Workshop Best Practices
Instruqt Workshop Best Practices
This guide helps Instruqt admins and facilitators run smooth, scalable, and secure technical workshops, whether in person or virtual.
1. Pre-event planning
Increase IP limits for on-site events
If your attendees share the same network (e.g., a classroom or conference Wi-Fi), raise the per-IP limits - or use an invite with a claim limit so IP limits don’t apply.
A low plays per IP limit is the most common source of errors during live events. Before your event, check the limit and increase it based on the number of expected concurrent sessions from a single network (e.g. attendees joining from the same classroom or office Wi-Fi).
Configure this under Settings → Track limits.
Pre-provision with Hot Start
Use Hot Start to preheat sandboxes so learners can launch instantly. The right Hot Start configuration depends on the type of event you are running. A live workshop with 50 attendees needs a different setup than an always-available embedded lab on your website.
The goal is to give every participant an almost instant-start experience without overprovisioning sandboxes you'll pay for but no one uses.
Tip: start provisioning ~60 minutes before the event; terminate the pool approx. 30 minutes after start to save costs. Setting a pool end time only removes unclaimed sandboxes. Participants who have already started a sandbox are not affected - their session depends on Idle TimeOut setting, or continues until the track's time-to-live (TTL) expires.
2. Invitations & access control
Create a dedicated invite for the workshop
Bundle all tracks into a single invite so learners have one link. Create a dedicated Hot Starts pool for the invite – this way, only people accessing the event through the invite can claim preprovisioned sandboxes from the pool. For workshops, choose the Live Event invite type and set a start/end time.
Security best practices
Gate access with a form and limit entry to expected attendees. Turn on email confirmation and (optionally) restrict to business emails.
3. Day-of facilitation
Use the Live Event dashboard
Monitor progress, jump into learner sandboxes for help, and manage attendees directly from the dashboard. 👉 How to run a Live Event ↗
Performance tips
Set Hot Start pool size following the Best Practises for your specific event type.
If bandwidth is constrained, consider staggering start times by a minute or two.
Have a fallback pool ready (duplicate your pool with a small size).
4. Post-event wrap-up
Analyze results
Export the invite activity report to review attendance, attempts, and completion time. You can also export this information for further analysis in external tooling.
Shut down extras
Terminate remaining Hot Start pools to control costs.
Note: Setting a pool end time only removes unclaimed sandboxes. Participants who have already started a sandbox are not affected - their session depends on Idle TimeOut setting, or continues until the track's time-to-live (TTL) expires.
Remove or tighten invites after the event.
Reset concurrent IP limits
✅ Quick checklist
Create a Live Event invite with a single link for all content.
Create a dedicated Hot starts pool. Size according to the event type.
Enable form gating; require email confirmation; optionally allow business emails only.
Set invite access to the expected attendee list or domain(s).
Increase IP/hour and concurrent per-IP limits, or set a claim and play limit for the invite.
Start provisioning ~30 minutes before kick-off.
Monitor via Live Event dashboard; be ready to inspect sandboxes.
Export activity report and deprovision remaining Hot Start capacity.
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