Appointment Preferences (Attendee Form)

An Appointment Preferences section for a form is only available if Appointment Matching is turned on for the event in Plan > Configure > Options. Appointment Matching must first be enabled for the account.

If Appointment Matching generates Pre-Scheduled Appointments for attendees, the event needs attendee preferences. Attendee preferences are selections of whom attendees want to have appointments with.

An Appointment Preferences section in a form collects attendee preferences. The event should add the Appointment Preferences section to a separate Appointment Preferences form.

The separate Appointment Preferences form is restricted to people who have already registered. The separate Appointment Preferences form only opens after event registration closes. All attendees complete their event registrations before selecting appointment preferences.

On the form itself, the registrant is prompted to select who they would like appointments with. The choices available are determined and constrained by settings configured in Engage > Appointments > Configure and Engage > Appointments > Pre-Scheduled/AME. The settings include:

The minimum number of preferences a registrant can select
The maximum number of preferences a registrant can select
The Attendee Types that a registrant’s own Attendee Type is permitted to select as preferences
Whether registrants can search for names/organizations
Whether registrants can apply any filters

Appointment Preferences Form

Recommendations for setting up a dedicated Appointment Preferences form include the following.

The Appointments section should come after the Attendee Type section.

The Page Layout area of the Plan > Forms > Setup page configures the placement.

In the Forms > Setup page, the Open date should be after event registration closes.

The separate event registration form controls event registration close time.

In the Forms > Setup page, sections not directly related to Preferences are not required.

Payments are an example of a section that can be removed.

In the Forms > Registrant Details page, it is not necessarily essential to have registrants confirm profile details again.

First Name and Last Name are required fields for the Appointment Matching Engine.

The recommended Best Practice is to include First Name and Last Name as both “Required” and “Read Only”.

In the Forms > Entry page, set Form Entry Permissions to “Restrict to registrations in this event”.

Set Username and Password collection to “Required”.

In the Forms > Confirm page, the only confirmation section required is Appointment Preferences.

Clear the other sections header names to hide them.

Section Header

A Section Header can be set on most pages that determine the appearance of the registration form. The Section Header displays additional instructions or event information related to the section being configured. The text and HTML elements entered into the Section Header area appear above the section elements themselves.

If the fields in the Section Header area are left blank, the header is set to inactive for that section.

Plain text can be entered in the first three text fields with or without HTML tags. The HTML EDITOR can be used to open a pop-up window to edit the content using the HTML/Web Content Editor described in Using the HTML Editor.

Text Above Header appears above the header bar at the top of the section.

Usually, Text Above Header contains instructions.

Header Text appears in the header bar in a contrasting color.

Example: “Appointment Preferences”.

Text Below Header appears directly below the header.

Text Below Header can include information to add.

A checkbox provides instructions for appointment preferences minimums/maximums. When the checkbox is selected, the Appointment Preferences page includes instructions where X and Y are the limits set in Appointments > Configure:

"Your event coordinator requires that you select at least X and no more than Y people or organizations from the following list(s) that you would like to meet with during this event:"

A checkbox option exists for showing attendees who selected the registrant as an appointment preference. When the checkbox is selected, a checkbox with the same label appears on the form. When the attendee selects that checkbox, the only attendees listed as preferences are attendees who have selected the attendee as one of their own preferences. Mutual selections are more likely when the event runs the Appointment Matching Engine.

A checkbox option exists for not showing attendee types. When this checkbox is selected, the list of attendees from which an attendee selects preferences becomes a single list. The list is instead of being organized by attendee type.

Select Fields for "More"

Select Fields for "More" defines fields displayed in a pop-up window of more information about an attendee. The pop-up opens when an attendee clicks the More icon after a name in a list of potential preferences. The More icon is not shown on the form if no fields are selected here.

To include a field:

Click the field in the Available Fields box.

An add icon appears when the cursor hovers over a field.

The system moves the field automatically to the end of the Fields To Display box on the right.
The system also adds the field to the Select Attendee Types Eligible for "More" section at the end of the page.

Custom naming and attendee type restrictions are configured in that section.

To determine the order of fields displayed:

Drag fields up or down in the Fields To Display box.

To remove a field from the Fields To Display box:

Click the Delete icon shown after the field name when the cursor hovers over the field.
The system moves the field back to the Available Fields box.
The system also removes the field from the Preference Fields to Show section at the end of the page.

Select Attendee Types Eligible for "More"

Select Attendee Types Eligible for "More" lists fields to show in the pop-up More window. The pop-up list is populated dynamically based on fields added to the Fields To Display box. The display order follows the order configured by dragging fields up or down in the Fields To Display box.

Row displays the number of the field as set when ordering fields in Fields To Display.
Data Field displays the name of the field.

Example: "FirstName".

Text to Display is the label displayed on-screen.

Example: "First Name".

Attendee Types selects the attendee types for whom the selected field is displayed when More is clicked.

This feature supports different fields shown for buyers and exhibitors.

Tip: leaving the attendee types list blank is the same as selecting all attendee types.

Save and Preview

Click Save to save changes. Click Preview to open the form in a separate browser window.

How the Registrant Uses the Form

The registrant uses the form to select appointment preferences.

The names of attendees appear on the left. Three icons appear next to each attendee name:

Add that person to the list of My Preferences on the right.

The registrant drags and drops names to establish priorities.

The attendee name remains in the list outlined in green.

Display More information about that person.

The pop-up shows “Preference Fields to Show for ‘More’” selected above.

Add that person to the Exclusion List on the right.

The exclusion indicates attendees with whom the registrant does not want appointments.

This option is only available if selected above.

The attendee name remains outlined in red.

The registrant can limit names displayed using the following elements.

1. Attendee Type

If the registrant is an attendee type that is only able to select preferences for one attendee type, only attendees of that type are displayed. Appointments > Configure determines which attendee types are allowed.

If the registrant is able to select preferences for more than one attendee type, collapsible lists display registrants for each attendee type.

3. Searching

If searching is enabled, the registrant can select the field to search on. The search fields are First Name, Last Name, Title, Organization, City, Country. The registrant types the text to match. The registrant clicks the search action.

Searching is enabled by selecting the relevant checkbox in Appointments > Pre-Scheduled/AME.

4. Filtering

If filtering is enabled, the attendee can apply filters. Filtering is enabled by selecting the relevant checkbox and appropriate custom question(s) in Appointments > Pre-Scheduled/AME.

The attendee chooses to apply filters by selecting the answer(s) to one or more custom questions. Only records matching the selected filter are displayed.

5. Mutual Preferences

The attendee can choose to Show Attendees who selected me as an appointment preference. This choice is made by selecting the checkbox with that label. This option is only available if enabled when setting up the form.

If the attendee selects that option, the only attendees listed are attendees who have selected the attendee as their own preference. When the event runs the Appointment Matching Engine, it is more likely to create appointments where preferences are mutual. Mutual preferences mean both attendees have selected each other as a preference.