Providing insights about attendees of smart web-events

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a list of participants invited to a meeting, the list of participants including a first participant and a second participant;

determining, automatically by the processor in response to receiving the list, whether the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant, the determining comprising searching information sources that include electronic communication records and meeting records;

based on determining that the first participant has not previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, background information about the second participant from public information sources including the world-wide-web; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the retrieved information about the second participant to the first participant via a user interface of a user device, the user interface including the list of participants in a first order and an indication that the retrieved information about the second participant is associated with the second participant;

based on determining that the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the information about the interaction to the first participant via the user interface of the user device, the user interface including the list of participants in the first order and an indication that the retrieved information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant is associated with the second participant;

and

obtaining, automatically by the processor and while the first participant is logged into the meeting, additional information about the second participant, and based at least in part on the additional information updating the user interface presented to the user to include the list of participants in a second order different than the first order,

wherein the meeting is a web conference.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the determining is performed during the web conference.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises searching for an electronic communication between the first participant and the second participant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises searching for another meeting that was attended by both the first participant and the second participant.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the background information about the second participant comprises a picture of the second participant.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant includes one or both of a date of the interaction and a description of the interaction including roles of the first participant and the second participant in the interaction.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is a display device.

8. A system comprising:

a memory having computer readable instructions; and

one or more processors for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions controlling the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a list of participants invited to a meeting, the list of participants including a first participant and a second participant, the determining comprising searching information sources that include electronic communication records and meeting records;

determining, automatically by the processor in response to receiving the list, whether the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant;

based on determining that the first participant has not previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, background information about the second participant from public information sources including the world-wide-web; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the retrieved information about the second participant to the first participant via a user interface of a user device, the user interface including the list of participants in a first order and an indication that the retrieved information about the second participant is associated with the second participant;

based on determining that the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the information about the interaction to the first participant via the user interface of the user device, the user interface including the list of participants in the first order and an indication that the retrieved information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant is associated with the second participant;

and

obtaining, automatically by the processor and while the first participant is logged into the meeting, additional information about the second participant and based at least in part on the additional information updating the user interface presented to the user to include the list of participants in a second order different than the first order,

wherein the meeting is a web conference.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least a subset of the determining is performed during the web conference.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining comprises searching for an electronic communication between the first participant and the second participant.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the determining further comprises searching for another meeting that was attended by both the first participant and the second participant.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the background information about the second participant comprises a picture of the second participant.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant includes one or both of a date of the interaction and a description of the interaction including roles of the first participant and the second participant in the interaction.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a list of participants invited to a meeting, the list of participants including a first participant and a second participant;

determining, automatically by the processor in response to receiving the list, whether the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant, the determining comprising searching information sources that include electronic communication records and meeting records;

based on determining that the first participant has not previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, background information about the second participant from public information sources including the world-wide-web; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the retrieved information about the second participant to the first participant via a user interface of a user device, the user interface including the list of participants in a first order and an indication that the retrieved information about the second participant is associated with the second participant;

based on determining that the first participant has previously interacted with the second participant:

retrieving, automatically by the processor, information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant; and

presenting, in response to the first participant logging into the meeting, the information about the interaction to the first participant via the user interface of the user device, the user interface including the list of participants in the first order and an indication that the retrieved information about an interaction between the first participant and the second participant is associated with the second participant;

and

obtaining, automatically by the processor and while the first participant is logged into the meeting, additional information about the second participant and based at least in part on the additional information updating the user interface presented to the user to include the list of participants in a second order different than the first order,

wherein the meeting is a web conference.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein at least a subset of the determining is performed during the web conference.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the determining further comprises one or both of:

searching for an electronic communication between the first participant and the second participant, and

searching for another meeting that was attended by both the first participant and the second participant.