Meeting room displays that people can book from

A screen outside each meeting room ends the knock-and-peek. It shows Available or In use in large type, what is on now and for how long, and when the room is next free. On a touch screen, people can book the room on the spot or end a meeting early, and rooms nobody turns up to can give themselves back. The calendars stay in your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant.

What the panel shows

• A big Available / In use state, in colour with an icon and a word, so it reads without relying on colour.
• The meeting in progress and how long is left.
• The rest of today’s meetings, and when the room is next free.
• Portrait or landscape, readable from across a corridor. Follow the screen turns with the display.

How it works

Each organization brings its own calendar connection, and ScreenTinker never sends a calendar credential to a screen.

The server reads each room’s calendar at most once a minute, however many screens show it.

Booking, ending and releasing rooms

• Book now. While the room is free, a tap books 15, 30 or 60 minutes, whichever fits before the next meeting. The calendar is read again before anything is booked, so a meeting booked a moment ago wins. A double tap books once.
• End meeting. A meeting booked at the panel can be ended early. Your organization can also let a panel end any meeting; the room then declines it, the organiser is told, and the meeting is not cancelled for its attendees.
• Check in and auto-release. Off by default. Set a number of minutes and a meeting shows Check in after it starts. If nobody checks in, the room is given back. A room is only released while a screen where someone could have checked in is showing it.

Every action is recorded in the activity log with the screen that made it.

Privacy

Choose what each room shows: titles and organisers except for private meetings (the default), “Reserved” for every meeting, or everything. Hidden details are removed on the server, so they never reach the screen.

Which screens can book

When the network drops

The panel works out free or busy on the screen itself, every second, from the schedule it last received. Meetings start and end on time with the network down. If the screen hasn’t reached the server for three minutes, or the server can’t reach the calendar, a note says the schedule shown is the saved one.

Set it up

1. Microsoft 365: register an app in the Entra admin center with Calendars.Read (and Calendars.ReadWrite if panels should book), grant admin consent, and scope it to room mailboxes with an application access policy.
2. Google Workspace: create a service account with the Calendar API, then share each room’s calendar with it or use domain-wide delegation.
3. Add the connection under Settings → Meeting rooms and press Test.
4. In Widgets → Room Display, add the room (or paste an ICS address), set its time zone and layout, and put the widget in the playlist of the screen at the door.
5. The step-by-step guide, with PowerShell and permissions, is in the room booking guide.

Limits

• It is not a Microsoft Teams Rooms panel. It does not join or start Teams meetings, and it is not certified by Microsoft. It reads and books room mailboxes through your own Entra app.
• Bring your own app. You register the Entra app or Google service account in your own tenant. ScreenTinker stores its secret encrypted.
• ICS calendars are read-only. Treat the address as a password.
• On Google, a meeting the room itself organises can’t be ended from the panel, because removing the room would cancel it for everyone.
• Older players show the room read-only until they are updated.

Lobbies and wayfinding

The same screens can carry the rest of the building: a scrolling directory board of tenants, departments or staff, and touch kiosk pages for wayfinding and check-in. Start from a room sign or directory in the template library.

FAQ

Does it work with Microsoft 365 room mailboxes?

Yes. An organization admin registers an app in your own Entra tenant, grants it calendar permissions for the room mailboxes, and adds it under Settings, Meeting rooms. Panels can then show and book those rooms.

Does it work with Google Calendar?

Yes, with Google Workspace resource calendars, through a service account in your own Google Cloud project. Any calendar published as an ICS address also works, read-only.

Is this a Microsoft Teams Rooms panel?

No. It does not join Teams meetings and is not Microsoft-certified. It shows and books the room’s calendar.

What happens to rooms nobody shows up for?

If you turn on check-in, a meeting nobody checks in to within the minutes you set gives the room back. It is off by default, and a room is only released while a screen that could check in is showing it.

Which screens can people book from?

Touch screens on the Android, web, and Raspberry Pi or Windows players. Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, BrightSign and Vega show the room read-only.

Will private meeting titles appear in the corridor?

Not by default. Private and confidential meetings show as Private meeting, or you can show Reserved for every meeting. Hidden details are removed on the server.