# Creating an attendee for the Amazon Chime SDK
<a name="create-attendee"></a>

After you create a meeting, you create an attendee resource that represents each user trying to join the media session. The [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_meeting-chime_CreateAttendee.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_meeting-chime_CreateAttendee.html) API takes the following:
+ The `MeetingId` of the meeting to which you're adding the user.
+ An `ExternalUserId`, which can be any opaque user identifier from your identity system.

For example, if you use Active Directory (AD), this can be the object ID of the user in the AD. The `ExternalUserId` is valuable because it’s passed back to the client applications when they receive attendee events from the client SDKs. This allows the client application to know who joined or left the meeting and retrieve additional information from the server application about that user, such as a display name, email, or a picture. 

Calls to the `CreateAttendee` API result in an `Attendee` object. The object contains a unique `AttendeeId` that is generated by the service, the `ExternalUserId` that was passed in, and a signed `JoinToken` that allows the attendee to access the meeting for its duration, or until the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_meeting-chime_DeleteAttendee.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/APIReference/API_meeting-chime_DeleteAttendee.html) API deletes the attendee.

```
       attendee = await chime.createAttendee({
                MeetingId: meeting.MeetingId,
                ExternalUserId: externalUserId,
              }).promise();
```