Braindate integration

In this article we’ll explain how Braindate can integrate with the SpotMe platform: how this works, how to set it up, and what information is shared between the systems.

What is Braindate?

Braindate is a platform where participants can host or join one-on-one or small group discussions about specific topics.

It is based around a Topic Market, where users can post topics that they would like to discuss or share, or browse existing topics that others have posted. Participants can then book book meetings with one-another via the Topic Market.

What can you expect from the Braindate integration?

With the Braindate integration, you can automatically sync your participants’ confirmed Braindate meetings (or braindates) to their SpotMe agenda.

Participants will therefore be able see their braindates alongside other event sessions in their agenda:

• The integration will pull the braindate title, as well as the date and time, and add them as sessions to the SpotMe agenda.
• Braindate sessions pulled into the SpotMe agenda will have a “Braindate” tag.
• Braindates synced in the SpotMe agenda will also contain direct links to the meetings within the Braindate platform, to facilitate navigation between the two platforms. In doing so, the integration allows for the use of one set of login credentials to access both the SpotMe and Braindate platforms (via Single Sign-On).
• The Braindate integration will also add a direct link to the Braindate platform in the SpotMe app menu.

Note: The Braindate API is included on SpotMe Anywhere plans.

Installing and accessing Braindate API

You’ll need to install the Braindate API module, from the Marketplace, on your workspace.

Open your workspace, go to the Marketplace tab in the main menu, and select Integrations. Here you can click on the Braindate module in order to install it:

Once the module is installed, you can access it via the Integrations tab in the main menu of your workspace. You will see that there are two tabs in the module: Data types and Credentials:

Next, you need to add your Braindate credentials to the module, in order to connect Braindate to your workspace.

Adding your Braindate credentials

Once you’ve installed the Braindate API module (as explained above), go to the Credentials tab, and enter the following information to connect your Braindate account to your workspace.

Note: The below credentials information is received from your Braindate contact.

• Environment URL: Enter https://api.braindate.com
• Username: Enter your Braindate username.
• Password: Enter your Braindate password.
• Event ID: Enter your Braindate event ID.
• Braindate domain: Enter “myevent.braindate.com”, replacing “myevent” with the name of your workspace. For example “https://abc.braindate.com”.

Click on Save changes to finish entering your credentials.

Once your credentials are entered and saved, you can start synchronizing data between the two platforms.

Important: When adding the Braindate domain in the credentials, always add the real domain that you will be using for this event, rather than a test domain. This is to make sure that all users are correctly assigned to the correct domain.

Synchronizing data

Once you have entered your credentials, you can start synchronizing data via the Braindate API.

To do so, open the Data types tab, where you can see the three types of data that can be synchronized between the two platforms as part of this integration:

To begin synchronization, simply enable the auto-sync for the three data sets, using the buttons in the Auto-sync column.

Once the auto-sync is enabled, every three minutes the participant’s SpotMe agenda will be updated with any braindates.

Technical notes

• Auto synchronization by default only remains enabled for the duration of the event in Backstage.
• The Braindate link in the app menu may only appear three minutes after joining the event for the first time (in particular when registering and then joining immediately), and can require that the app page is refreshed.
• The integration does not cross-check the participant's existing agenda sessions, it will add the braindate meeting even if the user has an existing session in SpotMe at that same time slot.
• The integration does not have access to agenda session restrictions. It is not possible to restrict the number of braindate sessions that are added to an agenda via the integration.

Synchronization troubleshooting

If you notice an error as part of the integration, we recommend that you perform the following actions:

1. Check that your event’s end date is not in the past in Backstage.
2. Cross-check that the information entered in the Credentials tab is correct. The Credentials tab in the integration UI will not detect or display if there is incorrect information entered there, so you need to check this manually.
3. Check that the integration is fully enabled on Braindate’s side.

If you notice that some Braindate meetings are not being imported into SpotMe after running the "Sessions" sync in Backstage, check if the affected Braindate meetings have been confirmed. Only confirmed meetings are imported.

If you continue to encounter issues, please contact SpotMe support.