# Creating a Roundtable

You build a roundtable on the [**Roundtables**](/360/roundtables) page. It starts as a
**draft** — nothing is sent and nobody can vote until you publish — so you can set it up
at your own pace.

## Start a new roundtable

1. On the [Roundtables](/360/roundtables) page, click **+ New Roundtable**.
2. Give it a **name** (what voters and you will see, e.g. "Q3 planning sync") and pick
   the **event type** it's based on. The event type's duration, location, reminders and
   workflows are used as-is — you're not redefining the meeting, just finding a time for
   it.
3. Click **Continue** to open the setup screen.

<Callout type="note">
Nothing is saved to your account until you click **Create roundtable** on the setup
screen — if you leave before then, no empty draft is left behind.
</Callout>

## The setup screen

Setup is a calendar on the left and a settings rail on the right.

<Screenshot
  src="/help/screenshots/roundtables/setup-calendar.png"
  alt="The Roundtable setup screen: a 10-day availability calendar on the left with several time cells painted as selected candidate slots, and a settings rail on the right with Basics (name, voting deadline, language), Audience, Voting rules, and Automation sections."
  caption="Left: the availability calendar — click and drag to paint candidate times. Right: the settings rail — Basics (name, deadline, language), Audience, Voting rules, and Automation."
/>

### Pick candidate times on the calendar

The calendar shows your real open times for the next 10 days, drawn from the same
availability the event type uses — your [schedule](/help/schedules-availability/schedules),
minus calendar conflicts, buffers, and minimum notice. Greyed cells aren't available.

**Click and drag to paint** the times you want to propose; drag back over selected cells
to clear them. Each cell is one candidate slot, the length of the event type's duration.
You can propose anywhere from one slot up to **128**.

<Callout type="tip">
Offer a *spread* — a few options across different days and times of day. The more
genuinely different choices people have, the likelier one clears everyone's calendar.
If the calendar is empty, you have no open availability in the next 10 days; check your
[availability schedule](/360/availability?tab=schedules) first.
</Callout>

### Basics

- **Name** — rename it anytime before it's booked.
- **Voting deadline** — the date and time voting closes. Defaults to 72 hours out. When
  the deadline passes, voting stops; what happens next depends on auto-book (below). You
  can also leave it open-ended, or change it later while voting is live.
- **Language** — the language voters see and that invite/reminder emails are written in.
  Defaults to your account language.

### Audience — who can vote

- **Anyone with the link** (default) — 42min creates one shareable link; anyone who opens
  it enters their name and email and votes. No account needed.
- **Specific people** — add invitees by email (type them in, or paste a whole list at
  once) and 42min emails each a personal voting link. Mark anyone **Required** with the
  ★ toggle: a time can't be booked until every required person has responded. This mode
  is also the only one that sends reminders.

<Callout type="warning">
The audience mode is **locked once you publish** — switching it would break the links
already sent. Pick it before you publish.
</Callout>

### Voting rules

- **Vote visibility** — **Open** (default) lets voters see how many people picked each
  time; **Blind** keeps the tally private to you. You always see the full results either
  way.
- **Allow "Maybe" votes** — off by default. Turn it on to let people mark a time as a
  tentative *Maybe* in addition to *Yes*.

### Automation

- **Auto-book best time** — off by default. When on, 42min books the winning time
  automatically as soon as enough people have voted, without waiting for you. Turning it
  on requires a **quorum** — the minimum number of voters before a time can be locked in
  (it seeds a default of 5). The winning time is the one with the most *Yes* votes
  (earliest wins a tie); 42min never auto-books a time nobody said Yes to. With auto-book
  off, you book the time yourself from the [Results](/help/roundtables/results-and-booking)
  tab.
- **Send reminders** (specific-people mode only) — on by default. 42min nudges people who
  haven't voted: if there's a deadline, around the halfway point and ~24 hours before it;
  if there's no deadline, once about 48 hours after publishing.

## Publish

Click **Create roundtable** to save the draft, then **Publish** to go live. Publishing:

- mints the shareable link (link mode) or emails personal voting links to your invitees
  (specific-people mode),
- places the tentative **"42min Round Table Hold"** events on your calendar for each
  candidate time, and
- schedules the deadline check and any reminders.

You need at least one candidate time to publish (and, in specific-people mode, at least
one invitee).

After publishing you can still add or remove candidate times and invitees, edit the
deadline, and adjust voting/automation options — but not the audience mode. Share the link
from the **Share** tab, and watch responses arrive on the
[**Results**](/help/roundtables/results-and-booking) tab.

## Common pitfalls

- **No times to paint.** The calendar only shows times you're actually free, in the next
  10 days. If it's empty, fix your [availability](/360/availability?tab=schedules) or
  connect a calendar first.
- **Published with no invitees (specific-people mode).** Publishing is blocked until you
  add at least one person.
- **Picked the wrong audience mode.** You can't change it after publishing. If you must
  switch, cancel and duplicate the roundtable, then publish the copy with the right mode.
- **Forgot the quorum for auto-book.** Auto-book can't save (or publish) without a quorum
  number — it needs to know when "enough" people have voted.