New Waiting Room for classroom and webinar events in the app

This update introduces the new Waiting Room feature for classroom and webinar events. The Waiting Room feature allows leaders to join an event, hold participants in a separate room, and allow them entry into the event individually or simultaneously. While in the waiting room, participants cannot hear and broadcast audio or view content in the session. They cannot interact with the leader, presenter, and other users in the event.
Important: Currently, the Waiting Room feature is supported only by the Cornerstone Classroom app client. Users using the Cornerstone Classroom app prior to version 8.5.22 are allowed to enter an event directly, bypassing the Waiting Room. To use the Waiting Room feature, users must upgrade to the latest version (8.5.22) of the Cornerstone Classroom app.

Configuration

Only Meeting Administrators can enable this feature for your domain by configuring the appropriate domain-level property.

Note: To enable the Waiting Room feature, contact your Account Manager.

By default, the Waiting Room feature is available but disabled at the event level. However, users can enable the feature for the event.

At the event level, users can use the following new check box under Event Options to enable or disable the Waiting Room.
  • Enable Waiting Room

    Select this check box to enable Waiting Room for the event.

    The new event-level check box works as follows with the corresponding domain-level property:
    • If the domain-level property is set to 'Disabled', then this check box is not displayed for events. That is, the feature is not available.
    • If the domain-level property is set to 'Enabled and on by default', then this check box is displayed and selected by default while creating an event. That is, the Waiting Room feature is available and enabled for an event by default.
    • If the domain-level property is set to 'Enabled and off by default' (default option), then this check box is not selected by default while creating the event. That is, the Waiting Room feature is available but disabled for an event by default. However, users can select the check box to enable Waiting Room for the event.

The following figure shows the new check box for classroom and webinar events.

New checkbox to enable the Waiting Room feature

Use the Waiting Room

When the Waiting Room feature is enabled for an event, the Cornerstone Classroom app now displays a new Waiting Room button in the top menu.

When no one's in the Waiting Room of an event, the button is grayed out as shown below.

Waiting Room with no users

When there are users in the Waiting Room, the button color changes to blue and displays the count of users in the Waiting Room.

waiting Room with users

Clicking the Waiting Room button opens the Waiting Room Attendees panel. This panel displays the names of users who are waiting to be admitted in the event, along with Allow and Reject buttons beside each user. The leader can click these buttons to either allow or reject a user from entering the event.

The panel also displays an Allow all button, which allows the leader to allow all users from Waiting Room into the event simultaneously.

Waiting Room Attendees panel

When users join an event, they are initially placed in the Waiting Room and see the following app interface with a message indicating that they are in the Waiting Room. They do not have access to any panels or actions in the app in the Waiting Room and so they can neither view nor hear the event content, nor interact with any other users in the event. They can join the event only when the leader allows them.

Interface for users in the Waiting Room

When a leader rejects a user in the Waiting Room, the user receives a message as shown below. Clicking OK exits the user from the Waiting Room and closes their app.

Waiting Room user rejected entry