diff --git a/client/src/components/ConferencePage/ConferencePage.tsx b/client/src/components/ConferencePage/ConferencePage.tsx
index 0a6553f..497f5bb 100644
--- a/client/src/components/ConferencePage/ConferencePage.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/ConferencePage/ConferencePage.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import React, { FunctionComponent, useEffect } from 'react';
+import { Config } from '../../config';
 import { useUserProfile } from '../../gql/queries/profile';
 import { useConference } from '../../hooks/useConference';
 import { Page } from '../Page';
@@ -13,8 +14,6 @@ const StatusThumbsUp = 'thumbs-up';
 const StatusThumbsDown = 'thumbs-down';
 const StatusNoVote = 'no-vote';
 
-const HeartbeatInterval = 5000;
-
 export const ConferencePage:FunctionComponent<ConferencePageProps> = () => {
   const { user } = useUserProfile();
   const { uuid, data, setNickname, setEmail, ping, setStatus, forget } = useConference();
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ export const ConferencePage:FunctionComponent<ConferencePageProps> = () => {
 
   useEffect(() => {
     ping();
-    const intervalId = setInterval(() => ping(), HeartbeatInterval);
+    const intervalId = setInterval(() => ping(), Config.conferenceHeartbeatInterval + (Math.random() * Config.conferenceHeartbeatInterval/2));
     return () => clearInterval(intervalId);
   }, []);
 
@@ -89,7 +88,7 @@ export const ConferencePage:FunctionComponent<ConferencePageProps> = () => {
 
                 if (p === uuid) return null;
 
-                if (now.getTime() > lastHeartBeat.getTime() + HeartbeatInterval) {
+                if (now.getTime() > lastHeartBeat.getTime() + Config.conferenceHeartbeatInterval*2) {
                   forget(p);
                   return null;
                 }
diff --git a/client/src/config.ts b/client/src/config.ts
index 51b9803..a9b4fb9 100644
--- a/client/src/config.ts
+++ b/client/src/config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ export const Config = {
   logoutURL: get<string>("logoutURL", "http://localhost:8081/logout"),
   graphQLEndpoint: get<string>("graphQLEndpoint", "http://localhost:8081/api/v1/graphql"),
   subscriptionEndpoint: get<string>("subscriptionEndpoint", "ws://localhost:8081/api/v1/graphql"),
+  conferenceHeartbeatInterval: get<number>("conferenceHeartbeatInterval", 10000),
 };
 
 function get<T>(key: string, defaultValue: T):T {