Administrators can choose to create a separate Meeting Type specifically for the Closed Session, rather than using the Closed Session Special Action. The Special Action applies automatic security to the Closed Session within a meeting site, where access is controlled by the Attendee Group. However, Administrators in a Meeting Site will have access to the Closed Session and this access cannot be revoked. If you have Administrators who should not be able to access the Closed Session, creating a separate Meeting Type allows you to control access for Administrators, by downgrading their User Permissions.

Consideration should be given to your participants, who will have to switch between meeting sites in eSCRIBE during a live meeting, in order to access the Closed Meeting Type.

First, begin by copying an existing meeting type which will become the Closed Session.

To copy a meeting type, first go to Meeting Management from the eSCRIBE Portal Menu Bar, and click on the Copy link below a selected meeting type. At this point, administrators can select whether to copy just the meeting profile, or to include the agenda structure as well.

By selecting to include the agenda structure, the overall structure of the meeting is copied including categories, sub-items, and default text (resolutions, minutes, etc). If this option is not selected, then only the meeting profile will be copied, and the agenda structure for the new meeting type will be blank.

Note: At a minimum, the following values typically need to be changed when copying a meeting type:

Agenda - Agenda Document Titles

Minutes - Minutes Document Titles

When Copying the Meeting Type, expand the Administration Section. Here, Administrators can list any Users who will be able to access the Closed Session. Meeting Administrators will have full access to the Closed Session Meeting Type. Meeting Creation Administrators will be able to only create new meetings using this meeting type, and Meeting Type Administrators will be able to update the Closed Session Meeting Type (settings and agenda template).

For the Closed Session Meeting Type, there are other settings which should be disabled for security and privacy:

Expand the Meeting Section of Settings and Click on Meeting Settings to expand the subsection.

Scroll down, and uncheck the Video setting as well as Internet Publishing. This will disable Webcasting (if enabled) and ensure that the Closed Session Documents cannot be published to the Website accidentally. The Video setting can be left enabled if you will be recording the meeting internally, however please ensure you Unpublish the Live Stream first.

Next, you would add items to the Agenda Template as you would for any meeting type.

Related Articles:

1. Adding Items to the Agenda Template
2. Managing the Closed Session Meeting
3. Administrator - Creating a Closed Agenda Item from an Approved Report