The ClearBookings dashboard automates the administration of Zoom meetings and webinars as part of creating and managing your events.

Prerequisites

You will need an existing Zoom account (free or paid subscription level) in order to utilise this service. You can register for a Zoom account via their website.

Setup

Before ClearBookings can manage your Zoom meetings, you will need to authorise us to do so, by adding the ClearBookings app to your existing Zoom account. You can do this in one of two ways:

• From within the ClearBookings dashboard
• From the Zoom marketplace ClearBookings app listing

For simplicity, we recommend the first option. Follow these steps:

1. Login to the ClearBookings dashboard
2. Select Events -> New Event from the main menu
3. Navigate to the Who & Where? tab
4. Select the Online Event? checkbox, then select Zoom
5. You should now see the Add ClearBookings to Your Zoom Account button. Click this.
6. You will now be presented with a page asking you to authorise ClearBookings for specific permissions on your Zoom account (you may be required to first login to your Zoom account if you are not already logged in). Click the 'Authorize' button.

At this point, you will be returned to the New Event page, where you can now adjust your Zoom meeting settings as desired, and continue creating your event. The above procedure is only required to be followed once. Creation of future events will not require authorisation again.

Uninstallation

If at any point, you no longer wish to have ClearBookings connected to your Zoom account, or if you need to link a different Zoom account, you can visit the Zoom tab of your Account Settings page, then click Disconnect my Zoom Account. This will bring you to the Installed Apps list for your Zoom account, where you can uninstall the ClearBookings app. Doing so will also result in all Zoom account details including access tokens we have for your account being immediately deleted from your ClearBookings account.

Usage

Defining meeting options

When you nominate a new event as being 'online' and choose the Zoom option on the Who & Where? tab, you can then set most of the common Zoom meeting/webinar options you would also have access to directly via the Zoom console. Click the Meeting Settings button to manage these Zoom-specific settings. It is also in here where you may choose to create standard Zoom meetings, or to create Webinars (note that a paid Zoom subscription with the Webinar add-on is required to use this option).

You also have the following choices for setting passwords for your meetings:

• Set a fixed password for all meetings created for your event (set your chosen password in the Meeting Password field),
• Generate random passwords for each meeting or meeting series (simply leave the Meeting Password field empty), or
• Use no password at all (set the password field to the literal value 'none') - (not recommended)

Creating meetings

Zoom meetings are only created after you publish your event. At this time, ClearBookings will generate a Zoom meeting (or meeting series) for each individual session you define on the When? tab of your event.

• For sessions with no end date set, a single Zoom meeting is created
• For sessions with an end date different from its start date, a Zoom meeting series will be created with daily occurrences spanning those two dates
• For sessions with an end date different from its start date and where you have selected the Recurring Event option, a Zoom meeting series with be created with weekly recurrence and restricted within the specified date range and to the days of week you choose.

After your event is published, you can no longer alter your meeting settings for the event. However, any changes you make to your sessions will result in automatic updates to your corresponding Zoom meetings. This includes addition of new sessions, updates to existing sessions or deletion of existing sessions.

If you need to make changes to your general meeting settings for the event, you need to:

1. Un-publish your event *
2. Update your meeting settings
3. Re-publish your event

* Existing Zoom meetings are not automatically deleted when your event is un-published.

Registering attendees

When using a Zoom account with a paid subscription level, you have the option of requiring all attendees to be registered ahead of time for your meetings. When using ClearBookings to manage your Zoom meetings, this preference is assumed automatically. When a customer completes a booking for your online event, ClearBookings will pre-register the attendee(s) on the booking for your meeting(s) automatically, thereby helping to avoid unwelcome guests joining your Zoom meetings.

Communicating Meeting Access Details to Your Customers

When hosting online meetings, you have a choice with regard to how and when we (or you) communicate Zoom meeting access details to customers who book your events. The Send meeting access details field on the Who & Where? tab of your event provides the following choices:

• Immediately on completing bookings - in this case, in addition to the standard booking confirmation emails we send to your customers, we will also dispatch separate emails containing Zoom meeting access details needed to connect to the customer's chosen session(s).
• Within an event reminder, nearer the event - when selecting this option, we will enable and pre-configure your event reminder settings if these are not already set, or else remind you to add the Online meeting access details placeholder to your reminder email contents. We will also inject a note to the Booking Confirmation Email Notes field indicating that meeting access details will be forthcoming closer to the event
• Both immediately, and within an event reminder - combines the above two options (excluding the Booking Confirmation Email Notes field update)
• Neither - I will communicate these details separately to my attendees - in this case, we will inject a note to the Booking Confirmation Email Notes field indicating that meeting access details will be forthcoming closer to the event. However, it is then your responsibility to communicate meeting access details in a manner you see fit. You can use our Contact Customers page for this purpose if desired.

TIP: Only sending meeting access details within event reminder emails nearer the event has the benefit of reducing the risk of meeting access links being widely shared ahead of your Zoom meetings. Sending the meeting details within reminders also means customers have those details more readily available to them, rather than having to search back potentially many weeks through their inboxes!

Where you choose an option involving event reminders, you can insert meeting access details into your message template where you prefer, either by selecting the 'Online meeting access details' option from the Insert placeholder tool, or simply entering the text '%online_meeting_info' directly into your template. This is included in the default reminder template we add to your event if you select the second or third options above and have not already enabled event reminders for your event.

Customer or Attendee?

Where we send reminder notices to depends upon what information you collect from your customers at the time of booking.

A) If you collect details of individual attendees including their email address, we will send reminder notices (including meeting access details if configured to do so) to each individual attendee on the booking.
B) If you do NOT collect details of individual attendees, or do so, but do not request email addresses, we will send reminder notices to the customer's email address instead.

When reminder notices are sent to customer email addresses, a link to the original booking information is included at the bottom of the reminder. When reminder notices are sent to attendee email addresses, this link is not included in the email.

Starting your meetings

When the time comes to hold your meetings or webinars, you can launch them:

• directly from the Zoom console, as you would any other scheduled Zoom meeting, or
• from the Event page in the ClearBookings dashboard by selecting the Start this online meeting now menu item from the context menu of the applicable session.

Support

Should you have any questions or issues with the use of this facility, you can reach us directly here, or by emailing us at support@clearbookings.com.

If reporting a problem, we kindly request that you include the following in your email:

1. A detailed description of the problem encountered, including what steps were followed leading up to the problem
2. A screenshot or image of any error messages encountered, preferably including the browser address bar in your screenshot
3. What, if any, troubleshooting steps you have already attempted.

Our support staff presently operate normal business hours (9am to 5pm GMT). We endeavor to respond to all enquiries within 2 working days, though typically responses are much faster.