Waiting rooms enable you and your team to meet with a single link, over and over again. Waiting rooms allow you to transfer visitors to specific meeting rooms to continue the conversation where you left previously.
This help article explains all the waiting room options:
2. Dashboard & meeting rooms overview page
2.2 Enable browser notifications
3. Waiting room in the Team settings
3.1 Enable the team waiting room
3.2 Guests can book a meeting from the waiting room
1. Waiting rooms
Waiting rooms make it possible for guests to knock in a general room without having to book a meeting in advance. The knocking guest will be visible in the dashboard/meeting rooms overview and can be forwarded to a new or existing meeting room or can be denied access. There are personal and team waiting rooms!
1.1 Personal waiting rooms
Every team member has a personal waiting room. The link can be copied from their meeting rooms overview page and can be shared with customers and leads. When a customer knocks on the personal waiting room, it will only show for this particular team member.
The URL of a personal waiting room is as follows:
vectera.com/meet/team-name/username
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If the link consists of meet it means that this is a waiting room. However if it consists of room then it's a meeting room.
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The team-name can be found and changed in Customization.
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The username can be found and changed in the profile settings.
It's not allowed to change your username to "team"!
Teams with a custom domain will have the following personal waiting rooms:
1.2 Team waiting rooms
Team waiting rooms are optional, it's possible to activate the 'Team waiting room' in the *Team settings. The team waiting room link is different from personal links and allows guests to knock in a general team room. The knocking guest will be shown to every team member in the dashboard/meeting rooms overview page.
The URL of the team waiting room is as follows:
vectera.com/meet/team-name/team
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Similar to the personal waiting room, if the link consists of meet it means that this is a waiting room.
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The team-name can be found and changed in Customization.
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The last part of the link "team" indicates that this is a team waiting room. You can't change this!
Teams with a custom domain will have the following team waiting rooms:
*see 3.1 Enable the team waiting room for more information on activating the team setting
2. Dashboard & meeting rooms overview page
At first sight, the dashboard consists of the Booking links dropdown, Start a meeting button and the upcoming meetings. However, when a guest knocks on a waiting room or meeting room, this wil also appear on the dashboard page.
The meeting rooms overview page consists of the Personal and team waiting room links, the knockers view and all your (team) meeting rooms.
2.1 The knocking guests
Knocking guests will now be shown in the list of waiting rooms both on the dashboard and meeting room overview page. Each knocker card looks similar and consists of:
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The name of the guest
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The location where the user is knocking: Meeting room, Personal waiting room or Team waiting room
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The 'Join' and 'Can't join' buttons
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The 'menu' button in which you can change the meeting room
You have 3 options:
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Click on the card or on the Join button and open the proposed meeting room in another tab (for example: vectera.com/room/team-name/meeting-room-1)
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Click on 'Can't join' so the guest will get a message that the meeting is denied
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Click on 'the 3 dots' and then on 'Change meeting room' and create or select a different meeting room
Note: based on the knocker, Vectera will suggest a meeting room. If it's a follow-up meeting the previous meeting room will be suggested, for a new guest a meeting room based on the name of the guest will be created.
2.2 Enable browser notifications
The moment a guest starts knocking, you might be looking at a different program or browser tab. In that case, a desktop notification might be very convenient. In order to notice knockers, it's important that your browser notifications are enabled!
If that's not the case, you will see the following notification on your dashboard:
Enable 'Sound', 'Pop-ups and redirects' and 'Notifications in the site-settings of your browser or read this help article which will guide you!
Once the yellow message is gone, notifications will work when guests knock. Now you can choose to (de)activate sound notifications by (de)activating the bell icon next to
- 'Personal/Team waiting room link' on the meeting rooms overview page or
- 'Booking links' on the dashboard page
If the bell icon is green you will get notified when guests knock. If the bell icon is red you won't be notified but knockers will still appear in the list.
2.3 Create a new meeting room
The improved dashboard still gives the opportunity to join or create a meeting room, even though the meeting room overview can be found on a different page. So you can choose to create/open a meeting room on the dashboard or the Meeting rooms overview page.
In the top right-hand corner of the dashboard, you'll see the blue button 'Start a meeting'. Click on the button and a modal will open.
You can *choose an existing meeting room from the list or by typing the name of an existing room. Or click on 'Add a new room' to create a new meeting room. This will give you 2 options:
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Create a new meeting room
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Fill in the Room title
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Make sure the template says: Start from scratch
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Click on Create
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Create a new meeting room from template
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Fill in the Room title
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Click on start from scratch to open the templates list and select the preferred template
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Click on Create
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*Note: If the team settings give host rights to the meeting rooms of other team members, it's possible to choose a meeting room from another team member. Change the scope from Personal to Team and then click on the Start a meeting button.
2.4 Meetings
In the dashboard, you'll see an overview of the upcoming meetings, of which the first five will be shown. If you haven't set up Scheduling yet, you will first have to connect your calendar and create a meeting type.
You're able to change the meeting room for this specific meeting the same way as for knockers (via the three dots).
3. Waiting room in the Team settings
In the Team settings you'll find 2 settings regarding the waiting room feature: 'Enable the team waiting room' and 'Guests can book a meeting from the waiting room'.
3.1 Enable the team waiting room
By default, every Vectera user has a personal waiting room, but the team waiting room must be enabled manually. If this hasn't happened yet, you'll see the message 'Set up your team waiting room' on the meeting rooms overview page.
Click on the message which has a hyperlink to Team settings. There, scroll down until you see Waiting room.
Click on the checkbox next to 'Enable the waiting room' and hit Save to activate the team waiting room.
If you go back to your meeting rooms overview page, you'll see that the team waiting room link can be copied so you can share it with customers and leads.
3.2 Guests can book a meeting from the waiting room
The other waiting room team setting is 'Guests can book a meeting from the waiting room'. This feature requires you to enable scheduling and create at least one meeting type.
Click on the checkbox next to 'Guests can book a meeting from the waiting room' to activate this setting.
This feature allows guests to book a meeting when they get denied at the moment of knocking.
When the guest clicks on the hyperlink 'book a moment that suits you' they will be forwarded to your booking page.
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If they're knocking on the personal waiting room, they will be forwarded to your personal booking page.
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If they're knocking on the team waiting room, they will be forwarded to the team booking page.
Vectera is looking forward to your feedback so we can offer you the best scheduling and customer meeting experience. Set up your next customer meeting right away by logging into your account or sign-up for a free, fully-featured trial of Vectera!