How to Switch to Lobby (Without a Migration Project) · Lobby

Switching workplace software has a reputation, and it's mostly earned. Data exports, contract overlap, a rollout plan, a champion to herd everyone onto the new thing. By the time it's done, you've spent more on the move than on the first year of the tool.

Meeting room displays don't need to work that way. The job is narrow — show what's in a room, let someone book it, do it on a screen by the door — and a narrow job shouldn't carry a wide migration.

This post walks through what switching to Lobby actually involves. No sales call required, and you can do most of it on your lunch break.

What you're actually moving (and what you're not)

The honest answer: there's very little to migrate.

Your meeting rooms already live in your calendar system as room resources. Your bookings already live there too. A room display tool — Lobby included — doesn't own that data. It reads it. So when you switch displays, your rooms, schedules, and existing bookings don't go anywhere. They stay exactly where they are, in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.

What you're replacing is the display layer — the screen and software that show the room's status. That's it. Nobody has to re-enter rooms, re-create recurring meetings, or re-train on a new booking flow. People keep booking rooms the way they already do, from the calendar.

That single fact is what makes switching quick: there's no database to port.

The switch, step by step

1. Connect your calendar. Sign in with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and grant Lobby read access to your room resources. This is the one step that touches your existing setup, and it's a standard OAuth connection — no admin migration ticket.

2. Pick your rooms. Choose which meeting rooms you want a display for. They're already there from your calendar; you're just selecting them.

3. Choose a surface. Lobby runs the same room view on three things, so you can match whatever you've already got on the wall:

A physical e-ink display by the door, on open-source TRMNL hardware — bought once, owned outright, up to 12 months of battery on a charge.
A virtual display in any browser tab — put it on a tablet, a TV, or any screen you already own.
A room overview display — every room at a glance on one screen.

If you're already running tablets or screens outside your rooms, you don't need to buy anything. Point them at the virtual display and you're done.

4. Go live. The display shows the room. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes.

Running both in parallel (the safe way to switch)

You don't have to flip a switch and hope. Because Lobby is free for up to 3 active displays, forever, you can stand it up next to whatever you have now and watch it for a week. Same rooms, same calendar, two displays running side by side. If it does the job, retire the old one. If it doesn't, you've spent nothing and nobody noticed.

This is the part most switching guides skip, because most tools make you commit before you can evaluate. With a free tier and no sales call, the trial is the migration.

Timing your old contract

The one thing worth planning is billing overlap. If your current tool is on an annual contract, note the renewal date and switch before it auto-renews. Since you can run Lobby's free tier alongside your existing setup at no cost, there's no pressure to cancel early — you can validate Lobby first and let the old contract simply lapse.

If your current displays use proprietary hardware, that hardware stays with the old tool. Lobby's e-ink option is separate hardware you own; the virtual display needs no hardware at all.

What switching to Lobby gets you

A real bill you can see. Free for up to 3 displays. $30 / month for unlimited, billed yearly at $360. No quote, no form, no call.
Hardware you own, or none at all. Buy the e-ink display once, or run the virtual display on screens you already have.
One job, done. Room displays — not surveys, analytics, desks, or visitor flows. If that's all you need outside your meeting rooms, that's all you pay for.

Where switching to Lobby is the wrong move

In keeping with being straight about it: if you need workplace analytics, desk booking, visitor management, or employee surveys, Lobby doesn't do those and isn't trying to. A full platform is the right call, and switching to Lobby would leave you short.

TL;DR

Your rooms and bookings live in your calendar, not the display tool — so there's nothing to migrate.
Connect Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, pick your rooms, choose a screen, go live. About 10 minutes.
Run Lobby free alongside your current setup until you're sure, then let the old contract lapse.
Free for up to 3 displays; $30 / month for unlimited, billed yearly at $360.

On Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and want to test the switch? Get Lobby free. Three displays, no card, no sales call.