Conference Bridge

A conference bridge is a central channel where all responders can gather for collaboration. Conference bridges allow responders to connect to your preferred web conferencing provider directly from an incident, via phone, or meeting URL. You can use the same conference bridge for all major incidents, or configure multiple as needed.

There are two ways to create conference bridges in your PagerDuty account:

There are two ways to add a conference bridge to an incident:

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Availability

This feature is available on current Business, Enterprise for Incident Management, and Digital Operations (Legacy) plans. Contact the Sales Team if you want to upgrade to a plan that includes this feature.

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Best Practice

For an in-depth look at how to incorporate conference bridges into your organization's processes, refer to the Incident Response best practice guide.

Create an Account-Level Conference Bridge

You can add conference bridges as account-level extensions to view a persistent list of conference lines to choose from when triggering an incident.

  1. In the PagerDuty web app, navigate to Integrations Extensions.
  2. Select the Conference Bridges tab.
  3. Click New Conference Bridge.
  4. Enter the following. You must enter either a Conference Number or Conference URL, or both:
FieldInstructions
LabelEnter a logical name for the conference bridge to help you identify it in the conference bridge dropdown.
DescriptionEnter a brief description of the conference bridge.
Conference NumberEnter the phone number users can call into, if applicable. Phone numbers must use the following format: 415-555-1212,,,,1234#, where a comma (,) represents a one-second wait and pound (#) completes access code input.
Conference URLEnter a meeting URL, if applicable.
  1. Click Create. The conference bridge becomes available as an option under Advanced Options when creating a new incident.
A screenshot of the PagerDuty UI indicating how to add a conference bridge to an incident

Add a conference bridge

Edit an Account-Level Conference Bridge

  1. Navigate to Integrations Extensions.
  2. Select the Conference Bridges tab.
  3. To the right of the conference bridge, click Edit.
  4. Edit the necessary details.
  5. Click Save.

Delete an Account-Level Conference Bridge

  1. Navigate to Integrations Extensions.
  2. Select the Conference Bridges tab.
  3. To the right of the conference bridge, click Delete.
  4. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

Create a Service-Level Conference Bridge

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Conference Bridge for All Incidents

When you add a conference bridge to a service, the conference bridge information appears on all incidents that trigger on that service. Add a conference bridge to services dedicated to critical incidents that require team coordination.

  1. In the PagerDuty web app, navigate to Services Service Directory.
  2. Click the name of your desired service and select the Settings tab.
  3. Scroll to the Coordinate Responders and Stakeholders section and click Edit on the right.
  4. Enter the conference bridge information. You must enter either a Conference Bridge Dial-In Number or Conference Bridge Meeting URL, or both:
    • Conference Bridge Dial-In Number: Enter the phone number users must call to join the conference, if applicable. Phone numbers must use the following format: 415-555-1212,,,,1234#, where a comma (,) represents a one-second wait and pound (#) completes access code input.
    • Conference Bridge Meeting URL: Enter a meeting URL, if applicable.
  5. Click Save Changes.

When an incident is triggered on your service, the conference bridge information appears in the web app and in email notifications.

A screenshot of the PagerDuty web app showing conference bridge details

Conference bridge details

Edit a Service-Level Conference Bridge

  1. Navigate to Services Service Directory.
  2. Select the service containing the conference bridge you want to edit.
  3. Select the Settings tab.
  4. Scroll to the Coordinate Responders and Stakeholders section and click Edit.
  5. Edit the Conference Bridge Dial-In Number and/or Conference Bridge Meeting URL as needed.
  6. Click Save Changes.

Delete a Service-Level Conference Bridge

  1. Navigate to Services Service Directory.
  2. Select the service containing the conference bridge you want to delete.
  3. Select the Settings tab.
  4. Scroll to the Coordinate Responders and Stakeholders section and click Edit on the right.
  5. Remove the Conference Bridge Dial-In Number and/or Conference Bridge Meeting URL.
  6. Click Save Changes.

Manually Add a Conference Bridge to an Incident via Add Responders

If you do not have conference bridge information added to your service, use the Add Responders feature to input conference bridge information.

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Add Responders Requirement

To manually add a conference bridge to an open incident, use the Add Responders feature. You can also add a conference bridge using an Incident Workflow with a manual trigger.

  1. After an incident is triggered, acknowledge the incident and click Add Responders.
  2. Select the Users and/or Escalation Policies to add to the incident (required for this option).
  3. Under Add a conference bridge, use the dropdown to Select a pre-configured conference bridge if you have an account-level or service-level conference bridge configured. Alternatively, enter the Area Code, Dial-in Number, and Meeting URL to manually create a conference bridge. Phone numbers must use the following format: 415-555-1212,,,,1234#, where a comma (,) represents a one-second wait and pound (#) completes access code input.
  4. Click Save.

Requests are sent to responders, who can review conference bridge details on the incident details page and in responder email notifications.

Add a Conference Bridge to an Incident with an Incident Workflow

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Availability

This feature is available on current Business, Enterprise for Incident Management, and Digital Operations (Legacy) plans. Contact the Sales Team if you want to upgrade to a plan that includes this feature.

Adding a conference bridge to an Incident Workflow allows you to automatically mobilize responders when specific conditions are met or with a single click. Refer to Incident Workflows for instructions on adding a conference bridge to a workflow.

Join a Conference Bridge as a Responder

Conference bridge information is available in incidents in the web app, email notifications, Slack (if you have a Slack integration configured), and via voice call. When referencing the web app, email notifications, or Slack, responders must manually dial in to the conference bridge or click the link. For voice call notifications, responders can use the One Touch To Join feature.

Example Responder Notifications

Conference Bridge Information in the Web App

A screenshot of the PagerDuty web app showing conference bridge information

Conference bridge information in the web app

Conference Bridge Information in Email Notifications

A screenshot of an email notification showing conference bridge information

Conference bridge information in email notifications

Conference Bridge Information in Slack Notifications

A screenshot of Slack showing conference bridge information

Conference bridge information in Slack notifications

Conference Bridge Information in Voice Call Notifications

When responders receive voice call notifications, they hear the following prompt:

PagerDuty Alert. Please help me with [Incident Title]

Press [#] to accept
Press [#] to decline
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Response Numbers

The numbers users are prompted to enter when accepting or declining a responder request may vary.

By default, users do not receive conference bridge information in the voice call. Once accepted, they need to check the incident in the web app, an email notification, or a Slack notification to obtain the conference bridge information and dial in manually.

To enable responders to join conference bridges via voice call notifications, use the One Touch To Join Conference Bridge add-on feature.

One Touch To Join Conference Bridge

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Note

One Touch to Join Conference Bridge works with Conference Bridge and Add Responders, available on Business, Enterprise for Incident Management, and Digital Operations (Legacy) plans. Contact our Sales team to upgrade to a plan with these features.

The One Touch To Join Conference Bridge feature enables rapid assembly of response teams by giving responders a push-button way to join a conference bridge. This feature relies on Conference Bridge and Add Responders. When responders are added to an incident and receive a voice call, they can select "Join the bridge" to be immediately added to the conference call. One Touch To Join works with your existing direct-dial conference bridge provider and reduces time-to-engage and resolution time for major incidents.

Configure One Touch To Join Conference Bridge

  1. Configure a conference bridge.
  2. Each responder must have the following configured in their PagerDuty user profile:
A screenshot of the PagerDuty web app detailing a user's phone contact method

Phone contact method

A screenshot of the PagerDuty web app detailing a user's phone notification rule

Phone notification rule

  1. During an incident with a conference bridge, add responders using the Add Responders feature or at scale with Incident Workflows.

Any requested responder with the above configuration receives a voice call with the following prompt:

PagerDuty Alert. Please help with [Incident Title]

Press 1 to join the bridge
Press 2 to accept the request
Press 3 to decline the request

The following table describes the effect of each response:

ResponseResultResponder StatusConference Bridge ImpactIncident Timeline
1 — Join the BridgeResponder joins the bridge and the responder request is accepted.Marked as Joined, per the icon on the Responders box in the Incident Detail page.Responder automatically joins the bridge. No manual dialing required.Entry created showing when the responder joined the call.
2 — Accept the RequestResponder request is accepted.Marked as Joined.Responder must manually dial into the bridge. Participation is not visible on the timeline.Entry created showing the accepted request.
3 — Decline the RequestResponder request is declined.Marked as Declined. If the responder is part of an escalation policy, the next escalation level is paged.None.Entry created documenting the declined request.
No AnswerResponder request is unanswered.Remains Pending. If the responder is part of an escalation policy, the next escalation level is paged.None.None.

Logged Events

Whenever a responder who joined the bridge via One Touch To Join disconnects, or when the bridge call ends, the Incident Timeline reflects these departures. This information is also available in post-incident reviews and Jeli Post-Incident Reviews.

Connection Duration

You can add as many responders to your conference bridge as your conference provider allows. One Touch To Join calls disconnect after two hours. If the responder still needs to participate, they can manually redial the bridge using the conference details on the PagerDuty incident.

Missed Calls

If a responder misses a voice call, PagerDuty attempts to reach them via each configured contact method for their high-urgency notification rules. PagerDuty recommends configuring at least two contact methods so that if one channel is missed, context is available in another. For example, if a user misses a voice call, they can still manually join the conference bridge using information from the web app, an email notification, or a Slack message — but they cannot use One Touch To Join.

Supported Countries

The One Touch To Join feature is supported in over 30 countries. Countries are classified as Base or Premium. One Touch To Join is available when both of the following are true:

  • The conference bridge is hosted in a Base country.
  • Requested responders' phone numbers are from a Base or Premium country.
Base CountriesPremium Countries*
Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United StatesAll Base countries, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Ukraine

*One Touch To Join works with conference bridges hosted in Base countries only.