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Scheduling Special Event Meetings

Learn how to schedule non-standard meetings like speech contests, award nights, and joint club events using meeting types with custom role slots.

Note: Only club officers (President, VP Education, Secretary, or Admin) can create meeting types and manage special event assignments.

What Are Special Events?

Special events are meetings with completely custom roles that don't appear in your regular schedule. Unlike regular meetings where the algorithm assigns members automatically, special events use unique role slots that officers fill manually.

Common 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
  • Installation Ceremony -- Installing Officer, outgoing/incoming roles

Key differences from regular meetings:

Regular Meetings Special Events
Roles Your configured club roles Custom slots you define
Assignment Algorithm assigns automatically Officers assign manually
Role history Tracked for fair rotation NOT tracked
Notifications Automatic Manual (officers notify members)

Creating a Special Event Meeting Type

Step 1: Create the Meeting Type

  1. Go to Club Settings > Meeting Types
  2. Click + Create Meeting Type
  3. Enter a Name (e.g., "Speech Contest", "Awards Night")
  4. Optionally add a Description noting when this type is used
  5. Select Special Event as the category (orange border)

Step 2: Define Role Slots

  1. Click + Add Slot to create each role
  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 (useful for delegating to a Contest Chair, for example)
  5. Drag the handle on the left to reorder slots as they should appear on the schedule

Step 3: Save

Click Create Meeting Type to save your configuration.

Using Special Events in Schedules

During Schedule Creation

  1. Click Create Schedule from your dashboard
  2. When asked "Will all meetings be regular?", select No
  3. On the meeting types screen, find the date for your special event
  4. Select your special event meeting type from the dropdown for that date
  5. Click Save & Continue to Schedule

On a Draft Schedule

If you already have a draft schedule:

  1. Click the Meeting Types button at the top of the schedule edit page
  2. Change the meeting type for the desired date to your special event
  3. Save your changes

Note: Changing a date to a Special Event type clears any existing automatic assignments for that meeting. You'll need to manually assign members.

Assigning Members to Special Events

  1. In the schedule grid, find the Special Event meeting column (marked with an orange badge)
  2. You'll see a large "Special Event" card with a 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
  5. Changes save automatically when you make a selection

Contact information appears below each selection to help with coordination.

Event Admin Permission

When creating Special Event role slots, marking a slot as Event Admin gives the assigned member permission to edit all assignments for that specific meeting. This is useful for:

  • Delegating contest management to the Contest Chair
  • Letting an event organizer handle their own role assignments
  • Sharing responsibility without granting full officer access

Regular officers still have full editing access regardless.

Important: 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 that shouldn't influence regular scheduling

If you need role history tracking, use a Modified Regular meeting type instead. See Set Up Meeting Types for details on the difference.

Tips

  • Plan ahead -- Know which dates will be special events before creating the schedule
  • Assign early -- Fill Special Event roles well before the event date
  • Use Event Admins -- Delegate management to Contest Chairs or event organizers
  • Notify manually -- Since automatic notifications don't apply to special events, use the Email Communication Tools to notify assigned members
  • Name slots clearly -- Use descriptive names so members understand their responsibilities
  • Reuse meeting types -- Once created, a special event meeting type can be reused whenever you have that kind of meeting

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 with an active subscription

Members didn't get notification emails

  • Special Event assignments don't trigger automatic notifications
  • Manually notify members using the email tools or direct communication

I want to change a Special Event back to a regular meeting

  • On the meeting types screen, change the dropdown back to "Regular (all roles)"
  • The algorithm will automatically assign members to the regular roles

I can't change the category of an existing meeting type

  • The category (Modified Regular vs. Special Event) cannot be changed after creation
  • Create a new meeting type with the correct category and delete the old one if needed

Assignments disappear when I change meeting types

  • Changing from one type to another may clear existing assignments
  • For Special Events, you always need to manually assign members after setting the type