Test assemblies

A test assembly is labelled "Test" for you and your voters, it produces no minutes or evidence pack, and it stays a test for good: to hold it for real, you duplicate it.

Steps

1. In the console, click New assembly.
2. Work through the wizard: How people join, The meeting, Who votes (not shown when people register themselves), How voting works, then Review. Click Continue → between steps.
3. On Review, tick Create as a test meeting. The text under it reads: "A free rehearsal for your organisation's administrators, labelled Test everywhere, with no minutes or evidence pack. It stays a test: to hold it for real, duplicate it as a new meeting."
4. Click Create assembly. The meeting is saved as a test, and nothing can change that afterwards in either direction.
5. Build the agenda, add yourself and the other administrators as voters, and send invitations as for a real meeting. Only the organisation's administrators can take part, each once.
6. Go live, vote and end the meeting.
7. Open the Results tab. Instead of export links it says: "A test meeting has no minutes or evidence pack. Duplicate it as a new meeting to hold it for real."
8. To hold the meeting for real, open the row menu in the assemblies list and choose Duplicate as draft. The copy is a new real draft called "<title> (Copy)" (see what it keeps, below).

Settings and what each does

Setting	What it does
Create as a test meeting (checkbox on Review)	Marks the meeting as a test at creation; cannot be changed later
Duplicate as draft (row menu in the assemblies list)	The only way to hold a rehearsal for real: makes a new real draft and copies the agenda

Every other setting (join type, voting rules, quorum, proxies, agenda) works as in a real meeting.

What Duplicate as draft keeps

Kept on the copy	Set again on the copy
The title, with "(Copy)" added, and the description	The voters, the eligible group and the invitations
The mode, venue and meeting link	Advance voting
The quorum, and Allow proxies	The Assembly type (for example Annual General Meeting)
The security level, and with it how people join	On each item: the secret ballot, the STV count settings and the advance-voting setting
Each agenda item's title, description, type, choices and candidates

Check the copy's settings and each item before you send invitations.

What is different from a real assembly

	Test assembly	Real assembly
Label	"Test" chip in the workspace header, assemblies list and dashboard; "Test meeting" chip on the voter screen; self-registration says "Test meeting: a rehearsal, its votes are not binding"	No label
Email subjects	"Test:" before invitation, ballot-link, broadcast and results emails	Normal subjects
Voters	The organisation's administrators only, each once (at most 20). Other members are not invited, and cannot register.	Set by what covers the meeting
Emails	At most 200 for the meeting; a send that would pass 200 is refused whole, with the number left	No such per-meeting limit
Open test meetings	At most 3 at once (Enterprise excepted)	Not limited this way
Minutes and evidence pack	Not available; results show in the console only	Available
Votes by shares or weights	Each voter counts as one vote	Depends on what covers the meeting
Payment	Nothing to buy; the console says "It is a test meeting, which is free."	Paid or covered
Counted as a meeting held	Never	Counted
"Meeting ended" email to admins	Not sent	Sent

Common mistakes

• Planning to switch it to real later. You can't. Duplicate it as a draft; the copy is the real meeting.
• Inviting members who are not administrators. A test meeting reaches only the organisation's administrators; the others are left out, and the send says how many.
• Rehearsing a share-weighted vote and expecting the weights to count. In a test, every voter has one vote.
• Expecting minutes or an evidence pack. A test produces neither.
• Assuming everything comes with the duplicate. The copy keeps the agenda and the meeting's main settings, not the voters, advance voting or each item's secret ballot (table above).
• Leaving old tests open. Only 3 can be open at once.

FAQ

Can I turn a test assembly into a real one? No. Whether a meeting is a test is decided when you create it. Use Duplicate as draft to make a real copy with the same agenda.

Do voters know it is a test? Yes. The voter screen shows a "Test meeting" chip, and invitation, broadcast and results emails start with "Test:".

Do I get minutes or an evidence pack? No. You can see the results in the console. See Reading assembly results, and The evidence package explained for what a real meeting produces.

How many people can take part? Your organisation's administrators, each once: one on Free. The meeting can send up to 200 emails in total.

Does a test assembly use up a paid meeting? No. A test meeting is never sold or counted as a meeting held. See Plans and pricing.

To set up the real meeting, see Creating your first assembly, Sending invitations and managing eligibility and Running a live assembly.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and your articles of association may differ, so check the current rules or ask an adviser before you rely on it.