<P> The general selection process of each season is begun by the production team with open auditions held in various cities across the United States . Dubbed "Producers' Auditions", they are held months before the main stage of auditions are held . Those that make it through the initial stage, become participants in the "Judges' Auditions", which are held in select cities across the country, and attended by the judges . Each participant is held offstage and awaits their turn to perform before the judges, whereupon they are given 90 seconds to demonstrate their act, with a live audience present for all performances . At the end of a performance, the judges give constructive criticism and feedback about what they saw, whereupon they each give a vote - a participant who receives a majority vote approving their performance, moves on to the next stage, otherwise they are eliminated from the programme at that stage . Each judge is given a buzzer, and may use it during a performance if they are unimpressed, hate what is being performed, or feel the act is a waste of their time; if a participant is buzzed by all judges, their performance is automatically over and they are eliminated without being given a vote . Many acts that move on may be cut by producers and may forfeit due to the limited slots available for the second performance . Filming for each season always takes place when the Judges' Auditions are taking place, with the show's presenter standing in the wings of each venue's stage to interview and give personal commentary on a participant's performance . </P> <P> Between the fifth and seventh season, acts who did not attend live auditions could instead submit a taped audition online via YouTube . Acts from the online auditions were then selected to compete in front of the judges and a live audience during the "live shows" part of the season, prior to the semi-finals . Before the inclusion of this round, the show had a separate audition episode in Seasons 3 and 4 (2008--2009) for contestants who posted videos on MySpace . </P> <P> In the ninth season, the show added a new format to the auditions in the form of the "Golden Buzzer", which began to make appearances within the Got Talent franchise, since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent . During auditions, each judge is allowed to use the Golden Buzzer to send an act automactically into the live shows, regardless of the opinion of the other judges; when it was initially used, the buzzer simply saved an act from elimination . The only rule to the buzzer was that a judge could use it only once per season; the host was later allowed to use the Golden Buzzer for an act from the eleventh season . </P> <P> Following auditions, successful entries take part in a second stage of the talent competition, in which are separated out into a number of groups . Over the course of several weeks, each group performs per week, at a fixed venue, in which that group's participants each attempt to secure a place in the live show by performing a new variation of their act for the judges . Of these acts, the judges chose around 10 from each group to perform in the live shows; in some seasons, participants eliminated at this stage were given a chance to still appear in the live shows by being selected as a "wildcard" act . The judges have access to their buzzers and if an act is buzzed by all of them, they are immediately eliminated from the competition . Until the second season, acts did not have to perform a second time, instead moving on into the live shows, with the judges given a list of the acts who would appear in each live episode . From the second season to the eighth, this stage was dubbed as the "Las Vegas" due to the fixed venue being situated upon the Las Vegas Strip, while in the ninth series, acts performed in New York, with the stage dubbed "Judgement Week". </P>

What does hitting the golden buzzer on america's got talent mean