When we create an event, we can specify the lobby_start_time and lobby_end_time to control when attendees can join the lobby. I typically want to allow attendees to join 15 minutes before the start of the event and I also allow them to remain in the lobby up to 15 minutes after the end of the event. This works fine for simple events and conferences but I can’t figure out how do this for recurring events.
In the following example, you’ll see that lobby_start_time is set to 15 minutes prior to the event start time and lobby_end_time is set to 15 minutes after the event end time. However, sending this request results in a event_outside_lobby_time_range exception:
REQUEST:
POST https://api.zoom.us/v2/zoom_events/events
{
"name":"ZoomNet Integration Testing: recurring event",
"description":"The description",
"timezone":"America/New_York",
"event_type":"RECURRING",
"access_level":"PRIVATE_RESTRICTED",
"calendar":[
{
"start_time":"2025-07-07T14:34:56Z",
"end_time":"2025-07-07T16:34:56Z"
}
],
"recurrence":{"duration":45,"type":2,"repeat_interval":1,"weekly_days":[1,5],"end_date_time":"2025-09-05T14:34:56Z"},
"hub_id":"FAUL4su2RvWp_v6WsisP1g",
"attendance_type":"hybrid",
"categories":["Business \u0026 Networking"],
"tags":["cat2","cat3"],
"contact_name":"Jan Vermeer",
"lobby_start_time":"2025-07-07T14:19:56Z",
"lobby_end_time":"2025-07-07T16:49:56Z",
"blocked_countries":["TD","NO"],
"tagline":"The best recurring event ever !!!"
}
RESPONSE:
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Date: Sat, 05 Jul 2025 14:34:58 GMT
x-zm-trackingid: WEB_a310e59072ba30a6a72a50b2dcfa6522
{"code":400, "message":"event_outside_lobby_time_range"}
Does anybody know how I can configure the event so that the lobby opens up 15 minutes before each occurrence and closes 15 minutes after each occurrence?