It Connect to HighLevel?

• Community Groups: Go Live is built directly into HighLevel Community Groups and published to channels within those groups – access is controlled by the group and channel settings.
• Paid Community Memberships: Publishing a live session to a paid group channel means only Paid Community Members can attend – turning live access into a membership benefit.
• Community Gamification: Live sessions create active engagement moments. Pair with Community Gamification and award bonus points via workflow to members who attend or engage in session chat.
• Community Posts and Comments: After a session ends, the replay post functions like any other post – members can comment, and engagement continues in Community Posts and Comments after the live event is over.
• Workflow Builder: While Go Live does not have a dedicated workflow trigger yet, use the Advanced Workflow Builder to prepare pre-session reminders and post-session follow-ups using tag-based or time-based triggers.

Common Questions

What is Go Live in HighLevel Communities?

HighLevel’s built-in live session tool for community groups. Admins can host interactive video meetings or broadcast from an external encoder directly into a community channel.

Members watch, chat, and react in real time without leaving the platform.

What is the difference between Meeting Room Mode and Stream Software Mode?

Meeting Room is interactive and many-to-many – good for workshops and coaching where participants speak and collaborate. Stream Software is a one-to-many broadcast from an external encoder like OBS or StreamYard – members watch and chat while the host controls the production from outside HighLevel.

Do members need to install anything to join a Go Live session?

No. Members join from a supported desktop browser or the HighLevel mobile app when signed in. No additional software or accounts are required to attend.

Can I record a Go Live session and share a replay?

Yes. Enable the Keep Livestream as Post toggle when setting up the session.

After it ends, HighLevel processes the recording and attaches it as a watchable replay to the post in the channel where the session was broadcast.

Can I restrict who can watch a live session?

Yes. Publish the session to a private channel or a paid group channel. Access is controlled by the channel and group settings – members outside those boundaries do not see the session.

How do I connect OBS or StreamYard to HighLevel Go Live?

Select Stream Software Mode when starting a session. HighLevel generates a Stream Key and Server URL.

Paste those into the RTMP settings of your encoder, start the broadcast from the encoder, and HighLevel picks up the feed and displays it live in the selected community channel.

What host controls are available in Meeting Room Mode?

Hosts can mute or unmute, grant or revoke microphone, camera, and screen share access per participant, remove participants, switch between Grid and Speaker layouts, and pin specific speakers to the stream view.

Is Go Live in HighLevel Communities available on mobile?

Yes. Members can join live sessions from the HighLevel mobile app. Media-Core handles low-latency delivery on both desktop browsers and mobile without requiring any third-party app.

What happens to the live post after a session ends?

If Keep Livestream as Post is enabled, a post appears in the selected channel. It shows a processing notice initially.

Once Media-Core finishes processing the recording, the replay is watchable directly on that post.

Is Go Live enabled by default in HighLevel?

No. It is a Labs feature and must be enabled by the agency at the sub-account level. Once enabled for the sub-account, any community group admin can access the Go Live button inside their groups.

To Wrap It Up

Go Live solves a real friction point for anyone running a community-based business model. Live events are high-value, but sending members to a Zoom link, YouTube stream, or third-party platform every time fragments the experience.

Go Live keeps everything in one place.

The two-mode design makes it genuinely flexible. Meeting Room handles the interactive, conversational sessions that are the backbone of most coaching and community businesses.

Stream Software handles the polished, produced broadcasts where you need professional-grade control over the output.

The replay-as-post feature is worth highlighting specifically. Every live session you run with Keep Livestream as Post enabled is also a content creation event.

Over months of weekly sessions, that builds a searchable, organized library of live content inside your community – not scattered across a YouTube channel or Dropbox folder.

Here is how to get started:

1. Ask your agency to enable Go Live in Labs for your sub-account
2. Log in to your community group and click the Go Live button to explore the setup panel
3. Decide which mode fits your next session – Meeting Room for interactive, Stream Software for broadcast
4. Enable Keep Livestream as Post and Notify Members for every session
5. Configure your encoder once in Stream Software Mode and save the settings for reuse
6. Test with a short internal session before going live with your full community
7. After your first session, check the channel to confirm the replay post processed correctly

The Notify Members toggle is easy to overlook in setup but makes a significant difference in live attendance. A push notification at the moment you go live pulls in members who are already on their phone – without any pre-session email or reminder campaign.