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      Zeck Lifecycle

      Here is a quick rundown of the general lifecycle of creating and sharing a Zeck.

      Included in this article:

      1. Adding Members & Admins
      2. Setting up your Templates
      3. Duplicating Templates
      4. Adding Users
      5. Collaborate in the Editor
      6. Adding Viewers
      7. Save, Preview & Publish
      8. Voting
      9. Minutes
      10. Start over

      1. Adding Members & Admins

      When you’re first getting set up in Zeck, you’ll want to get all of your most important people added so they can start contributing and engaging with your board materials. 

      • When you’re adding users on the People page, it’s good to think about what access and communications you’ll want them to have. 
        • You can always click the “Do not send email notifications” box so that you can control when and how they are given access to Zeck
        • You want to remember to toggle on Admin permissions for the select few that you give full Admin access to. 
        • Be selective with your Admins. They can see everything in your account, create new Zecks, add/remove people and record votes.

      2. Setting Up Your Templates

      Once you’ve added people and you’re ready to start making Zecks, a great place to start is to make a template for your meeting. Your account will have a copy of the board meeting framework text that we recommend. You can either duplicate this and go from there or start from scratch. 

      3. Duplicating Templates

      Once you’ve settled on the ideal outline you can continue to duplicate your most recent version and rename it each time.

      Worth Mentioning: It’s a great idea to change the cover image of each Zeck for quick identification on your Homepage.

      4. Adding Users

      When you’re adding users on the People page, it’s good to think about what access and communications you’ll want them to have. 

      • You can always click the “Do not send email notifications” box so that you can control when and how they are given access to Zeck
      • Your contributors can be added on a section-by-section basis which is great for controlling who has access to what information within your org. 
      • Just remember, Viewers can always view the entire Zeck.

      5. Collaborate in the Editor

      Once you’ve gotten your people up and running as section Contributors in Zeck, you can start collaborating in the Editor. The Editor comments are a super easy way to review and communicate within Zeck. This feedback tool makes getting your board meeting materials organized in Zeck fast and pain-free. 

      Worth Mentioning:

      • None of your Editor comments will be viewable in the published Zeck so no worries about having to come back and delete them.
      • Comments are viewable only to Admins and the contributors in the Section where you are commenting. 

      6. Adding Viewers

      You can add your Viewers to Zeck at any point in the preparation process. They won’t have access to anything other than the published Zeck once you send them the link.  

      • Just remember, Viewers can always view the entire Zeck.
      • Viewers can be given standard or passwordless-access to your published Zeck. 
      • You can enable Request Access for each of your Zecks to allow greater flexibility with sharing.
      • Commenting in the Published Zeck is automatically on. If, for any reason, you would like to turn off commenting for a specific Zeck, that can be done when you click Publish (or Publish Changes)

      7. Save, Preview & Publish

      Your Sections are all set up and you’re about ready to send the Zeck to your board. See, it was easy, wasn’t it? Zeck automatically saves so there’s nothing for you to do on that front. 

      You’ll want to Preview the Zeck before you publish it. The built-in guardrails make it nearly impossible to mess up the formatting - but it’s still smart to get a good look at how the Sections are set up. This is your chance to catch an attachment that hasn’t been linked yet or an image that needs to be replaced. 

      Once everything looks great, go ahead and click Publish…and now you’re ready to start sharing with your board members.

      Worth Mentioning:

      • If you need to make any changes after you’ve already published your Zeck, make sure to click the Publish Changes button in the Editor so that your viewers will see the most current version. 
      • But, don’t worry, they won’t see any changes until an Admin clicks that button. 

      8. Voting

      Any user designated as a Board Director on your People page will be able to Pre-Vote ahead of your meeting. 

      Votes can be finalized at all of your live meetings. You’ll simply hop into your Voting Section, click Take Vote and record “approved” or “not approved” for each vote included in your Zeck. The results will be recorded and stored in the Minutes Book. Please note: only account Admins can finalize a vote.

      9. Minutes

      Minutes can be created right within Zeck in your Minutes Books (located on your Homepage). The Agenda and Vote blocks that you add into your Zecks will help to populate information in your auto-generated meeting minutes. Once you’ve created minutes, you can easily share, approve and sign your minutes as well as store them for future reference.

      10. Start Over

      That’s it! You’ve finished your first Zeck from start to finish. Pat yourself on the back, grab a coffee, and bask in the glory of choosing Zeck. And then, go back to the Homepage and start over again!