May 22, 2025
Beyond general networking, many events shine by facilitating high-value private meetings, creating meaningful and productive connections for attendees, exhibitors, and vendors. These meetings can be used for product demos, recruitment interviews, client discussions, or brainstorming new business opportunities.
Two years ago, Whova introduced the 1:1 meeting scheduler, designed to simplify organizing high-value meetings at events. This powerful feature has enabled events to easily facilitate mentor hours, expert info sessions, sponsor meetings, exhibitor appointments, and more. Since its launch, it has been widely adopted across a diverse range of events, helping organizers create meaningful, personalized experiences that add value for both hosts and attendees.
Building on the success of our 1:1 meeting scheduler, many organizers have asked us to take things a step further: “Can Whova help us facilitate meeting space reservations for private meetings at the event?” We heard you loud and clear! To meet this growing demand, we’re thrilled to introduce Meeting Spaces Reservation!
This new add-on feature is perfect for events that go the extra mile by providing dozens of tables or rooms for private meetings. Whether it’s exhibitors showcasing their products, vendors hosting key client discussions, sponsors building relationships, or even general attendees finding a quiet space to collaborate, Meeting Spaces Reservation makes the process seamless.
Here are some key examples this feature can help you enhance your event experience for sponsors, exhibitors, VIPs, and attendees:
- Exhibitor Product Demos: Allow exhibitors to reserve private spaces for showcasing their products or services to potential clients.
- Vendor-Client Meetings: Provide vendors with designated areas to hold key discussions and close deals with clients.
- Sponsor Networking: Enable sponsors to host exclusive meetings or consultations with attendees to build stronger connections.
- Attendee Collaborations: Offer general attendees private spaces to brainstorm, collaborate, or discuss shared interests.
- Recruitment Interviews: Facilitate one-on-one interviews for companies looking to recruit talent during the event.
- Investor Pitches: Allow startups or businesses to book rooms for one-on-one presentations with potential investors.
Where to Access Meeting Scheduler Networking Space?
To access this new enhancement, go to the Engagement tab in your Organizer Dashboard. On the left-hand side, you’ll find the 1-1 Meeting Scheduler. From there, it will give you the option between choosing Meeting Space Reservation or Meetings with Hosts. Click on Meeting Space Reservation to access your central hub for setup and customization of this feature.
Navigate to the 1-1 Meeting Scheduler tab and click “Get Started” on Meeting Space Reservation.
Create Designated Spaces for Your Attendees to Meet
Creating and managing meeting spaces tailored for your attendees is now simpler than ever. You can upload the locations manually or, if you are managing a large number of spaces, upload the spaces using an Excel spreadsheet.
Add rooms/tables and name them to give your attendees a clearer direction of what to look for.
Each location should include an area name and description so attendees can easily locate them, as well as the capacity of each table or room. You can also upload a floor map with pins marking specific locations so that they can easily find the meeting place.
Provide location directions and an optional floormap for your attendees to locate each meeting space.
Finally, set availability information and block time slots when the spaces are unavailable for reservation. You can specify availability for each day of the event and define the maximum duration attendees can book the space.
Additionally, you can limit the number of reservations per attendee to prevent any individual from occupying too many slots.
Avoid conflicts with other sessions by controlling when meeting spaces are available to book.
Select Attendees and Send Announcements
You can control who will be able to reserve meeting spaces by selecting specific attendee groups based on ticket types or categories. Attendees who reserve meeting spaces can then invite anybody to join the meeting. This flexibility allows you to create a focused, high-value meeting experience that aligns with your event goals. For example:
- Limit by category: Allow exhibitors or sponsors to access meeting spaces to invite attendees for demos. Or, limit inviting access to only VIP attendees to make 1-1 meeting spaces an exclusive benefit for high-tier tickets.
- Open to all: If your goal is to provide a universal networking opportunity, you can grant all attendees the power to reserve meeting spaces.
- Upload a custom list: If you have a separate list of attendees (for example, ones who paid for a premium networking pass) you can upload it via an Excel sheet to grant them exclusive invite access.
Once the desired attendees have access, you can continue to engage and remind them by creating customized invitations and reminder emails. These emails encourage attendees to participate, helping them make the most of your event.
Tailor access to specific attendees to align with your event goals.
Reserving Meeting Spaces
Attendees can seamlessly reserve meeting spaces through both the mobile and web apps for easy scheduling. On the mobile app, the reservation feature is accessible via the Additional Resources section on the home tab of their event. The feature name is customizable by the organizers. For example, you can name it “RoomRSVP”.
Attendees can then choose a date and time for their meeting, with the option to invite others immediately or later. On the web app, reservations are made via the same submenu under the “Agenda” tab, and then following the same simple process.
Only attendees with permission to use the reservation feature will be able to create meeting invitations. For example, if reservations are restricted to exhibitors and sponsors, general attendees will not have access to booking options. However, all attendees will still be available to be invited.
Attendees can also cancel their reservations, making the space immediately available for others to book. This system ensures a smooth and organized scheduling process while allowing event organizers to control access and optimize space utilization.
Attendees can easily customize meeting requests from both mobile and desktop.
Facilitate Attendee Connection with Meeting Spaces!
Transform your event into a hub of productivity and opportunity with Whova’s new Meeting Spaces Reservation feature. This tool makes organizing private, high-value meetings seamless and stress-free, whether they’re exhibitor demos, sponsor consultations, or attendee collaborations.
Ready to elevate your attendees’ networking experience? Schedule a free demo with Whova today and discover how Meeting Spaces Reservation can help you deliver even more value to your attendees!