Meetings: instructions for event organizers

Meeting people to conduct business on site is key at sponsored events. In addition to the networking functionality, you can set up meetings using our self-service booking system. You can request more info, add your inbox, confirm or reject a meeting, add check-in options and assign automatic survey forms.

How do I enable the meetings feature?

Select Settings > Tools > Edit and scroll down to the InEvent Registration section, and enable the Meetings functionality.

Enable meetings feature

If you want the attendees to be able to schedule meetings for themselves, you'll need to enable Networking and make sure Profile Lock is disabled.

By enabling Networking, the list of the attendees who are present in your event will be displayed on the main page of the Virtual Lobby and the participants will be able to decide with whom they would like to meet up. Click here for further information on Networking.

Setting up meetings

There are two options when it comes to scheduled 1x1 meetings:

  • ​Participants can decide with whom and when they would like to meet by scheduling meetings through the Virtual Lobby.
  • Event organizers can book all participant's meetings in the backend

Meetings scheduled by the participants

To define the meetings slots that will be displayed on the Virtual Lobby for participants during your event:

  1. Go to Agenda > Meetings.
  2. Click on the Settings button In the upper right corner.
  3. Define the default start and end time for meeting slots, as well as the default duration of each meeting through the pop-up window.
  4. Click on OK once you are done.
defining meeting time slots

This will affect the meeting slots displayed to all attendees who try booking 1x1 meetings, as shown below:

Booking meetings in the Lobby

For further information on meetings scheduled by the participants, access this article.

Booking meetings outside event start and end date bounds

If you would like participants to book meetings before the start and after the end of your event, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Agenda > Meetings
  2. Click on Settings at the top right corner of the page
  3. Select a date and time under Start date before event and End date after event.
  4. Click on Ok once you are done.
Booking meetings outside event start and end dates

To book a meeting before the Start date of your event, ensure that your event hasn't already commenced. Go to Event > details and set your event to a future start date.

In the virtual lobby, participants will be able to book meetings with available slots before and after the event.

book meetings with available slots

To disable meetings outside your event start and end dates, turn on the Block meetings outside event date option.

Block meetings outside event date

For more information about creating event meetings before and after an event, consult this article.

Meetings scheduled by the event organizers

If you, the event organizer, wish to book all participant's meetings in the backend, follow the steps listed below:

Creating a place to hold meetings

To be able to schedule meetings you first need to create a place to hold your meeting by going to Agenda > Places > +New place > Create.

Please see the Places FAQ for further information.

Places

Creating meeting time slots

To create meeting time slots, on the meetings page:

  1. Go to Agenda > Meetings, select an attendee > +Add slot.
If you cannot see the +Add slot button, this means you have not selected an attendee in the left-hand column.
  1. Then, select the place that you have created, a start and end date (along with times) for the entire period your meeting slots will sit within, and the duration (in minutes) of each individual meeting slot.
  2. Click on Create.
Gif showing how to create meeting slot with an attendee

You can also add slots in mass by pressing the + icon in the upper left.

Adding meeting slots in mass

You should create meeting slots in the platform only if you, the event organizer, wish to book all meetings between attendees. If you want the attendees themselves to book their own meetings in the Virtual Lobby, there's no need to create slots on the backend, just perform the steps listed in the previous section.

Once you have created mass slots, you will receive an email informing you the operation was successful and confirming the amount of slots. The email will look like this:

How do I create a meeting for participants?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings > use the filter to search for a participant and then select the host of the meeting, ensuring that prior to this step you have created meeting time slots.

Ensure you are in the Show meetings as host view, by selecting the icon shown below.

Show meetings as host

Creating a meeting between two participants

Meetings are created per participant. Thus, selecting one of the participants as the meeting host is necessary before carrying out the remaining steps. To create a meeting between two participants, follow the steps below:

  1. Select a meeting host from the list of participants on the left-hand menu.
You can search for a person by typing their job role, company, or just any part of their name. You can also use tags to filter your search results.
  1. Click on Edit and press the blue Schedule meeting button on any of the host's vacant slots.
  2. Click the blue button next to the person you want to add to the meeting.
  3. Press End to save your changes.
Gif showing how to select the participants

The guest will receive a New meetings have been added to your list notification in the Virtual Lobby when a meeting is added by admins on the backend. In addition, they will receive a "You have a meeting starting soon" notification when it is time for the meeting to take place.

Creating a meeting between multiple participants

To book a meeting between multiple participants, follow the steps below:

  1. Select a meeting host from the list of participants on the left-hand menu.
You can search for a person by typing in their job role, company, or just any part of their name in the search box. You can also use tags to filter your search results.
  1. Click on Edit and press the blue Schedule meeting button on any of the host's vacant slots.
  2. Select the participants you would like to add to the meeting.
  3. Click on the blue Select button showing the number of selected people.
  4. Press End to save your changes.

Selecting multiple participants

Matchmaking

The matchmaking option allows you to schedule individual and group meetings automatically, considering restrictions and labels.

Ensure that you have created meeting time slots for the host before matchmaking.
Matchmaking a host with a participant

To matchmake a host with one participant, follow these steps.

  1. Navigate to Agenda > Meetings, use the filter to search for a participant and then select the host of the meeting.
  2. Go to the Show meetings as host view and click on Auto match at the top right side of the page. (If you cannot see the Auto match button, this means you are yet to create any meeting slots for the host.)
  3. Select the Candidate tags box and pick the tags you wish to match with. Repeat in the Exclude tags box with any tags you do not want to match (Optional).
  4. Ensure that the number selected in the People Matched box is 1.
  5. Click the Preview button, then press Match.
  6. Refresh your page and click on the Host's name once again to see the meeting slots booked.
The meetings will be set up automatically between the host and each matched participant, each with their own time slot.
Matchmaking

Matchmaking a host with multiple participants

To matchmake a host with multiple participants, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Agenda > Meetings, use the filter to search for a participant and then select the host of the meeting.
  2. Go to the Show meetings as host view and click on Auto match at the top right side of the page. (If you cannot see the Auto match button, this means you are yet to create any meeting slots for the host.)
  3. Select the number of people you want to match the host with per meeting from the People matched box.
  4. Select the Candidate tags box and pick the tags you wish to match with. Repeat in the Exclude tags box with any tags you do not want to match (Optional).
  5. Click the Preview button, then press Match.
  6. Refresh your page and click on the Host's name once again to see the meeting slots created.
Matchmaking multiple participants at once
The platform will automatically match the host with the set number of participants per meeting. It will also match the host with the remaining participants if they are no longer up to the number of people initially set to be matched at once.

When running matchmaking and not finding any matches, the following error message will appear No eligible person for matchmaking. In this case, check if you have created slots only for the host and also the tags associated.
screenshot of the error message for the matchmaking
If you have created slots for all the participants, the system will interpret as restrictions for all the individuals and therefore the Matchmaking will conflict. Make sure the slots are created only for the Host!

Besides the matchmaking feature, we also offer another networking option that will randomly assign 1x1 meetings in the Virtual Lobby: the Speed Networking.

Waitlist

Once automatic matchmaking has been done, participants who match your survey, but who were unable to be allocated to the available slots, will be placed on the Waiting List. You can view this list before the Combination or afterward by clicking the Show waitlist button.

Waitlist

Using spreadsheets to set your meetings

There is also the option of using spreadsheets when setting up meetings for your event. To use it, please click on the Edit button (top right corner of the screen) > Import > Download demo file and fill up the spreadsheet with the participants’ emails, place, starting date, duration, and capacity of the meeting.

Import spreadsheet
To learn more about using spreadsheets when settings up your event and virtual activities please check out this article.

How do I create a meeting restriction on a host?

To create a meeting restriction on the host, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Agenda > Meetings to create a meeting restriction (a constraint that prohibits the host from holding meetings at certain times),
  2. Select a meeting host and in the toolbar select the Show restrictions icon
  3. Click on +Add restriction located on the top right side of the page
  4. Choose the type of restriction: Date and time range, Recurring times or Entire date
  5. Fill in the necessary details and press Create.
How do I add meeting restrictions?

Once a restriction has been fixed on a host, the set date will be blocked in the host's calendar when scheduling a meeting in the Virtual Lobby.

By default, being enrolled in activities will also work as a constraint. For example, if attendees are enrolled in an activity that starts at 3 pm and ends at 4 pm, they will not be available for meetings during this period. If you would like to change that, you should enable Concurrent Schedule under Settings > Tools. By doing so, attendees will be able to enroll in activities and meetings that occur simultaneously and decide which one they would like to attend.
How do I swap meeting times?

To do so follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Agenda > Meetings > use the filter to search for a participant and then select the host of the meeting, ensuring that prior to this step you have created meeting time slots.
  2. Ensure you are in the Show meetings as host view > Edit > Swap meeting icon.
  3. Select the Schedule meeting icon next to the time you wish to reschedule the meeting.
Gif showing how to swap a meeting time

How do I delete one meeting?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings and filter or search for a host or guest > select the attendee > select the Show meetings as host or Show meetings as guest icon.

Click on Edit > select the meeting you wish to delete > press Remove selected.

Deleting a meeting

How do I delete all scheduled host or guest meetings?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings and filter or search for a host or guest > select the attendee > select the Show meetings as host or Show meetings as guest icon.

deleting scheduled hosts or guests meetings

Click on Edit > Remove all meetings. Type Remove meetings in the confirmation box and select Remove.

Remove meetings
How do I delete all meetings from one place?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings > Edit > Remove slots per place category > select the place you wish to remove from the drop down menu > Remove.

how to delete all meetings from one place
How do I clear all meetings slots from a host or guest?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings and filter or search for a host or guest > select the attendee > select the Show meetings as host or Show meetings as guest icon.

Click on Edit > press Clear all meetings.

clear all

Is it possible to extend the event meetings date outside the event date range?

Yes, if you wish to enable meetings even before the event starts and/or after the event has finished, click here to learn how to do so.

How do I display or project meeting times on a television or projector?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings and select the television icon and a new window will appear that you can use to project meeting times on a television or projector.

How do I create an evaluation form?

Navigate to Agenda > Meetings > select the Megaphone icon > +Add question.

how to create an evaluation form

Enter questions by clicking the + Add question button. You can also monitor on the screen how many evaluations have already been answered and how many are left, considering the total number of participants.

How do I notify participants about their meetings?

Virtual Lobby notifications

When the event admin creates a meeting between two or multiple participants, the meeting guest(s) will receive a Virtual Lobby notification informing them that they have a meeting. The meeting slot will also appear in the main page of the Virtual Lobby and in the My agenda tab.

Virtual Lobby notifications

Automatic meeting email

If attendees book the meeting themselves directly from the Virtual Lobby, they will receive emails regarding the meeting. However, for this to happen, the meeting email tool needs to be enabled (usually enabled by default). When the meeting email tool is active, each meeting will use two email credits, since both participants will receive a confirmation email containing the meeting details.

Meeting email

Click here for further information on meetings notifications.
Send a .ics file attached to the meeting confirmation email

The .ics file will be attached to the confirmation email if the event admin has enabled the ics file on meeting confirmation tool (usually enabled by default), allowing the participant to save the meeting on their calendars.

Manually

If you had scheduled the Meetings in the backend or allowed participants to schedule themselves in the Virtual Lobby, either way, you can send emails with their individual Meeting tables. It's very simple and easy:

dynamic link > event > meeting
  • And the participant will receive an email with a Meeting table looking like this:
meeting table at the email

How do I check the Meetings' report?

You can get an excel report on the meetings created, by clicking on Edit > Report at the top left corner of the page.

Sending the Excel sheet to your email may take some time. Refrain from clicking the Report button multiple times, as it may result in receiving multiple copies of the same Excel sheet in your email.
Meetings report

An excel sheet will be sent to your email containing:

  • Information on the meeting such as: IDs(meeting,person,host,guest), PlaceID, reason, type, placeName, placeCategory, Capacity, dateBegin, dateEnd, totalTimeSpent, dateBeginTimezone, dateEndTimeZone.
  • Information on the host and guest: names, roles, companies, images, status, check-ins, emails, telephones and hostPersonheadline.
  • Attendance: You can check the meeting attendance by looking at the check-in columns in the report.

To find out if the host attended the meeting view hostCheckIn, if the field contains a yes, it means the host attended, if the field contains a no, then it means the host did not attend the meeting.

Image showing hostcheckin column in the meetinsg report

To find out if the guest attended the meeting, view guestCheckIn. Once again, if the field contains a yes, it means the guest attended, if it contains a no, it means the guest did not.

Image showing the guestcheckin field in the meetings report

  • Duration: To find out the duration of the meeting, check the column totalTimeSpent:
Image showing the Totaltimespent field on the report

Live Performance

To check the analytics of the Meetings that took place, you can go to Analytics> Virtual Lobby reports. Under the Live Performance, at the column name you can see the Meeting room #

screenshot of the Meetings' report

By clicking on the blue button on the far right, you can find more details such as the participants, the time spent inside the room, etc.

meetings detailed
If you wish to extract an Excel spreadsheet of those reports, just click on Edit > Report.

Instructions for participants

If you are an attendee and you wish to learn how to find out about your meetings, how to answer feedback surveys about your 1x1s, and much more, click here.


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