Why meetings have passcodes
Most meeting platforms require each meeting to have a passcode, a waiting room, or both. The aim is to stop uninvited people wandering into a meeting from a shared link. With a plain meeting link, the passcode is either typed by each guest or tucked into the link itself, and the platform's waiting room makes the host admit people one by one.
How a branded room handles it
A branded meeting room hosts the meeting inside your own page, so the page can take care of the passcode for guests.
- You add the meeting passcode once in your room settings.
- Guests arrive at your room page and leave a first name and email at the door.
- They wait in your branded lobby, which says you will be joining shortly.
- You start the meeting in your meeting app as host, then press Start the room.
- The room passes the passcode for every guest and their pages switch to the meeting, joined muted.
Keep the passcode on, turn the platform waiting room off
For a branded room, the recommended setting is passcode on, platform waiting room off. The passcode keeps the meeting protected, and because the room enters it for guests it adds no friction.
The platform's waiting room is the one to switch off. Your branded lobby already does the waiting, with your message, a countdown and an add-to-calendar button. If both are on, guests wait twice: once in your lobby and again in the platform's waiting room, and you have to admit each person by hand. For a large event, that turns the first ten minutes into clicking.
Use the short passcode, not the code in the link
Meeting links often carry a long encoded string at the end. That is not the passcode you save in room settings. Enter the short passcode people would normally type to join, exactly as your meeting platform shows it. If guests see an error when the room starts, check this first, then check that you saved the passcode for the same meeting the room points to.
What guests and hosts see
Guests never see the passcode or a passcode box. They see your door, your lobby and then the meeting. The host sees the passcode in room settings, masked once saved, and can change it whenever the meeting's passcode changes in the meeting app. If you change the passcode in your meeting platform, update it in room settings too, or guests will not get in.
A quick passcode checklist
Run through this before every event, especially if you reuse a meeting.
- The room points to the right meeting.
- The passcode in room settings matches the one in your meeting app.
- You saved the short passcode, not the long code from the link.
- The platform's own waiting room is off for this meeting.
- A test guest on a second device moves from the lobby into the meeting when you press Start the room.
Who should still use the platform waiting room
A few hosts keep the platform's waiting room on for very private sessions, where they want to check each person before admitting them. That works, but it means admitting guests one at a time after they leave your lobby. For webinars, classes, celebrations and company meetings, the branded lobby plus passcode is simpler for everyone.