Learn how to create your Virtual Event's Networking Center
The Networking Center is where your virtual attendees can connect with one another through the business card directory, lounge, roundtables and matchmaking. You are also able to add other pages to uplevel the virtual experience, like social media walls and even adding your own custom widgets.
Contents
- People
- My Network
- Speed Networking
- Prize Packs
- Leaderboard
- Lounge
- Round Tables
- Experiences
- Social Wall
Managing access to the networking center
In the event dashboard click on Networking Center in the left-hand navigation. This is where you will create and manage settings for your Networking Center.
The Networking Center Modules
The Networking Center consists of multiple different pages, known as modules. Unlike your standard event modules, networking center modules are already created as part of the initial event creation. In these settings you will simply enable or disable them individually, then you can determine their order and individual customizations.
Networking center pages are only visible to registered users of the event. If a guest goes to a networking center page, they'll be redirected back to the landing page of the main series.
People
The People module lists event attendees and their Virtual Business Cards. Attendees can use the search filter to identify attendees, "favorite" them to connect with at a later date, message them directly within the event, or get links to their social media. Here's a custom page example below of what users can find here:
When using the BigMarker-provided pages, click on customize within the networking center modules to manage this directory. Here you can update the sorting order of the list, whether users can favorite or opt-out of the networking center, and other settings for how your attendees will see and interact with it.
My Network
The My Network module shows each attendee who is included in their network. This includes people who they have favorited as well as who they have paired up with using matchmaking.
Speed Networking
In the Speed Networking module, attendees can conduct short speed networking sessions with other attendees. Once matched, participants can conduct video or text chats with one another — and schedule additional time if desired.
In the settings you are able to fully customize the text shown here, as well as determine a timer for how long users are able to match.
Watch the video below to see this in live action:
While speed networking, participants do have the opportunity to extend their time with one another when there is a minute left. However, if one person does not extend their time, they will get reshuffled to another participant. Watch to see this below in speed networking within our Round Tables:
Lastly, if you are hosting a larger event, you can opt to have participants only match once with their connections present in the room, allowing them to talk and connect with more people who they have not connected with yet. To do this, enable Allow participants to speed network only once with matched participants.
Prize Packs
The Prize Packs module is where gamification takes place. Gamification is a series of challenges in which participants engage in desired engagement behaviors (visiting exhibitor booths, submitting Q&A questions, etc.) to earn points, with the goal of winning “prize packs” of sponsor and exhibitor products upon hitting a specified point total.
Leaderboard
The Leaderboard module lists the highest-earning point getters in your event’s gamification.
Lounge
The Lounge is a public chat room where attendees can engage in group and one on one text chats and conduct 1:1 video calls with one another. Click here to learn more about the lounge
Round Tables
In the Round Table module, attendees can join round table discussions with speakers and other attendees. On the left-hand menu of this page, you can customize the Round Tables Tab Name, as well as the title and description for each individual Round Table. Click here to learn more about how round tables work
Experiences
The Experiences module allows you to embed an iframe into the networking center. Great for activities like photo booths, fun videos, or other interactive features and widgets. You are able to add up to three separate pages for this.
Social Wall
In the Social module, you can add social media posts onto a social wall for all attendees to see.
How can I manage permissions for my Networking Center?
On the Networking Center page, select the Settings tab. Use the following dropdowns to determine which list(s) of registrants should be allowed access to the networking center and lounge. Leave this untouched if you want all registrants to have access
