Quick Summary
In this BNI Tech Talks session, Jeremy Walsh walks through managing attendance, visitors, guests, and substitutes in BNI Plus—from registering attendees in BNI Connect to making sure the right people appear on the right meeting slides. Learn how the hourly synchronization works, why visitors must be marked present, how to assign substitutes to the members they represent, and how to customize welcome slides to recognize additional attendees. The session also covers last-minute arrivals, correcting registration types, and using the Test Meeting feature to check your setup. Throughout the demonstration and live Q&A, Jeremy reinforces one essential point: information flows from BNI Connect to BNI Plus, so attendance and visitor records still need to be maintained in BNI Connect.
Complete Summary
Start with registration in BNI Connect
Preparing for a smooth meeting begins with registering attendees in BNI Connect. Jeremy demonstrates the Visitor Portal, explains how people can register themselves through a chapter website, and highlights the mobile app’s ability to register visitors for other chapters.
Starting in BNI Connect supports confirmation messages, meeting reminders, and follow-up communication. Entering someone only in BNI Plus does not trigger that process or automatically provide credit in PALMS, Member Traffic Lights, or Power of One.
Understand the synchronization schedule
Registrations and other information synchronize from BNI Connect to BNI Plus on an hourly cycle. The next sync starts one hour after the previous sync finishes, rather than at the top of each hour. Processing time affects when updates become visible, so registering attendees the night before the meeting is the recommended approach.
Choose the correct attendee type
The session explains how each category affects the meeting presentation:
- Visitors attend to explore BNI for their own business and receive individual visitor introduction slides when marked present.
- Substitutes represent an absent member and speak during that member’s presentation opportunity. They do not receive a separate visitor slide by default.
- Guests or observers attend to observe or support someone and do not receive individual visitor slides by default.
Attendees should be classified according to their actual purpose for attending.
Use the Attendance Console
In BNI Plus, open the Attendance Console under Plan and Manage to review synchronized registrations. A registration alone does not confirm that someone has arrived: visitors must be marked Present to appear in the default welcome and visitor introduction slides.
For substitutes, select the member they are representing. This association is made in BNI Plus because the BNI Connect registration does not identify who the substitute is covering.
Member attendance also controls the presentation sequence. Marking members absent allows the automatic presentation to skip their slides. Attendance can be adjusted in the console or through the member presentation controls.
Recognize guests and substitutes on welcome slides
Jeremy demonstrates copying the default Introduce Visitors slide, hiding the original, and editing the copy to include guest and substitute variables. This allows chapters to recognize additional attendees on a shared welcome slide.
Recognizing someone on a welcome slide does not automatically give them a separate visitor presentation. Changes can be made at the chapter level or, where appropriate, at the regional level.
Handle last-minute arrivals and incorrect registrations
An unregistered attendee can be added directly in BNI Plus for the meeting presentation. If someone synchronized with the wrong attendee type and there is insufficient time to correct it through BNI Connect, Jeremy demonstrates leaving the incorrect record as Registered and creating a correctly classified local record to use for the meeting.
Any local record or correction in BNI Plus remains there. The corresponding information must also be entered or corrected in BNI Connect.
Keep BNI Connect records complete
A central reminder throughout the session is that synchronization is one-way: BNI Connect to BNI Plus. Marking attendance in BNI Plus does not update PALMS. Leadership teams must still complete the appropriate attendance and visitor records in BNI Connect.
Test before presenting
Use the Test Meeting feature after changing attendance, substitute assignments, or slides. Previewing the meeting helps confirm that visitors appear correctly, substitutes are associated with the right members, and absent members are skipped.
Additional questions covered
The live Q&A explores controller lag and internet connectivity, delegation of BNI Plus responsibilities, country rollout, registering visitors for other chapters, and the distinction between synchronized leadership roles and management permissions. Jeremy also discusses sharing attendee information through the newsletter and questions about substitutes, guests, and overlapping business categories.
The session closes with a reminder to record a CEU for participating, whether attending live or watching the recording.
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