Broadcast & Announcements

The broadcast tool lets makerspace admins send targeted communications to specific groups of members — without needing platform support. Use it for operational announcements (“The laser cutter is back online!”), safety reminders, or any message that needs to reach a specific audience.

Location: Admin → Communications → Broadcast

Permission required: Manage Notification Settings

Two Broadcast Modes

The broadcast composer supports two modes, selectable at the top of the page:

Mode	Best for	What you write
Announcement	Ad-hoc operational messages	Subject line + body text, written directly in the composer
Notification	Consistent, repeatable messages	Select a saved template — content is pre-filled and cannot be edited here

Both modes use the same audience picker, the same delivery pipeline, and appear in the same broadcast history.

When to use which mode

Use Announcement for one-off messages that don’t need a reusable template — equipment updates, schedule changes, weather closures. Use Notification when you’ve already created a template you want to send to a targeted audience (templates are managed in Admin → Notifications → Templates).

Choosing Your Audience

The audience picker lets you target specific member segments. You can combine multiple filters — members must match all filters to receive the broadcast.

Available filters

Filter	What it targets	Example
All active members	Every member with an active status in your makerspace	Send a holiday closure notice to everyone
By membership tier	Members on a specific tier	Send a renewal reminder to “Pro” tier members
By certification	Members who hold a specific certification	Notify all “Laser Cutter Certified” members about new safety rules
By workspace access	Members with access to a specific workspace	Alert everyone with Woodshop access about a temporary closure
By event registration	Members registered for a specific event	Send prep instructions to attendees of an upcoming class

Adding and combining filters

1. Click Add filter to add a segment filter
2. Select the filter type from the dropdown
3. Enter the filter value (not needed for “All active members”)
4. Add more filters if needed — they combine with AND logic

The audience count updates live as you adjust filters, showing how many members match your criteria. You cannot proceed to the review step if zero members match.

Filters are AND, not OR

If you select “By membership tier: Pro” and “By certification: Laser Cutter”, only members who are both on the Pro tier and hold the Laser Cutter certification will receive the broadcast. To reach both groups separately, send two broadcasts.

Composing Your Message

Announcement mode

• Subject — The email subject line your members will see
• Body — The message body. Plain text, supports line breaks.

Notification mode

• Template — Select from your active templates. The template content is used as-is — if you need to change it, edit the template first in Admin → Notifications → Templates.

Sending vs Scheduling

You have two delivery options:

Send now

The broadcast is sent immediately to all matching members. Delivery happens in the background — you’ll see a success message with the recipient count once it’s queued.

Schedule for later

Set a future date and time for delivery. The broadcast is saved as “pending” and dispatched automatically at the exact time you chose.

• Broadcasts fire at the exact scheduled time — if you schedule for 2:37 PM, it sends at 2:37 PM
• The date/time picker uses your makerspace’s timezone
• You can schedule up to 90 days in advance
• The audience is re-resolved at send time — if members join or leave the matching segment between scheduling and sending, the actual recipients reflect the current membership

Audience is dynamic

When you schedule a broadcast, the recipient count shown is an estimate based on the current audience. The actual recipients are determined when the broadcast fires — so new members who match the filters will be included, and members who no longer match will be excluded.

Reviewing Before You Send

Before sending or scheduling, you’ll see a review screen summarizing:

• Type — Announcement or Notification
• Audience — Number of matching members
• Content — Subject line (announcement) or template name (notification), plus a body preview for announcements
• Delivery — “Immediately” or the scheduled date/time with timezone

A warning reminds you that immediate sends cannot be undone, and that scheduled broadcasts will re-resolve the audience at send time.

Click Send Broadcast or Schedule Broadcast to confirm — or Back to edit to make changes.

Managing Scheduled Broadcasts

Pending scheduled broadcasts appear in the Scheduled Broadcasts section below the composer. Each entry shows:

• Scheduled date and time (in your display timezone)
• Mode (Announcement or Notification)
• Content summary (subject or template name)
• Audience summary and estimated recipient count

Cancelling a scheduled broadcast

1. Find the broadcast in the Scheduled Broadcasts section
2. Click Cancel
3. Confirm in the dialog that appears

Cancelled broadcasts are removed from the pending list. They cannot be un-cancelled — if you change your mind, create a new broadcast.

Broadcast History

The Broadcast History section shows all past broadcasts with:

Column	What it shows
Date	When the broadcast was sent
Type	Announcement or Notification
Content	Subject line or template name
Audience	Summary of the filters used
Recipients	Total number of recipients
Delivery Rate	Percentage successfully delivered
Sent By	The admin who initiated the broadcast

Use this to track what’s been sent and monitor delivery performance. A delivery rate significantly below 100% may indicate bounced addresses or member opt-outs — check the Notification Analytics for details.

Member Opt-Outs

Broadcasts respect member notification preferences. Members who have opted out of the Announcements category will not receive broadcasts — their entry appears as “Suppressed” in the delivery log. This is expected behavior, not an error.

You cannot override a member’s opt-out preference. See Notification Preferences for how members manage their settings.

Best Practices

1. Be targeted — Use audience filters to reach the right people. Sending to “All active members” when only Woodshop users need to know creates noise and increases opt-outs.

2. Keep it relevant — Members who receive too many broadcasts are more likely to opt out of the Announcements category entirely. Save broadcasts for messages that matter.

3. Use scheduling for time-sensitive announcements — Broadcasts deliver at the exact time you pick, so you can confidently schedule announcements to coincide with events, openings, or deadlines. Schedule during business hours in your makerspace’s timezone for best engagement.

4. Check your audience count — Before sending, verify the recipient count makes sense. If it’s unexpectedly high or low, your filters may need adjustment.

5. Monitor delivery rates — After sending, check the broadcast history for delivery rates. A low rate may indicate stale email addresses in your member list.

6. Use templates for recurring messages — If you send the same type of message regularly (e.g., monthly safety reminders), create a template and use Notification mode. This keeps messaging consistent and saves time.