Turn participants' picks into scheduled meetings. Brella builds a preview within the program's promises and everyone's availability. Nothing is booked until you confirm the preview.
Before you start
You need to be an event admin or an organization admin.
The program is launched, both sides have at least 1 registrant, and the promises are set. See Set up a managed meetings program and Set promises and must-not-meet rules for a program.
The event has networking slots in networking areas that allow 1:1 meetings. Generated meetings are booked into them.
Picks made after you generate are not in the preview. Generate after the Make your picks stage closes, or generate again later.
Where to find it
Open the program from Networking > Managed Meetings > Programs and select Generate meetings at the top right. Before any meetings exist, the Meetings card on Overview has the same button.
Generate a preview
Select Generate meetings.
Under How should meetings be matched?, choose:
Mutual picks only: "Create meetings only where both sides picked each other."
Mutual + one-sided picks: "Also create meetings where only one side made the pick." Then choose Count one-sided picks from: Both sides or one side only.
Mutual + one-sided + AI matchmaking: "Fill remaining quota with AI-suggested matches based on profiles, intents and past behavior."
Optional: open Advanced settings and change the options (see Settings). Reset all to defaults restores the defaults.
Select Generate preview.
The preview window shows "Generating preview…" with the steps "Collecting registrant picks", "Applying promises, limits and blockers" and "Scheduling times and tables".
What Brella considers
Picks. Mutual picks come first, then one-sided picks, then AI matches, depending on the option you chose. Within each group, priority picks come first, then picks in the order the participant ranked them. A company pick counts as a pick of each of the company's representatives on the other side.
Promises. Each person's governing promise sets the most meetings they can get. Meetings already booked in this program count toward that maximum; drafts don't. Brella doesn't pair two people who already have a 1:1 meeting or draft meeting together, and doesn't pair people covered by a must-not-meet rule. Every meeting pairs one person from each side.
Times. Brella books each meeting in the earliest networking slot that works for both people. It uses only the networking areas and slots chosen under Meeting locations and times in the program setup. With Any location and Any time, it uses every networking slot of the event. It doesn't book anyone during:
another meeting they already have, in this program or not
draft meetings (see Include draft meetings in availability checks)
times they blocked, while Consider attendee blocked times is on for their side
sessions where their registration is confirmed, when Networking > Settings > Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings is on and covers managed meetings. Waitlisted and tentative registrations don't block time.
Places. Brella uses networking areas the two people can access, and assigns a meeting point (table) when the area has them. A table reserved for one of the two people, or for their company, is used first. Two virtual attendees get no meeting point.
Review the preview
Meetings generated: the number of meetings in the preview.
Registrants at full quota: registrants who reach the minimum of their promise, for example "85 of 100". Meetings already booked in this program count.
Companies covered: the same, for companies with a company-wide promise.
Quota coverage: per registrant or per company (Per registrant / Per company). People below their minimum are listed first.
Schedule preview: meetings grouped by networking slot, with the table number and a tag: Mutual, One-sided or AI match. Search by person or company.
The footer shows "<n> meetings ready". To change the options, select Back to setup. To build a new preview with the same options, select Regenerate. A new preview replaces the current one.
Confirm the meetings
Select Confirm meetings.
In Create <n> meetings?, choose:
As drafts (selected by default): "Visible only to organizers until you publish them."
As accepted meetings: "Confirmed immediately and visible in participants' schedules."
Select Create drafts or Create meetings. Not yet goes back to the preview.
Brella books each meeting and checks again that both people, the slot and the table are still free. The result shows Meetings created and a banner. Meetings that couldn't be created are marked in the schedule with the reason. Select Done to close.
Publish or remove drafts
On the program's Overview, the Meetings card shows "<n> meetings scheduled" with a Draft or Published tag.
A program with only draft meetings shows Draft. Once it has accepted meetings, it shows Published, with any remaining draft count below.
Accept all turns every draft of the program into an accepted meeting. Confirm with Accept <n> meetings. Drafts that can't be accepted, for example because a person is no longer free, stay drafts.
Remove drafts deletes all draft meetings of the program. Confirm with Remove <n> drafts. Attendees never saw them.
View meetings opens the latest preview with the outcome of each meeting.
Warning: Remove drafts can't be undone.
The full list of organizer-arranged meetings is in Networking > Managed Meetings > Meetings. Use the Program filter to show one program's meetings.
Generate again
You can generate again at any time, for example after a second picks round. Meetings you already created stay, and their pairs are not booked again. Booked meetings count toward each person's maximum and block their time. Drafts block time too but don't count toward the maximum, so publish or remove drafts before you generate again.
Add picks for a participant
You can add picks on a participant's behalf before you generate.
Open the program's Registrants tab.
In the Edit picks column, select Edit on the person's row.
In Picks · <name>, choose Registrants or Companies and search for the person or company to add. New picks are added as regular picks.
On a pick you added, select Make priority or Make regular, or Remove.
To add the reverse pick at the same time, select Mutual pick. When you remove a mutual pick, choose Remove <name>'s pick only or Remove both.
Picks the participant made in the app are labeled Attendee pick and can't be changed here. Picks you add can go over the participant's pick limits, and they count toward the participant's total in the app.
Settings
Setting | What it does | Default |
How should meetings be matched? | Which picks become meetings | Mutual picks only |
Count one-sided picks from | Which side's one-sided picks are used | Both sides |
Allow matches within the same side | No effect on program meetings. Generation always pairs people from different sides. | Off |
Avoid sponsors the registrant already meets | Doesn't pair a registrant with a company they already meet in this program | On |
Allow meeting multiple reps of the same sponsor | A registrant can meet more than one representative of the same company in this run | Off |
Allow meetings between reps of the same sponsor | Two representatives of the same company can be matched | Off |
Consider attendee blocked times | Doesn't book anyone during times they blocked. Choose the sides it applies to. | On, both sides |
Include draft meetings in availability checks (Danger zone) | Existing drafts count as busy time. With the default event settings, drafts count as busy time even when this is off. | On |
Event settings in Networking > Settings > Managed meetings also apply to generated meetings:
Label for admin-created meetings: the label attendees see on these meetings. Default: "Arranged by organizer".
Allow rescheduling and cancelling of managed meetings: when off, attendees can't reschedule or cancel these meetings in the app. Default: on.
Draft meetings affect attendee availability: when on, slots used by drafts show as unavailable to attendees. Default: off.
What attendees see
Drafts are not visible to attendees.
Accepted meetings appear in My Schedule and Networking for both people, with the label Arranged by organizer (or your own label). The chat is open, and the meeting has a table when the area uses tables.
Brella sends no push notification or email when program meetings are created or accepted with Accept all. Tell participants when their schedule is ready, for example with an announcement.
Both people get a reminder 5 minutes before the meeting: a push notification, or an email for people who haven't joined the app.
See Meetings arranged by your organizer for the attendee side.
Limits
One generation, confirmation, Accept all or Remove drafts can run per program at a time.
The preview doesn't hold slots or tables. Bookings made after you generate can make some meetings fail at confirmation.
Coverage figures are calculated when you generate. Changes to promises, sides or meetings show only after you generate again.
A preview is deleted after a while. Meetings you created stay.
Troubleshooting
"program needs exactly two sides" / "each program side needs at least one registrant"
Add registrants to both sides in the program setup, then generate again.
"A managed meeting operation is already running"
Another generation, confirmation or draft action is running for this program. Wait until it finishes.
"The preview couldn't be generated"
Generation failed. Check the program's sides and promises, then select Back to setup and generate again.
Some meetings could not be created
The slot, the table or one of the people was no longer available. Generate again to get new proposals for the people concerned.
A person got fewer meetings than their promise
Brella books what the picks, availability and slots allow, up to each maximum. Check Quota coverage, then add picks for the person, add networking slots, or use Mutual + one-sided + AI matchmaking, and generate again.