Your community members can communicate via messaging through messages to one another and as a group in event chat threads from meetings, webinars, and roundtables. Messaging is supported in the community on a browser or mobile device, and also in the Gradual Go event mobile app at in person events.

To enable individual messaging and/or event messaging, navigate to Chat & Channels > Settings.

This allows members to send messages to one another throughout the community. Enabling this feature adds a Message button to member profiles, makes Chat available in the community, and notifies members of unread messages based on their notification preferences.

When enabled, dashboard admins and other supported event management roles can also start a message with an event attendee directly from the event attendee list in the dashboard. The conversation continues in the same Chat experience used for all community messages.

This allows event attendees to send messages to one another within events.

If this feature is enabled, but the messaging in the community (above) is disabled, the 'Messages' tab will only appear in events, not within the main community menu. Members can only send and receive messages during events, and will not see those event chat threads at the community level or homepage.

This is a new feature to protect your members from spam or unwanted solicitation. When toggled on, this setting blocks a member from sending multiple messages to another member before receiving a reply.

This is toggled on by default but can be toggled off to remove this setting and allow for a user to send multiple messages without acceptance from the other user.

This excludes admins from being blocked from sending multiple messages to members without first receiving a reply, bypassing the limitation explained above.

This is toggled on by default but can be toggled off to remove this setting and restrict admins from sending multiple messages to a new user before acceptance.

Gradual has deployed several native moderation features that automatically moderate messages so they are appropriate and work to deter spamming:

If you'd like to customize your community's profanity word filter you can do so in the dashboard, under the moderation tab. Learn more about our moderation settings here.

There are features in Gradual that allow for members to report and block other users who are abusing your community's code of conduct. As an administrator, you can track and monitor this behavior to take action in deactivating accounts, etc. If you need to take action on a member due to their behavior, follow the steps outlined in this resource.

The control is in the user’s hands while in the community or event. If a user needs to report or block another user, they do so in the user’s profile - in the People tab, or by selecting the user’s name in messaging, a meeting, etc.

If you need to take action to disable messaging throughout your community, follow the steps outlined at the top of this resource.

Members can send messages to other members from the community level, within events, and from sponsor or Tools booths. Members must be set to Standard (default member access level) and have a complete profile to message in the platform. The ability to control DM's being sent/received from specific users is outlined below.

Members must complete their profile before they can message others or submit messages in the chat or Q&A within events. The platform will prompt them to complete their profile before they can proceed to messaging others. This ensures your community member is onboarded and appears in the Peoples list. Learn more about how to set up your profile questions here.

Messaging is a feature available to members at the Standard level only. Limited Approval and Guest members are blocked from sending messages to other members and during events. Learn more about access levels here to ensure your members are set to the right level to engage in messaging.

Use Chat Control when you want to prevent a member from starting new messages. Add members to the chat control list from the Dashboard → Chat & Channels → Chat Control

Members on the Chat Control list:

When a member is blocked from starting new messages:

If a new chat is already open, the member will see this error:

“You are currently blocked from sending new messages.”

Use Do Not Disturb when you want to prevent a member from receiving new messages from new users.

When Do Not Disturb is enabled:

If someone already has a new chat open with that member, they will see this:

“This member is not available for new messages.”

Users can message other members via the 'Message' button on each other's profiles. Each member must be onboarded (completed their profiles) for their profile to be visible to others in the community, and to message.

Supported dashboard roles can also start a message with an event attendee from the event attendee list. The dashboard is used to send the first message only. Any replies and the rest of the conversation take place in Chat in the community.

The messages generated are just between the two members, and no additional users (including admins) can see that message exchange.

Message conversations can be found in Global Chat in the top right-hand corner of the community at any time.

Gradual does not currently support generating a group message between members self-service from the dashboard or front end in the community. If you need to start a group message, reach out to the Gradual team and we can build that for you!

Chat threads from meeting rooms, roundtables, meeting events, webinars, and 1:1 networking calls remain available to attendees after the call has ended. Members can access these conversations from Chat in the top-right corner of the community. Only attendees who joined the event or roundtable and have a complete profile can view the messages and continue the conversation.

Attendees can also check out other members who were on the call, and send messages to fellow attendees.

You can offer your community members direct access to your sponsors, partners, etc. who host booths at the event or community level. Those contracts assigned as leads can receive messages from booth visitors. Learn how to customize Tools and Sponsor booths here.

Members are notified when they receive a new message in the community. If they are logged out or do not have an active session in the community, they can also receive email notifications with batch updates on unread messages.

Members can change how often they receive batch email notifications by selecting their profile avatar and navigating to Notification Settings. Batch notifications can be sent every 15 minutes, every hour, once daily, or never.

Members can mark all unread conversations as read without opening each conversation individually.

In Chat, select the Mark all as read icon next to the Search field. In Event Chat, the icon appears in the chat header. Select Mark all as read in the confirmation message to continue.

This marks all conversations in the member’s inbox as read, including individual and group conversations. Unread indicators on the conversations and the Chat icon are cleared.

Marking conversations as read only changes the read status for that member. Conversations remain available in Chat, and the read status of other participants is not affected. New messages received afterward will appear as unread as usual.

When there are no unread conversations, the Mark all as read icon is greyed out and cannot be selected. In Chat, the icon is hidden while a member is searching for a conversation.