a computer system comprising one or more computing devices having at least one processor and memory storing registration data of participants of a virtual event hosted in a virtual environment, the registration data comprising one or more matching criteria, the computer system being programmed to perform steps comprising:

matching the participants into different matched groups based on the matching criteria;

generating a location in the virtual event and metadata for each of the matched groups based on the matching criteria;

assigning an instance of the virtual event to a first matched group;

sending invitations to join the first matched group, wherein the invitations comprise a portion of the metadata of the first matched group; and

in response to participants accepting the invitations to join the first matched group, granting the participants joining the first matched group membership and access to the first matched group to enable the joined participants to communicate with other members in the first matched group.