Meeting Types

Learn how to configure different types of meetings with customized role sets, allowing your club to schedule special events like Speaker Nights, Contests, or Workshops.

Understanding Meeting Types

Meeting types let you configure different role sets for different kinds of meetings. Instead of every meeting using the same roles, you can create variations to match how your club actually operates.

There are two categories of meeting types:

Modified Regular Meetings

These are meetings that use your club’s existing roles but with a customized selection and slot counts.

Examples:

• Speaker Night – Extra speaker slots, no Table Topics
• Evaluation Workshop – Extra evaluators, reduced speakers
• Short Meeting – Fewer roles to fit a compressed schedule

Key features:

• Uses roles from your existing “Configure Roles” settings
• The algorithm automatically assigns members (same as regular meetings)
• Role history is tracked for fair rotation
• You choose which roles to include and how many slots each role has

Special Events

These are completely custom meetings with unique roles that don’t appear in your regular schedule.

Examples:

• Speech Contest – Contest Chair, Chief Judge, Ballot Counter, Timers
• Club Awards Night – Master of Ceremonies, Award Presenter
• Joint Meeting – Custom roles for multi-club events

Key features:

• You create custom slot names specific to each event type
• VP Education manually assigns members (no automatic assignment)
• Role history is NOT tracked (these are one-off events)
• Roles do not appear on your regular “Configure Roles” page

Accessing Meeting Types

1. Log in as a club officer
2. Click Settings in the navigation menu
3. Select Meeting Types from the menu

Or navigate directly to: Club Settings > Meeting Types

[Screenshot: Navigation menu showing Meeting Types option]

Creating a Meeting Type

Step 1: Access the Create Page

1. Go to Club Settings > Meeting Types
2. Click + Create Meeting Type

[Screenshot: Meeting Types list page with Create button highlighted]

Step 2: Enter Basic Information

Fill in the basic details:

• Name (required) – Give your meeting type a clear, descriptive name (e.g., “Speaker Night”, “Contest”, “Board Meeting”)
• Description (optional) – Add notes about when this type is used
• Set as default – Check this if you want new meetings to use this type by default

[Screenshot: Meeting type create form – basic information section]

Step 3: Choose the Meeting Type Category

Select which category best fits your needs:

Modified Regular (green border)

• Choose this when you want to use your existing club roles with different configurations
• The algorithm will automatically assign members
• Good for routine meeting variations

Special Event (orange border)

• Choose this when you need completely custom roles
• You will manually assign members
• Good for contests, award ceremonies, and one-off events

[Screenshot: Meeting type category selection showing both options]

Step 4: Configure Roles

For Modified Regular meetings:

1. You’ll see a list of all your active club roles
2. Check the box next to each role you want to include
3. Adjust the Slots number to set how many of that role are needed
   • Example: Regular meetings might have 3 Speakers, but Speaker Night has 5

[Screenshot: Role selection for Modified Regular meeting type showing checkboxes and slot counts]

For Special Events:

1. Click + Add Slot to create each role slot
2. Enter a name for each slot (e.g., “Contest Chair”, “Chief Judge”)
3. Set the number of slots for each role (usually 1)
4. Check Event Admin if that role should be able to edit assignments for this meeting
5. Drag the handle on the left to reorder slots

[Screenshot: Slot configuration for Special Event showing multiple custom slots]

Step 5: Save the Meeting Type

Click Create Meeting Type to save your configuration.

You’ll be returned to the Meeting Types list where you can see your new type.

Editing a Meeting Type

1. Go to Club Settings > Meeting Types
2. Find the meeting type you want to edit
3. Click Edit
4. Make your changes:
   • Update name or description
   • Change default status
   • Add or remove roles (Modified Regular)
   • Add, remove, or rename slots (Special Events)
5. Click Save Changes

[Screenshot: Meeting type edit page]

Deleting a Meeting Type

1. Go to Club Settings > Meeting Types
2. Find the meeting type you want to delete
3. Click Delete
4. Confirm the deletion

Using Meeting Types in Schedules

During Schedule Creation

When you create a new schedule, you’ll be asked if you want to customize meeting types:

1. Click Create Schedule from your dashboard
2. If you have meeting types configured, you’ll see:
   • “Will all meetings be regular?” with Yes/No options
3. If you select Yes – All meetings use regular roles (standard behavior)
4. If you select No – You’ll be taken to a screen where you can assign types to each meeting date

[Screenshot: Schedule creation showing meeting type question]

Assigning Meeting Types to Dates

When you choose to customize meeting types:

1. You’ll see a list of all meeting dates in the schedule
2. For each date, select the meeting type from the dropdown:
   • Regular (all roles) – Uses all active club roles (default)
   • [Your Meeting Types] – Uses the configuration you defined
3. Use the Quick Actions buttons to set all meetings to a specific type at once
4. Click Save & Continue to Schedule

[Screenshot: Set Meeting Types page showing date list with dropdown selections]

Changing Meeting Types on Draft Schedules

While editing a draft schedule:

1. Click the Meeting Types button at the top of the schedule edit page
2. Adjust the meeting type for any date
3. Save your changes

What happens:

• For Modified Regular types: Existing assignments are preserved where possible, new roles are assigned automatically
• For Special Events: Assignments are cleared and you’ll need to manually assign members

Viewing Meeting Types on Schedules

On both draft and published schedules:

• Each meeting column header shows the meeting type badge
• Green badge = Modified Regular meeting type
• Orange badge = Special Event meeting type
• No badge = Regular meeting (uses all active roles)

[Screenshot: Schedule view showing meeting type badges in column headers]

Working with Special Events

Special Event meetings work differently from regular meetings:

Assigning Members to Special Events

1. In the schedule grid, find the Special Event meeting column
2. You’ll see a large “Special Event” card with “Manage Assignments” link
3. Click Manage Assignments to open the Special Event editor
4. For each role slot:
   • Click the dropdown to select a member
   • Changes save automatically when you make a selection
5. Contact information appears below each selection

[Screenshot: Special Event edit page showing role slots and member selection]

Event Admin Permission

When creating Special Event roles, you can mark certain slots as “Event Admin”:

• Members assigned to Event Admin roles can edit all assignments for that specific meeting
• This is useful for delegating contest management to a Contest Chair, for example
• Regular officers still have full editing access

No History Tracking

Special Event roles do NOT create role history entries. This means:

• These assignments don’t affect rotation fairness calculations
• Members won’t show these roles in their “time since last role” counts
• This is intentional – special events are one-off situations

Understanding How the Algorithm Handles Meeting Types

Modified Regular Meetings

The automatic assignment algorithm works the same as regular meetings:

1. Uses only the roles you’ve selected for that meeting type
2. Uses the slot counts you’ve specified (not the role’s default)
3. Considers member eligibility, absences, and opt-outs
4. Follows fair rotation based on role history
5. Creates role history entries for fair future rotation

Special Event Meetings

When the algorithm encounters a Special Event meeting:

1. It skips automatic assignment entirely
2. Creates empty placeholder slots for each role
3. VP Education (or Event Admin) manually assigns members
4. No role history entries are created

Mixed Schedules

When a schedule contains multiple meeting types:

• Each meeting is processed according to its own type
• A member assigned to roles in a Regular meeting is tracked normally
• The same member assigned to a Special Event role is not double-counted
• Fair rotation calculations only consider trackable roles

Best Practices

Creating Effective Meeting Types

• Name clearly – Use names that immediately convey what the meeting is (e.g., “5-Speaker Night” instead of “Special Meeting 1”)
• Start simple – Create one or two meeting types first, add more as needed
• Review regularly – Update meeting types if your club’s needs change
• Document usage – Use the description field to note when each type should be used

Using Meeting Types in Schedules

• Plan ahead – Know which dates will be special before creating the schedule
• Use sparingly – Too many meeting type variations can confuse members
• Communicate – Let members know when a meeting will be different from usual
• Test first – Create a draft schedule to see how meeting types affect assignments

Managing Special Events

• Assign early – Fill Special Event roles well before the event date
• Use Event Admins – Delegate management to Contest Chairs or event organizers
• Track externally – Since history isn’t tracked, keep your own records if needed
• Confirm manually – Reach out to assigned members since automatic notifications don’t apply

Tips

• Default meeting type – If most of your meetings are a custom type, set it as default to save time
• Slot counts matter – Adjusting slot counts affects how many members are assigned to each role
• Preview assignments – After setting meeting types, review the schedule before publishing
• Role order – For Special Events, arrange slots in the order they should appear on the schedule
• Quick actions – Use the “All Regular” and “All [Type]” buttons to quickly set all meetings when creating schedules

Troubleshooting

I don’t see the Meeting Types option

• Meeting Types is currently only available for Toastmasters clubs
• Verify you’re logged in as an officer
• Check that your subscription is active

My meeting type doesn’t show any roles

• For Modified Regular: Make sure you’ve checked at least one role
• For Special Events: Make sure you’ve added at least one slot
• Verify your club has active roles configured

Members aren’t being assigned to my Modified Regular meeting

• Check that members are active and not absent for that date
• Verify members haven’t opted out of the selected roles
• Ensure role prerequisites are met
• Review the meeting type configuration for correct role selection

I can’t change a meeting type from Modified Regular to Special Event

• The category cannot be changed after creation
• Create a new meeting type with the correct category
• Delete the old meeting type if no longer needed

Assignments disappear when I change meeting types

• Changing from one type to another may require reassignment
• For Special Events, you always need to manually assign members
• For Modified Regular, the algorithm reassigns if roles change significantly

Special Event members didn’t get notification emails

• Special Event assignments don’t trigger automatic notifications
• Manually notify members assigned to Special Event roles
• Use the email tools to send custom communications

Related Articles

• Creating and Publishing Schedules
• Configuring Club Roles
• Club Settings Overview
• Email Communication Tools
• Managing Holidays