How To Create a Meeting Type in Outreach

Purpose:

The purpose of this article is to provide direction to Outreach Users in creating a meeting type in Outreach. 

Meeting types are beneficial for recurring meetings that have the same meeting details. These are templates that you can select from a drop down menu when creating different kinds of meetings to automatically fill in the basic information that's required.

Intended Audience:

• Outreach Users

Notes:

This article discusses the process of creating new meeting types for quick access when scheduling meetings with a Prospect or group of Prospects. For more information regarding booking a meeting, refer to the applicable meeting articles. 

Round Robin style meetings require all members to have Availability set appropriately. The Round Robin meeting will fail if user availability is not set.

How To Create a Meeting Type:

1. Access the Outreach Platform.
2. Click on the Meetings icon (calendar) in the navigation sidebar.
3. Click Types in the menu bar. 
4. Click +Type.
   
5. Input the meeting details as outlined in the table below:

   Field	Description
   Type Name	Input a descriptive name for the meeting type (i.e. Demo Meeting, SDRs, Post-Demo Follow-up, etc.).
   Title	Input the template title or insert a variable as applicable. The title appears as the subject on the meeting invitation. Example: Use the {{account.name}} variable as part of the meeting title field. For more information regarding variables, refer to the Variables Overview article.
   Location	Input the locate or insert a variable as applicable. The location appears in the meeting invite as the place to meet. For more information regarding variables, refer to the Variables Overview article.
   Description	Provide a description. The description is the meeting agenda.
   Duration	Define how long the meeting will last for this meeting type.
   Tags	Add tags as applicable.
   Owner	Select the owner as applicable from the dropdown menu.
   Share	Determine the visibility of this meeting type: Private to owner - only the owner can see it Others can see ant use it - open to all.
6. Click to select the team meeting settings and proceed as described in the table below:

   Type	Description
   Manual	The meeting can be assigned to anyone in the organization. Outreach Users booking a meeting select an assignee for the meeting from a list of all users with connected calendars. There is not a provided ordering. Public calendar and Insert availability links are specific to an individual user and allow meetings to be booked only on that user's calendar. Proceed to Step 10.
   Round Robin - Strict	The meeting is assigned evenly amongst a team and cannot be adjusted by the meeting booker. The team member who currently has the least meetings booked is selected as the assignee. This selection cannot be changed by the user. Public calendar links are linked to the team rather than a specific user. When a Prospect visits the public calendar link for these types, the User with the fewest meetings is selected and the Prospect is presented with these available times. Insert availability links - The assignee is selected when the meeting is applied. Proceed to Step 7.
   Round Robin - Flexible	Meeting is assigned evenly amongst a team but can be reassigned to any available member of that team. The team member who currently has the least booked meetings is selected as the assignee. This selection can be changed by the User. When changing the assignee, users are displayed in order by the user's current meeting counts from fewest to most. Public calendar links are linked to the team rather than a specific user. When a Prospect visits the public calendar link, the user is presented with the availability of all users on the team. Upon selecting a timeslot, the meeting is booked for the user with the fewest meetings who is available at that time. Insert availability links - The assignee is selected when the meeting type is applied. Proceed to Step 7.
7. Select a team from the dropdown list or click Create a new team as applicable. 
8. Click Settings to remove team members from the meeting type.
   Note: Changes do not impact the team configuration in the platform, only how this meeting type is managed. For more information on creating teams, refer to the Creating Teams and Applying Team Filters article. 
9. Click to select the applicable distribution option as described in the table below:

   Option	Description
   If the meeting is booked to hold this month	Distribute meeting evenly based on the number of meetings scheduled to be held in the current month. Out of month meetings will be credited to future months.
   As soon as they're booked	Meetings are credited to a team member when the meeting is booked in their name, and then moves to the next person in the queue.
   Count no-shows and canceled meetings in distribution	Selected, Outreach counts no-shows and canceled meetings to select an applicable assignee. For more information regarding counts, see the How Meetings are Counted section below.
10. Click Save.
    
    The new meeting type is available for use as configured. 

Users with access to this meeting type are able to select it from the corresponding dropdown list when scheduling a meeting and the meeting's details update as configured in the meeting type template. 

How Meetings are Counted:

Outreach looks at the meeting count to select an assignee for any meeting that is associated with round robin. Based on the meeting count, the Outreach team is sorted by individual from lowest meeting count to highest. This list is used to determine who should be assigned the next meeting. “Round Robin - Strict” and “Round Robin - Flexible” both count meetings in the same way.

Meeting count is specific to the meeting type. So, if a prospect books a meeting using a different meeting type, the meeting may be booked on another person’s calendar, even if the same team is applied to both meeting types.

Note: Meeting counts reset each month at midnight on the 1st, based on your organization’s configured default timezone. For more information regarding default time zones, refer to the applicable articles. 

The meeting count is comprised of two elements. The count used to order the individuals on the team is the sum of these two elements:

1. Meetings that have been booked. Booked meetings can be counted in two ways, configurable per meeting type.
   • As soon as they’re booked In this scenario, Outreach counts all meetings which were created in the current month, regardless of when they are scheduled to take place.
   • If the meeting is booked to hold this month In this scenario we count all meetings which are scheduled to take place in the current month. Meetings booked for a future month will be counted during that month and not the month in which they were created.
   • You can choose whether or not canceled and 'no-show' meetings should be included in the counts for each meeting type.
2. Emails which contain “Insert Availability” links. These are considered “potential meetings”. Potential meetings count towards a user’s total until:
   • A meeting is booked using the provided links.
   • The mailing is sufficiently old, such that it is unlikely that a prospect will ever book a meeting.

Meeting Reassignment

Meeting reassignment is a special case. When a meeting is reassigned, the meeting is considered a canceled meeting for the original assignee, as well as a newly created meeting for the new assignee. This means that based on your settings, the meeting may count towards the current month’s totals for one, both, or neither of these users.

Additional Resources: 

Outreach University - Outreach Meetings

Creating Teams and Applying Team Filters

Variables Overview