Host Presence Required to Enter a HeyPeers Meeting
Participants can no longer enter a HeyPeers meeting or its waiting room until the host is present. This ensures that members are never left unattended in a meeting space and supports a safer, more structured meeting environment.
This functionality applies to HeyPeers Meetings only. Zoom already enforces this behavior within the Zoom application.
This feature is automatically enabled for all meetings. No action is required from Peer Supporters or administrators.
This functionality applies to HeyPeers Meetings only. Zoom already enforces this behavior within the Zoom application.
This feature is automatically enabled for all meetings. No action is required from Peer Supporters or administrators.
How It Works
When a participant attempts to join a HeyPeers meeting before the host has arrived, they will not be placed into the meeting or the waiting room. Instead, a message will appear letting them know that the meeting will open once the host is present.
The Continue to Meeting button will remain disabled until the host enters the meeting.
The Continue to Meeting button will remain disabled until the host enters the meeting.
Improving Safety and Reducing Confusion
This change was introduced to address two recurring issues:
1. Safety and Oversight
Participants should never be alone in a meeting space without a Peer Supporter present. Requiring host presence ensures that every meeting begins with proper support and supervision.
Participants should never be alone in a meeting space without a Peer Supporter present. Requiring host presence ensures that every meeting begins with proper support and supervision.
2. Reducing Participant Confusion
Previously, if a host was late or didn't show up, participants could enter the meeting space before the host arrived. What they experienced depended on whether the waiting room was enabled.
Previously, if a host was late or didn't show up, participants could enter the meeting space before the host arrived. What they experienced depended on whether the waiting room was enabled.
- If the waiting room was on: participants were placed in the waiting room and saw a message such as “The host will let you in soon.” Many members interpreted this as “I am being kept out on purpose,” or “The host does not want me in this meeting,”
- If the waiting room was off: participants were allowed directly into the meeting room with no host present. This created uncertainty about whether the meeting had started, whether something was wrong, or whether they were in the correct place.
In both situations, the experience was confusing and often felt personal to the participant.
By preventing participants from entering any meeting space until the host arrives, the join experience is now clearer and more accurate. Participants see a message that reflects the true situation, which is that the meeting has not yet opened, rather than a message that could be misinterpreted or a meeting room that appears abandoned.