Large meetings — who shows on camera

On a big call — an HOA meeting, a town hall, a large board meeting — Stage shows live video for the people who matter at that moment and a name/avatar tile for everyone else. This keeps the call smooth: decoding every camera at once is what bogs a laptop down, so Stage is deliberate about only streaming the video you're actually watching (the same approach Meet and Zoom use at scale).

Who gets live video:
• The active speaker, and people who spoke recently — so video follows the conversation.
• Anyone sharing their screen.
• Anyone you've pinned/featured (tap a tile to feature it).
• A few more to fill the screen.

Everyone else shows their avatar (or a colored name tile). They're still fully in the meeting — you always hear everyone; only their video is paused on your screen until they speak or you pin them. When someone starts talking, their video pops in automatically.

Why it works this way:
• Audio is never limited — you hear the whole room, always.
• Video is the expensive part, so on large calls it's focused on the active few. This is why a 40-person call stays responsive instead of turning into a slideshow.
• Small meetings are unaffected — when there are only a handful of people, everyone's video shows the whole time.

Tip: pin the person presenting (tap their tile) to keep them on your screen even when others are talking.