You can book 1:1 and group meetings on attendees' behalf, including for registrants who haven't joined yet. You build the meetings as drafts, preview them, then create them in one go and choose whether to notify the participants.
Before you start
You need to be an event admin or an organization admin.
The schedule needs networking slots. Meetings are booked into them. See Create networking slots.
Group meetings need a slot in a networking area that accepts them. You can set an area's Allowed meeting types only while Group meetings is on in Networking > Settings. See Turn on group meetings.
For programs that generate meetings from participants' picks, see Set up a managed meetings program.
Tell participants that your team will arrange meetings, how you choose the pairs and where to find the results. Explain whether they can reschedule or cancel.
Confirm participants' availability before booking. Organizer-arranged meetings can use times that attendees blocked in their own schedules.
Where to find it
Networking > Managed Meetings > Meetings in the admin panel, then Arrange meetings. The Managed Meetings window opens with two columns: 1. Book meetings for and 2. Meet with.
Find people
Each column has a search field ("Search by name, email address, company name or title"), a Filter button and Customize cards, which sets the details each card shows. 1. Book meetings for also has a View menu to switch between Attendees and Sponsors.
Filter opens Filter Attendees with Registrant lists, Show invited attendees, Persona, Function, Industry, Interests, Goal, Sponsor, Sponsor Representative (Any attendee or Is company representative) and any filterable custom fields. Show invited attendees is on by default; turn it off to list only people who have joined. Clear all filters resets them.
The columns include registrants who haven't joined. You can book meetings for them. A registrant added without a name shows "Not joined yet" as the name.
Create a 1:1 meeting
In 1. Book meetings for, select the person the meeting is for. Until you do, the right column reads "Select an attendee on the left to book meetings".
In 2. Meet with, select Select on the other person. Brella creates a draft meeting at once, in the earliest slot that is free for both. If Brella refuses to book that slot, the admin panel tries the next free one. Only organizers see drafts. If no slot is free, the admin panel shows "No available timeslots for this meeting." and creates nothing. If Brella refuses every free slot, the admin panel shows the reason.
Under Meeting details, keep the slot or change it with the dropdowns:
The location dropdown appears when the networking slots are in more than one networking area.
The meeting point dropdown appears when one of the two owns a reserved point in that area. Choose "<Name>'s Reserved Point" or Any non-reserved point. A status line reads, for example, "Reserved table is still available." or "Reserved table is booked."
The day and time dropdowns. Each slot shows how many of its meeting points are taken, for example "Table: 3/10". A slot is disabled with the tooltip "Meeting slot not available" when one of the two already has a meeting or draft at that time, or when Brella already refused to book it for the two. A full slot is disabled too, unless its area allows overbooking. If Brella refuses the slot you choose, the admin panel shows the reason and keeps the previous slot. In an area that allows overbooking, a full slot stays selectable; its tooltip ends with "Meeting spots full, but overbooking is allowed."
The card reads Draft created while the draft has a time. Repeat step 2 to draft more meetings for the same person.
If the two already have a meeting, the card reads "Pending meeting already exists" or "Accepted meeting already exists" instead of Select.
To drop a draft, select Remove draft and confirm "Remove draft meeting with <name>" ("Draft meeting will be deleted") with Remove. The draft is deleted without any notification.
Create a group meeting
Draft a 1:1 meeting first.
Select Add more people. The Group Meeting drawer opens with the same search and filters.
Select Add on each guest, then Done.
The card lists them under Additional guests (<n>). Select Remove guest to take someone out.
Guests count toward the Group meeting limit in Networking > Settings, including the requester and receiver. Check that field before choosing guests. The slot must be in an area that allows group meetings.
Preview and create the meetings
Select Continue to preview. The button is disabled until at least one draft exists.
Preview Draft Meetings lists the drafts in 1-on-1 meetings (<n>) and Group meetings (<n>). Rows with a time slot are selected by default; deselect the ones you don't want to create yet. Rows without a time slot can't be selected.
To change a time, select the pencil icon on the row, choose a new slot under Date & Time and select Save. A row that reads "No timeslot selected" can't be created. The bin icon removes a draft after Remove this meeting?.
To send a personal note in a 1:1 meeting, turn on the switch "Add a personalized message to give each participant more context about the meeting." in the 1-on-1 meetings table. Fill Message to requester and Message to receiver. Group meetings always have a Message column, sent to everyone in the meeting. Each message takes up to 300 characters. Edit all opens Apply message to all requesters (or receivers, or group meetings) and Apply to all copies one text to every row.
Select Create <n> meetings.
In Confirm action, choose under Notify participants: Send individual emails and push-notifications or Don't send anything. Select Yes.
The admin panel confirms "<n> meetings created successfully", or "<n> meetings created, <m> failed" when some drafts could not be confirmed.
When the switch is off or a message is empty, participants see the default message "Meeting arranged by the event organizer" instead.
What creating does
Each meeting becomes Accepted for everyone, guests included. Nobody has to confirm.
Its chat shows your message to that participant, or the default message, as a message from the organizer with the event logo.
With Send individual emails and push-notifications, each participant with an email address gets an email, with two exceptions. Group meetings send no email. In a networking area that uses meeting points, participants who have joined get no email unless their Attendance type is Virtual.
With that option, participants who have joined also get a push notification: "An admin scheduled a meeting for you with <name>". Brella notifies about each meeting separately. The reminder before the meeting is scheduled either way.
Before confirming, Brella checks each draft again: the slot's capacity or meeting points and both people's meeting limits. It also checks that neither person took another meeting in the slot, and RSVP overlaps when Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings is on. A failed row stays a draft and is marked with an error icon. The admin panel shows the reason, for example "Requester is no longer available for this timeslot".
Custom list automations count every meeting you arrange, by either method, under Accepted hosted buyer meetings and Rescheduled hosted buyer meetings. See Fill a custom list automatically.
How drafts behave
Drafts are visible only in the admin panel: on Networking > Overview and Networking > Managed Meetings > Meetings with status Draft. Attendees don't see them anywhere in the app, including on the other person's profile.
Drafts don't count in sponsor statistics.
A draft takes a meeting point in its slot when it is created.
Whether a draft blocks the slot for attendees depends on Draft meetings affect attendee availability (off by default). While Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings is on, whether a draft counts as an RSVP conflict depends on RSVP and meeting conflicts blocked for draft meetings (off by default). Both are in Networking > Settings.
To delete a draft later, open it from the meetings table with Edit and select Remove draft.
Change a meeting after creating it
Open Networking > Managed Meetings > Meetings and select Edit on the meeting.
Add message turns on the per-participant messages for a 1:1 meeting. Edit the texts and select Save changes.
Invite others adds guests to an existing meeting. Choose people, select Continue (<n>), add an optional message and select Send invite. Guests added here are accepted at once. Not available on canceled or draft meetings.
Cancel meeting cancels with or without notifications. See Monitor, export and cancel meetings.
Book a meeting from a registrant's profile
You can also book one meeting at a time from a person's own schedule.
Warning: This route creates an accepted meeting and sends participant notifications when you select Create meeting. To preview drafts and choose whether to notify people, use Arrange meetings instead.
Open People > Registrants and select View on the person. The Meetings tab exists only for registrants who have joined.
Open the Meetings tab. It lists the person's meetings by day, with Date and Location filters and a search field. Meetings without a time slot are listed under Custom Meetings.
Show empty slots is on by default. It adds the networking slots the person can still be booked into: they have no meeting or draft at that time, and the slot has room. For people who opted out of networking the switch is hidden and the empty slots stay listed.
Select an empty slot. The Create new meeting drawer opens with the slot's date, time and networking area.
Choose the other person. The list reads "Only showing attendees who are currently available on the selected time slot. Availability is not checked for registrants who have not joined yet." It shows up to 50 people; use "Search by attendee name, company or title" to find others.
For a group meeting, choose more people. The first person you choose is the receiver. The others join as guests.
Select Continue (<n>). For a group meeting, you can enter a message under "Add a chat message that all participants will see". A 1:1 meeting has no message field. To take someone out, select the delete icon next to their name.
Select Create meeting. The admin panel shows "Meeting created successfully".
The meeting is accepted for everyone at once. Brella always emails every participant who has an email address, and sends a push notification to those who have joined. The email subject is "Meeting arranged with <name> by the event organizer", or "Group meeting arranged by the event organizer" for a group meeting. The push reads "An admin arranged a meeting for you with <name>". The chat shows your message, or "Meeting arranged by the event organizer".
Select a meeting in the tab to open Meeting details, the same drawer you open with Edit in Networking > Managed Meetings > Meetings.
What Brella doesn't check when you book
Meetings you create, from a profile or with Arrange meetings, skip several rules that apply when attendees book each other:
The person's networking status. People who opted out of networking can be booked.
Their list permissions: Enable networking, who can send and receive requests, and request limits.
The times attendees blocked in their own schedule.
From a profile, the accepted meeting limit of each person's lists isn't checked either.
Brella still refuses the booking, and the admin panel shows the reason, when:
anyone in the meeting already has a meeting in that slot
the two already have a pending, accepted or draft 1:1 meeting
the slot's area doesn't accept the meeting type
the slot or its meeting points are full
the meeting is larger than Group meeting limit
Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings blocks it
Settings
Setting (Networking > Settings) | What it does | Default |
Label for admin-created meetings | Tag attendees see on organizer-arranged meetings. 22 characters. | Empty, shown as "Arranged by organizer" |
Allow rescheduling and cancelling of managed meetings | Participants can reschedule or cancel organizer-arranged meetings in the app. | On |
Draft meetings affect attendee availability | Drafts block their slot for attendees. | Off |
RSVP and meeting conflicts blocked for draft meetings | Drafts count as RSVP conflicts. | Off |
What attendees see
The meeting appears in My Schedule and under Networking as accepted, with the label from Label for admin-created meetings.
Your personal message, or "Meeting arranged by the event organizer", shows in the chat as a message from the organizer.
An attendee who finishes joining after you arranged meetings for them sees Your pre-booked meetings ("You have <n> meetings") at the end of joining.
If Allow rescheduling and cancelling of managed meetings is off, the meeting menu has no reschedule or cancel option.
Limits
A person can have one meeting per slot. Two people can't have a second 1:1 meeting with each other while one is pending, accepted or a draft. The admin panel shows "Requester A meeting between these registrants has already been scheduled".
Group size: check Group meeting limit in Networking > Settings.
Messages: 300 characters per participant.
A 1:1-only networking area refuses group meetings; a group-only area refuses 1:1 meetings.
Drafts send no notifications. Removing a draft can't be undone.
Troubleshooting
Continue to preview is disabled
No draft exists yet. Select a person on the left, then Select on someone on the right.
"Requester is no longer available for this timeslot" or "Receiver is no longer available for this timeslot"
One of them booked or was booked into another meeting in that slot after the draft was made. Change the draft's Date & Time and create again.
"Meeting slot not available"
One of the two already has a meeting or draft at that time, or the slot is full and its area doesn't allow overbooking. A slot is also unavailable when no free meeting point is left for them, or when Brella refused to book it for the two earlier. The admin panel remembers refused slots until you reload the page. Attendees' own blocked times don't make a slot unavailable here. Choose another slot.
"No available timeslots for this meeting."
No networking slot is free for both people. Free a slot, add networking slots, or choose another person.
"<n> meetings created, <m> failed"
The failed rows stay as drafts. Change their Date & Time or remove them, then create again.