Zoom Areas Overview

The Zoom Areas section in Obvio is used to create and manage the Zoom spaces attendees will join during your event.

I. Areas vs. Rooms

Obvio uses Areas and Rooms to organize Zoom access.

• Area - The larger destination attendees are sent to, such as Main Stage, Tech Area, VIP Room, or Help Desk.
• Room - The actual Zoom room inside an Area that attendees join.

For smaller events, one Area with one Room may be enough. For larger events, multiple Rooms can be added under the same Area so attendees can be distributed across rooms.

II. Creating a Zoom Area

To create a new area, click + New Area, enter the Area name, and configure the available Zoom settings.

When creating an Area, you can configure options such as:

• Requiring approval to join area meetings
• Allowing the same user to join from multiple devices
• Enabling Zoom Q&A
• Enabling language interpretation
• Enabling sign language interpretation

Some Zoom settings may only be configured when the Area is first created.

Note: Videos included in this article may display an outdated user interface. However, the functionality and overall process remain the same.

Creating an Area

Creating a Room

III. Opening Areas and Rooms

Zoom access is controlled using both the Area and Room settings.

• Open Room - Starts or opens the individual Zoom room.
• Open Area - Allows attendees to access the Area from the dashboard.

If the Area is closed, attendees who click the dashboard button will see the offline page instead of entering Zoom.

Notes

• At the end of the day and/or event, be sure to close the rooms and areas.
• Make sure you have enough rooms to support all of your attendees. Each Zoom room in Obvio supports up to 1,000 attendees. If you have one room online and over 1,000 attendees, once the room is full all other attendees will receive an offline message and will not have access to the room. 
• If you need more space mid-event, create an additional Zoom room under the area that requires more space. All remaining attendees will be pushed into the new room until all Zoom rooms are load balanced. 

IV. Offline Text

The Offline Text option lets you customize what attendees see when the Area is not open.

This can be used to add a message such as event instructions, start times, or a reminder that the session has not opened yet.

V. Direct Area Access

The Enable Direct Area Access option generates a registration URL that can allow users to access the Area directly.

This is commonly used for speakers, team members, or special guests who may need access before the Area is opened to general attendees.

Use this link carefully, since anyone with access to the URL may be able to reach the registration page for that Area.

VI. Room Distribution and Rules

When an Area contains multiple Rooms, Obvio can distribute attendees based on the selected room distribution setting.

Available options may include:

• Balanced - Distributes attendees evenly across available rooms.
• Overflow - Fills one room before sending attendees to the next available room.

You can also configure rules to control which room attendees are assigned to based on conditions such as tags, groups, nested rules, form responses, or time.

If room rules are changed later, they may not affect attendees who were already assigned. You may need to clear room assignments if attendees should be reassigned.

• Tags
• Group
• Nested Rule
• Form Response
• Time

If room rules are changed later, they may not affect attendees who were already assigned. You may need to clear room assignments if attendees should be reassigned.

VII. Export Options

The Zoom Area page also includes export options, such as:

• Export Summary Log
• Export Detail Log
• Export Room Assignments

VIII. Connecting Zoom Areas to the Dashboard

For attendees to access a Zoom Area, create a dashboard button and set the button action to join the correct Area.

For example, a Join Main Stage button can be linked to the Main Area.

IX. Room Settings

When you click into a specific Room inside an Area, you can manage room-level settings such as:

• Open Room - Opens the individual Zoom room so a host or team member can start or join it.
• Start / End Meeting - Used to launch or end the Zoom meeting for that specific room.
• Enable Direct Room Access - Creates a direct access link for that room.
• Room Description - Adds an internal description to help identify the room, such as VIP, Platinum, or GA.
• Limit Maximum Number of Attendees in Room - Allows you to set a maximum attendee capacity for that room.
• Export Log - Exports Summary & Details Logs
• Recordings - Provides access to recordings associated with that room, if recordings are available.

Custom RTMP Stream

The Custom RTMP Stream option allows the room to stream to an external destination using a Stream URL, Stream Key, and Stream Page URL.

This is typically used by production teams that need to send the Zoom room feed to another streaming platform or broadcast workflow.

Notes

• Make sure the event dates are current before testing Zoom access.
• Areas and Rooms should be opened before attendees are expected to join.
• If attendees see an offline message, check whether the Area and Room are open.
• Close Areas and Rooms when they are no longer needed.
• Use short room names when possible, since room names may appear with attendee names inside Zoom.
• For accurate testing, use a test attendee account instead of only testing from the admin view.