Calendly’s round robin event type offers 2 different ways to distribute meetings between hosts:

Maximize for availability - allows invitees to book meetings whenever a host is available. Use this to maximize the number of potential meetings booked and when the even distribution of meetings across hosts is less important.

Optimize for equal distribution - allows for the most even distribution of meetings across hosts. This can lead to fewer booked meetings overall as equal distribution is given priority over host availability.

How does "Maximize availability" work?

When maximizing a round robin event for availability, Calendly will show times on the calendar when 1 person or more is available. If multiple people are available, this is where the priority star setting will come in. Here are a few key things to know:

1. Calendly will only assign the meeting to an available teammate.

   • Availability is determined by checking both Calendly and the connected calendar(s) of each teammate for conflicts. Check out this article for help troubleshooting availability and remember that round robin event types can leverage shifts.

2. Calendly will assign the meeting to the team member with the highest Calendly priority relative to other available teammates first.

   • If there is a tie, then the person that has not been scheduled recently is chosen.
   • If a tie remains, then someone will be randomly chosen. 

   • The priority of each team member can be easily adjusted using the priority stars on the event type.
                        

3. If team members have equal priority, Calendly will assign the meeting to the least recently scheduled person for this event type.

4. If team members tie on priority and least recently scheduled, the meeting is assigned at random.

How does "Optimize for equal distribution" work?

With this setting, Calendly will monitor how many meetings for a round robin event are booked with each individual. Calendly will then compare the teammates' meeting counts.

If someone on your team is at least three meetings ahead of other teammates, their availability will be turned off until other team members catch up.

When optimizing a round robin event for equal distribution:

• No team member can be more than three meetings ahead.

• If you add or remove people from a round robin event, this will reset the distribution algorithm and start every member at 0. 

• If a team member is three meetings ahead, that team member cannot be booked until other teammates are scheduled.

Example: If Jim has 3 meetings and Karen has 0 meetings, Calendly will remove Jim's availability until Karen has 1 meeting. Now Jim's available time slots will again show on the booking page. If Jim is scheduled again and the relative count returns to +3 (4 to 1), Jim's availability will again be removed.

Calendly compares meeting counts for the period of time that all current hosts are on the event type together. This means that if a team member is added or deleted from an equal distribution event, the algorithm will treat the team member as if no meetings have been booked with them. If you have an event type where hosts are regularly being added or removed, this might cause inconsistencies with distribution.

Use the Admin View at anytime to troubleshoot why you or your team member is unavailable. The error “UNFAIR” shown below is due to unequal distribution:

What if I switch from "Maximize for availability" to "Optimize for equal distribution" (or vice versa)?

Changing the setting will take effect immediately. The next booking will interpret the round robin availability based on that new setting. Calendly won't consider previous settings or scheduled meetings counts.

Reporting on meeting distribution

For more information on how to download an activity report for a round robin event, please check out the article on how to export a list of team event type activity.