Managing the Closed Session Meeting – Help Center

How to manage Closed Session

Closed sessions can be managed one of two ways:

An entirely closed meeting where all items are closed
Closed items, or category of items, within a regular open session agenda

If the first option is the preferred option, then the agenda & minutes are created the exact same as any other meeting, usually the only difference being that a different attendee group is chosen.

Should the second option be chosen, this creates a closed meeting session within the regular open session meeting, so the meetings are connected to one another, also giving the opportunity of having an open session version of that information to be published on the open session agenda and/or minutes documents.

While there is no right or wrong method, there are pros and cons to each method of handling the closed information within eSCRIBE, this document will outline these factors and review how to create closed information for each option.

	Pros	Cons
Entirely Closed Meeting	eSCRIBE will manage 2 templates (open & closed sessions) Formatting and meeting procedure may be different for each meeting	There will be two separate meetings in eSCRIBE’s meeting list In the Participant Portal, participants will have to navigate between two separate meeting sites
Closed Items Within a Regular Open Meeting	Users only have to manage one meeting in eSCRIBE, the closed meeting will be a sub-meeting within the regular open session	A template for the closed session of the meeting cannot be pre-populated. Formatting and meeting procedure must be the same for both meetings

Note: To create a Closed session within a meeting, using the "Closed Session" special action category on the template is required. Additionally, when adding a new category to a meeting, choose the Closed Session option.

If you choose the second option, Administrators will navigate to the closed session sub-meeting using the Closed Session drop down option from the Meeting mode options.

Closed

Note: This item can have the same title as the open session item with the Closed Session special action applied to it from the template.

Items and resolutions can be added to the Closed Session Meeting the exact same way that they are added to the open session meeting, with the exception that some of the closed session information can be brought forward into the open session agenda or minutes documents. Administrators will control what content is brought into the open session agenda or minutes documents.