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My Members Can't See Meetings ​

If your board or committee members are telling you they can't see upcoming meetings in their portal, the most likely cause is their set role and that they haven't been invited to those meetings yet.

Why This Happens ​

Our Cat Herder uses a combine role and invite-based permission model for meetings. Whether a member can see a meeting depends on their role and whether they have been specifically invited.

Why Does It Work This Way? ​

This permission structure is intentional. It allows you to run meeting for different groups in your organisation (such as board meetings and sub-committee meetings) within a single portal while controlling exactly who has access to what.

For example, you may not want sub-committee members to see board meeting materials, or vice-versa. By requiring explicit invites for members with basic roles, Our Cat Herder ensures that sensitive meeting data is only visible to those who should have access.

You can find out more about running sub-committees and staff meetings in your portal here.

Roles That Must Be Invited ​

Members assigned any of the following roles can only see meetings they have been invited to or have created themselves:

  • Member
  • Ordinary Member/Director
  • Staff
  • Guest
  • Ex-Officio
  • Trustee
  • Auditor
  • Billing Contact
  • Other

Many organisations have the majority of their board members assigned the Member role. If your members have this role, they will not see any meeting until they are explicitly added as an attendee.

Recommended Role Configuration

The recommended setup for most portals is two members with the Admin role and everyone else assigned either Member or Staff. This keeps your permissions tight and ensures that access to meetings and other portal data is always explicitly granted rather than open by default.

Roles That Can See All Meetings ​

Members assigned one of the following senior or office-holder roles have full access to view all meetings without needing an invite:

  • Admin
  • Chair
  • Co-Chair
  • Deputy Chair
  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • CEO
  • Executive Officer

If a member has one of these roles they will already be able to see all meetings. They do not need to be individually invited (though you should still invite them to track attendance).

Meeting Chairperson & Minute Taker ​

Any member who is set as the meeting chairperson or assigned as the minute taker for a specific meeting will have elevated access to that meeting, regardless of their role. This includes the ability to view and manage that meeting's details, agenda and attendees.

How to Fix It ​

Invite Members to a Meeting ​

  1. Navigate to Meetings from the left-hand menu
  2. Click on the meeting you want to add members to
  3. Use the Attendees section to add the members who need access

For a detailed walkthrough, see the Meeting Attendees & Invites video guide.

Invite Members to Multiple Meetings at Once ​

If you have several upcoming meetings that need attendees added, you can use the Batch Add tool on the Meetings page to add portal members to multiple meetings at once rather than doing it one meeting at a time.

For a detailed walkthrough, see the Batch Add video guide.

Quick Checklist ​

  • Check the member's role — If they have the Member role (or similar), they need an invite. See the full Member permissions page for details.
  • Check the meeting's attendee list — If the meeting has no attendees added, no one with a basic role will be able to see it.
  • Consider using Batch Add — If you have several meetings to update, the Batch Add tool on the Meetings page will save you time.
  • Review if a role change is appropriate — If a member should always see all meetings (e.g. they hold a senior position), consider whether their assigned role reflects their actual position. See the Roles overview for guidance.

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