Group Video Chat for Networking using Agora
Fixed seat rooms with screen share, speaking indicators, and waitlisting for post-conference networking — all built on Agora RTC and RTM.
The Challenge
ConfEngine needed a video hangout space for attendees to network after conference sessions. Not a webinar — a casual video room where people could drop in and chat.
The room needed fixed seats, so it wouldn’t get overcrowded. When full, newcomers should be waitlisted. Agora provides the core real-time infrastructure, but all the room logic — seats, controls, participant management — had to be built on top.
The Approach
Built a complete video room experience using Agora’s RTM and RTC:
- Fixed seat management — participants claim seats, rooms have capacity limits
- Waitlisting — when seats are full, new joiners queue until a seat opens
- Full controls — audio mute, video toggle, screen share
- Participant display — names, speaking indicators, video tiles
- State sync — all participants see the same room state in real-time
Implementation
Agora RTM handles state broadcast — who’s in the room, audio/video mute status, screen share indication. The actual audio, video, and screen share streams run on Agora RTC. The frontend renders video tiles with participant names and speaking indicators.
Seat state is synced across all clients so everyone sees the same layout. When a seat opens, the next person in the waitlist is automatically promoted.
Results
Conference attendees got a proper networking space. Fixed seating kept conversations manageable. The waitlist ensured no one was locked out permanently. All built on Agora without needing custom video infrastructure.