Networking via Virtual Lobby: group rooms and meetings

Attendees will be able to see a list of other attendees and their information about who is present at the event. Attendees can select another attendee among those at the event to connect with and open a group room to begin a private or public discussion. They will also be able to schedule 1x1 meetings with other participants.

Activating Networking in the Virtual Lobby

To enable this option, go to Event > Virtual Lobby> Tools. Click on Edit, and tick (to enable) or untick (to disable) Networking.

If you activate Networking, a list of the attendees who are present in your event will be displayed on the main page of the Virtual Lobby and they will be able to send each other video requests.

Using Networking in the Virtual Lobby

To network with other attendees, scroll to the bottom of the Virtual Lobby homepage. A few attendees will be displayed under Networking. For you to see all active attendees of the event, press View all on the right-hand side of the Networking section.

Once you have clicked on View all, you will be able to see how many participants are online and to find a specific attendee by typing their name. When you have found the person you wish to connect with, click on their name.

A pop-up will display the attendee's details, and allow you to connect with them via message or a video call, creating a group room.

When you select Ask to meet (camera icon), you will be taken to a screen that will ask you if you would like to Meet now or Schedule Meeting.

Viewing the person's profile from the Chat and Question tab

If the participant is inside a session and take interest in someone else's comments or question, it is possible to click on the person's name and see their profile. The user can either Send message or Ask to meet.

Meet now

If you select Meet now, you will then need to select if this is a public or private meeting. Public meetings will create an open group room that others can join while a private meeting will ensure no others can join the group.

All invited attendees will now enter a group room with permission to enable their camera and microphones and also to screen share.

Schedule meeting

If you select Schedule meeting, you will be taken to a calendar page to select the best day and time for the meeting.

Click here for further information on scheduled 1x1 meetings in the Virtual Lobby.

Group rooms

All group rooms that have been created will be visible in the group rooms section. An open or closed padlock on the room will indicate if this is a public or private room.

If you wish to rename the Networking or Group Room sections, this can be done via Headings.

How many people can I have in a group room?

By default, when people join a group room, they will join as a presenter, which means they will have the option to enable camera and microphone so they can network easily.

You will be able to have up to 17 people on camera in a group room live at the same time in a live session that can be easy, inclusive, and accessible. It can be accessed from any modern device and requires low Internet connection bandwidth. When the 18th person joins the room, they will be automatically set to viewers because the limit of participants on the call has been reached.

Viewers will be able to watch everything that is going on in the room and interact through chat messages, but they will not have the option to enable their camera and microphone unless someone leaves the room.

Creating group rooms in the Virtual Lobby

If you would like to create a networking space for other attendees to join, you can create a group room. To create a group room, click on the + icon in the top right.

Next, you should Type the topic that will be discussed in the group room and select if it should be a Private group or a Public room and press Create.

Collapsed Networking area tool activated

Even if you have the Virtual Lobby tool 'collapse networking area' enabled, it is still possible to create a group room directly from the lobby.

Click on top of Group room, type the topic name and select its privacy. Press +Create:

Creating group rooms on the platform

Group rooms can also be created in the backend by the administrators. To do so, click Event > Virtual Lobby > Group rooms > + Add group room.

A window will pop up asking you to type the discussion topic and also to select the date and time (start/end) as well as the level of privacy for the room.

On this page, you will also be able to see all group rooms that have been created and information such as the room link, start and end date/time, the date when the room was created and its privacy.

Switching from public to private

After creating a public group room, you can still make it private even if you are already inside the room by pressing the Room Privacy button, as shown in the image below:

A pop-up message will appear asking to confirm the action:

Once again, when confirming the action, only the person who created the group room will see the change at the Left Group Rooms menu:

For the other participants, the group room that became private will not be displayed on the list of Group Rooms same as shown above, it will simply 'disappear' from the list.

Using Networking directly from a sponsored room

You can also set up 1:1 calls with other attendees straight from the sponsor's room during a live session.

Simply click on the attendee name you wish to connect with, and you can invite them to speak with you, without having to navigate out of the session to the Networking area.

The person you have requested to network with will receive a pop-up notification advising that they have received this request.

Accepting this request will open a group room for you to network. After accepting, the person will receive a pop up to confirm they wish to leave the room and begin a networking session

Once confirming, a group room will activate with the requested attendees to begin your networking session and it should show up under Group rooms in the Virtual Lobby's main page.

Speed Networking

Using the speed networking, participants will be able to engage in 1x1 meetings randomly assigned in the Virtual Lobby. Click here to learn how it works and how to set it up.

Dedicated pages

If you wish to have dedicated pages for Networking, Group Rooms, Meetings, and Speed Networking in the Virtual Lobby, go to Settings > Tabs and click on Virtual Lobby. Then, make sure the tabs Virtual Lobby - Networking, Virtual Lobby - Group Rooms, Virtual Lobby - Meetings, and Virtual Lobby - Speed Networking are set to Visible.

To edit an existing tab, you will need to click the Edit button in the top right corner. Next, click on the existing tab you wish to edit and a window will open to the right. Here, you have the option to edit the name of the tab in each language and its icon.

In the Virtual Lobby, you can access the dedicated pages by selecting the corresponding tab in the menu on the left-hand side, as shown below:

Inbox

The participants can also have written one-on-one conversations with other participants by sending them a direct message. To do so, they should click on the Inbox button on the upper right and click on Find people to chat to see other registered participants and send them a message.

How will the attendees' visibility affect their networking options in the Virtual Lobby?

The participants can opt to be available and visible in your event's networking list or not.

The Visible to others option will be available in the registration form.

This option will also be shown under My Account.

If the participant chooses to be invisible to others, their name will not be shown under the People, Networking or Inbox tabs in the Virtual Lobby. Other participants will not be able to contact this person either in public or private and their names will not be displayed in the attendee's list in the room.