Matchmaking suggests people to meet based on the interests attendees select and the goal they set for each interest. You define the categories, interests and intents in Matchmaking. Attendees then get a Your matches list in People.
Before you start
You need to be an organization admin or an event admin.
Matchmaking is off for every new event. To turn it on, see Enable matchmaking.
Where to find it
Matchmaking in the event sidebar of the admin panel. While matchmaking is on, it has the tabs Overview, Statistics and Settings, plus Identity when identity is on.
Categories, interests and intents
Category: a heading that groups interests, for example "Marketing". Attendees can't select a category itself.
Interest: a topic inside a category, for example "Content marketing". Attendees select interests.
Intent: the purpose an interest can be used for. You tick one or more intents for each interest in the Intents column.
You name categories and interests yourself, in any language. The 5 intents are fixed: you can't add, rename or delete them. For each interest, attendees choose a goal. When an interest has several goals, the app lists them under the intent names:
Intent | Goals attendees choose |
Networking | "Network about this" |
Trading | "Explore getting or buying", "Offer or sell this" |
Investment | "Get investment in this", "Invest in this" |
Recruitment | "Get a job in this", "Offer a job in this" |
Mentoring | "Find a mentor", "Be a mentor" |
Identity is an optional extra: attendees answer persona, industry and function questions. See Set up identity: personas, industries and functions.
How Brella scores a match
Brella scores every other attendee for each attendee. Most of the score comes from interests both people selected:
Complementary goals count most: one person explores buying and the other offers, a job seeker and a recruiter, an investor and a startup seeking investment, a mentor and a mentee.
Both network about the same interest counts less.
The same goal on the same interest, for example two buyers, counts least.
Smaller factors adjust the score:
Being in the same industry as the viewer raises it. Attendees give their industry in identity.
Recent activity raises it: sending or accepting a meeting request, or being added to the event, in the last 5 days. The date moves back 2 days while a request to them has waited more than 2 days for an answer. It moves back 5 days if they have no free meeting slots.
Accepted meetings raise it, most of all meetings at this event. Accepted meetings at your organization's other events count less.
Meeting requests the attendee has left unanswered for more than 5 hours lower it. So does having less than 10% of the meeting slots free.
An attendee who selects a large share of the event's interests scores lower with everyone. The reduction starts at more than 20% of the interests. At more than 80%, or with no interests selected, the attendee ranks near the bottom of every list.
What attendees see
When they join, attendees get a Select your interests step and must select at least 1 interest. The step appears with Networking-Oriented onboarding, for attendees whose list allows networking. With Fast onboarding, they set up interests later in the app.
An interest with only Networking is selected with one tap. Any other intent opens a sheet where attendees choose their goals.
People has a Your matches tab with a selection of the attendee's best matches. The number depends on the event.
The Attendees tab (or the name you gave People) is sorted by Best match by default, using the same score. Attendees can change the sort.
A profile shows Why You Should Connect with the interests where both people's goals fit, and "You both network in these areas" for shared networking interests.
People has Interest and Goal filters.
Attendees change their selections in their profile settings under Edit my interests.
Your matches appears only for attendees whose list allows outgoing meeting requests and who didn't skip networking.
Choose intents for your event's goals
Tick only the intents that fit each interest. Every intent other than Networking adds goals attendees must choose from.
Event goal | Intents to tick |
Peer networking, communities, conferences | Networking |
Buyers meeting vendors or sponsors | Trading, often with Networking |
Recruiting, job fairs, hackathon team building | Recruitment |
Startups meeting investors | Investment |
Mentoring programs | Mentoring |
Sponsors can be tagged with the same interests, so attendees see which sponsors share their interests. See Add matchmaking tags and locations to sponsors.
To make every attendee select interests, set Details > Onboarding settings > Choose onboarding mode to Networking-Oriented onboarding and turn off Attendees can opt out of networking. Attendees whose list has networking turned off still don't get the step.