Getting Started with Civic Roundtable - The Quick Start Guide

Overview

Welcome to Civic Roundtable! We are a government operations platform that connects public servants with the people and answers they need to achieve their mission. This guide will help you get started with using the platform. Please contact us at support@civicroundtable.com with any questions.

This article will cover the following topics:

Signing up & Logging into Roundtable
Navigating the platform
Exploring your Spaces
Creating & Interacting with Your Feed
Using Space Features
Managing Notifications

1. Signing up & Logging into Roundtable

To sign in to your Roundtable account:

Visit app.civicroundtable.com to log in to the platform
Log in with your username (your email) and password you created, or use an email code or link to log in.
1. We also support Single Sign-On (SSO) with Microsoft and Google—just select your preferred provider on the login page.
2. If you enabled two-factor authentication, enter your two-factor code from the authenticator app or text message.

To create a Roundtable account:

Enter your email to begin creating an account.
Create a password for your account.
After entering your username and password, verify your email address using the code sent to you.

Your Profile:

Member Profiles are meant to show other space members your work experiences, skills, and interests. It is often a jumping-off point for new conversations and connections. You’ll be asked to create your profile when you create an account; you can make changes later if needed.

Your profile includes basic details about you and your role (such as your name, job title, workplace)

You can also add optional information such as:

A brief bio
Jurisdiction size
Contact information
Skills and interests
Previous organizations
Relevant projects

2. Navigating the Platform

Key global features of Roundtable include:

Messages: See your direct and group messages on Civic Roundtable.
Spaces: View all of your spaces. From here, you see a description of each space. Clicking on a space will open its landing page.
Search Bar: Start typing to search across all your spaces and activities - posts, comments, resources, members, etc. Click on the result to navigate to the relevant content.
Notifications: View in-platform notifications on recent activity
My profile: View and edit your profile.
- Account Settings: reset your password, change your two-factor authentication settings, log-out.

3. Exploring Your Spaces

Roundtable spaces are where members connect, ask questions, and share best practices. When you enter a space, you’ll see its feed, which displays all posts within that space.

Next to the feed, you can view:
- Members: Everyone else that is in this space will be in the "Members" tab. You can learn about what they do for work, where they work, and contact them if you'd like to connect!
  - You can invite new members to the space using the “Invite Member” button on the members tab.
- Resources: A consolidated list of resources posted in the space - Think of the "Resources" tab as a shared drive. You can upload documents or externally link them.
- Events: A list of events shared in the space - Space members can share upcoming events by adding them to the Roundtable space calendar. You integrate your Roundtable calendar using the "subscribe" button located in the "Events" tab.
- About: Space managers will create an "About" section of their space so you can see what members use the space for.
Announcements appear at the top of your Space and highlight important, time-sensitive updates—like upcoming deadlines, emergency alerts, or event reminders.
- If you’ve enabled SMS or email notifications, you’ll receive announcements instantly.
- To adjust your notification settings, head to Manage Notifications.

4. Creating & Interacting with Your Feed

When creating content:
- Click "New Post" at the top of your feed to create a new post.
- Add a post title and a body, where you can include formatting, emojis, links, etc.
- You can also add optional items like:
  - Add an event or poll to your post.
  - Add tags to make your post easier to find later.
  - Upload relevant attachments as needed.
  - Save drafts of posts before publishing.
  - Edit or delete your posts at any time.
  - Upload resources or events in your post.

When interacting with content:
- React to posts using emojis and leave comments.
  - In the upper right corner of a post, you can:
    - Turn alerts on or off
    - Copy the post link to share it
- View the author’s profile by clicking their name or profile picture.
- Click on a tag to filter for posts with the same tag.
- Hover over the heart to react to a post with emojis.
- Click on attachments to preview them before downloading or sharing.

5. Using Space Features

Messaging: Messages help you connect with fellow space members.
- Send messages by clicking the “Messages” icon or selecting “Contact” from the “Members” tab in a space.
- View your current conversations or start a new one.
- To start a conversation with someone new in your space, click “New message.

Events: Access events via the Events tab in your space and see upcoming events on the right side of your homepage.
- View upcoming and past events and switch between calendar and list view.
- Click “Add Event” to create and share events with your space.
- Use the “Subscribe” button to sync your space’s calendar with Gmail or Outlook.
- Host meetings in Roundtable using our Roundtable Video feature.

AI Answers: AI Answers is a Roundtable-specific tool that helps users find information within their spaces.
- It responds to natural-language questions.
- The tool pulls data for its answers specifically from the Roundtable spaces you belong to.

Search: Access search via the top of your screen. Search for members, posts, resources, comments, and events across all your spaces.
- Scroll through results. Results are:
  - Ranked by match relevancy
  - Grouped by type
  - Click a search result to go directly to that content.
  - The search handles typos and misspellings.

6. Managing Notifications

Stay up to date with the latest activity in your spaces with notifications.

Click the bell icon in the top right corner of your screen, next to your profile image, to view the latest updates in your spaces.
To manage your email notifications, navigate to your Profile and select “Notification Settings.”

Enable SMS notifications to receive critical announcements via text.
- Click on your profile image and select “Manage Account.”
- Go to Notifications and enter or verify your phone number.
- Toggle SMS notifications ON for Announcements.

If you want a recap sent straight to your inbox, use the digests features.

Thank you!

Welcome to Roundtable! We are excited to have you and grateful for your partnership in building this space from the ground-up with us. If you have any issues or feedback on the application, we would love to hear from you! Select the “?” widget from the bottom-left corner of your screen, enter your question/comment/issue, and our team will be with you ASAP!