SwimTopia Mobile displays a Live Bar that keeps you up-to-date on what’s happening in real time. The Live Bar is invaluable if you can’t see clearly from your volunteer position, or you’re home with the siblings and trying to time your arrival. You’ll never miss an event again!
Covered in this Article:
- Locating the Event/Heat Updater in SwimTopia Mobile
- What is required to use the SwimTopia Live feature?
- How to Enable SwimTopia Live
- Multi-Session or Virtual Meets
Locating the Event/Heat Updater in SwimTopia Mobile
The Event/Heat Updater is found under the key icon in the mobile app on the Event/Heat Updates screen.
» Note: The key icon will only be visible to members with full admin privileges (denoted by a crown symbol in SwimTopia) or partial permissions to “Manage” Event Heat Updates (details below).
What is required to use the SwimTopia Live feature?
If your team performs a few simple steps to enable SwimTopia Live before and day of a meet, the SwimTopia mobile app displays the Live Event/Heat bar for your team’s parents who have downloaded the app.
If the visiting team also uses SwimTopia for team management, their team members can also view the Live Bar in the app once their team admin has “linked” to the meet (see details below). And if the meet is being run in Meet Maestro, and the “Public Meet Search” feature has been enabled by the home team admin, then spectators can see the Live Bar by using the free Guest Mode Access (“Continue as Guest”) for that meet.
The home team admins assign a volunteer to update the mobile app with the current event and heat throughout the meet (or create a job for parents to sign up for during registration or for each meet).
The home team can grant Event/Heat Updater publishing rights to the linked visiting team in their SwimTopia meet, under Meet Setup > Linking:
If you're the visiting team, you can check to see if your team has the ability to make updates to the Live Bar by checking under Meet Setup > Linking -- this is an indication that your team has the ability to make updates to the Live Bar:
» Note: Updates occur automatically when using Meet Maestro and a wireless timing system (i.e. CTS Dolphin, CTS System 5/6, CTS Gen 7, Time Drops, Wylas).
How to Enable SwimTopia Live
➧ Before The Meet
Step ①: Spread the Word
Be sure to tell your team members and the visiting team's admin about SwimTopia’s free mobile app, available for iOS in the App Store and for Android in the Google Play Store. ➞ See our Tools to Inform Parents about SwimTopia’s Mobile App article.
Step ②: Assign a Volunteer (if needed)
➧ If your team uses Meet Maestro with a timing system:
You won't need a volunteer since the timing system will integrate with Meet Maestro to automatically update the Live Event Heat Bar. Skip to Step 3.
» Note: Make sure the "Event/Heat publisher" was turned on when your timing system was set up, or this will not work and the meet will display "Not Started" even when it has started. In Meet Maestro on your desktop application, go to the Gear Icon (Settings) > Timing Systems > Edit > enable "Event/Heat publisher" if not already.
➧ If your team does not use Meet Maestro with a timing system:
You’ll need a volunteer to update the events and heats.
» Tip: You could create a job for “Event/Heat Updater” in each swim meet and let team members sign up for one of the easiest jobs at the meet.
Ensure the volunteer assigned has the necessary admin privileges.
To access the Event/Heat Update area of the mobile app a team member must have either full admin privileges (denoted by a crown symbol in SwimTopia) or partial permissions to “Manage” Event Heat Updates.
To assign a team member partial permissions:
- Add a “New Role” called “Event/Heat Updater” or similar.
- Define the Role’s permissions by checking “Some administrative permissions”, then check “Manage” next to “Event Heat Updates.” Click Create to save the Role.
- Assign the Role to the volunteer signed up for the job by “Adding” them to the Role.
➧ Day Of The Meet
Step ③: Get the SwimTopia Visiting Team On Board
Select the link for the scenario below that aligns with your meet:
- ➧ Scenario 1: All teams ARE SwimTopia customers AND the meet schedule was created via a league schedule import
- ➧ Scenario 2: All teams ARE SwimTopia customers AND the meet schedule was NOT imported
- ➧ Scenario 3: The Visiting team IS NOT a SwimTopia customer
- ➧ Scenario 4: The Home team IS NOT a SwimTopia customer
- ➧ Scenario 5: Your team is only using SwimTopia's Meet Maestro meet management solution (not SwimTopia's team management product)
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➧ Scenario 1: All teams ARE SwimTopia customers AND the meet schedule was created via a league schedule import
If your meet schedule was imported by SwimTopia, you and the visiting team(s) should already be linked and no further action is needed.
Each team admin or event/heat updater volunteer can confirm this by logging into their account on the app, clicking on the meet, clicking the key icon at the top, selecting Event/Heat Updates, and seeing if the Linking Status says Visitor or Publisher. Since your meet was created via a league schedule import, your meet is actually linked to a corresponding meet on the league site, and the league is the Publisher, which makes all the linked teams "Visitors" -- even if you're the home team. With the league schedule import, all linked teams are granted the ability to update the Live Event/Heat Bar.
➞ See the Linking Meets steps if "Not Linked" displays.
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➧ Scenario 2: All teams ARE SwimTopia customers AND the meet schedule was NOT imported
Question: Is Meet Maestro being used to run the meet?
If so, the meets should already be linked. Each team admin or event/heat updater volunteer can confirm this by logging into their account on the app, clicking on the meet, clicking the key icon at the top, selecting Event/Heat Updates, and seeing if the Linking Status says Visitor or Publisher. ➞ See the Linking Meets steps if "Not Linked" displays.
If not, linking is required. The home team will share a subscriber code with the visiting team to activate the Live Bar for their team’s parents. ➞ See the Linking Meets steps below.
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➧ Scenario 3: The Visiting team IS NOT a SwimTopia customer
Question: Is Meet Maestro being used to run the meet?
If so, the visiting team members can access the meet as a Guest (Continue as Guest button on app), if the “Public Meet Search” feature has been enabled by the home team admin
If not, the visiting team will not have access to the Live bar. ➞ learn how Meet Maestro can enhance your meet day experience!
» Note: For a meet to show up in the Public Meet Search, the meet MUST be using SwimTopia's Meet Maestro meet management software AND the “Public Meet Search” option must be explicitly enabled by a team admin under the Mobile App settings in Meet Maestro (disabled by default). ➞ See Meet Maestro Settings - Mobile App for more details.
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➧ Scenario 4: The Home team IS NOT a SwimTopia customer
The Live Event/Heat bar is not available in this scenario since our app has no knowledge of this meet. ➞ learn how Meet Maestro can enhance your meet day experience!
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➧ Scenario 5: Your team is only using SwimTopia's Meet Maestro meet management solution (not SwimTopia's team management product)
The home and visiting team members will access the meet as a Guest (Continue as Guest button on app). ➞ See Scenario 3 above.
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➧ LINKING MEETS
If your meets have not yet been linked: Connect with an admin from the visiting team and give them the “Subscriber Code” to enter in their mobile app. This is found on the Meet Setup > Linking page of the meet, or on the Heat/Event Updates screen under the key icon in the mobile app as described in the steps below:
Both admins will log in to the SwimTopia app:
- Tap on the day’s swim meet
- Tap on the key symbol on the upper right of the screen
- Tap on Event /Heat Updates
- Tap on Linking Status
- The admin of the home team will copy or note the Subscriber Code to share with the visiting team
- The admin of the visiting team will enter the Subscriber Code under "Visitor Code," then tap Link Meet
- Tap Done
➧ UNLINKING MEETS
As stated below, unlinking a meet must occur from within the Meet Setup > Linking page within the meet on your SwimTopia team management system. This is a failsafe to ensure meets are not accidentally unlinked from the app.
Step ④: Tap to Update the Current Event and Heat
➧ If your team is using Meet Maestro with a timing system:
As a reminder, the timing system will automatically update the Live Bar, based on the starter system, and a volunteer is not needed to update the live event/heat bar.
» Note: Make sure the "Event/Heat publisher" was turned on when your timing system was set up, or this will not work and the meet will display "Not Started" even when it has started. In Meet Maestro on your desktop application, go to the Gear Icon (Settings) > Timing Systems > Edit > enable "Event/Heat publisher" if not already.
➧ If your team does not use a timing system with Meet Maestro:
To begin updating the current event and heat, your volunteer will log in to their SwimTopia app. Once in the app, the volunteer will:
- Tap on the day’s swim meet
- Tap on the key symbol on the upper right of the screen
- Tap on Event /Heat Updates
- Tap on the Session
- When ready, tap on Broadcast Status to switch it to “Live”
➧ If your team is using Meet Maestro, and our system knows how your meet is seeded:
Select AUTO mode -- The updater will autofill the correct event numbers and the correct number of heats per event. With the tap of an arrow, the updater automatically advances to the next heat (and after the final heat of an event, it will automatically advance to the first heat of the next event).
- Use the right arrow key to advance to the next heat
- Tap “Update” as the heat begins, which will save and publish the current event and heat to the mobile app
- Repeat for each heat
- When the meet or session is over, switch on Session Completed and confirm your session has finished
➧ If your team is not using Meet Maestro, the event numbers and number of heats is unknown:
Select MANUAL mode -- volunteer will be able to select the event and heat numbers.
- Use the plus and minus keys to move through each event and heat
- Tap “Update” as the heat begins, which will save and publish the current event and heat to the mobile app
- Repeat for each heat
- When the meet or session is over, switch on Session Completed and confirm your session has finished
Multi-Session or Virtual Meets
If a meet has multiple sessions (like a boys pool and a girls pool, or virtual meets), the volunteer can select a session (or team/pool for virtual) to manage. As long as both pools have a volunteer manning the live bar, then parents from either team can pull up the live bar that corresponds to their "session" and see the live event/heat updates. ➞ See the example below:
If your team is using Meet Maestro™ to run your swim meets your team will also be able to access live results updates and more with a Pro subscription. See other mobile app features available to Meet Maestro teams.
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Comments
2 comments
It was helpful for the "Live" updates when running swim meets via Maestro, but as a team admin I'm looking for the following:
We're looking to send emergency messages or last minute updates. On the new Mobile App, as the coach I may want to pay the $1.99/month to take advantage of all the features Swimtopia offers; however, do team members need to pay the $1.99/month to receive messages I send out, or will they get them if they only have the free version of the app?
Or for that matter, do I need to pay the monthly fee to send messages, or can I do that via our team's regular subscription through the website in a similar way I post "News" on the website? Basically, how can I more easily send messages to the whole team through Swimtopia beyond just email? What's the cost? Who has to pay?
Hi Dennis,
Our new alerts feature is free for all SwimTopia users. Families should download our free mobile app, but they won't need to upgrade to the Pro subscription in order to receive alerts. And if they haven't downloaded the app, they'll receive the alert as an email instead.
Admins can send the alerts from the Communications module of SwimTopia -- there is now a toggle between Email and Alert.
Whether sending email or alerts, the Communications module works as it always has: admins can send to all members, to a particular age group, to members of a role, or even to individuals. And just as emails can be sent from within a report (say, all meet participants or all volunteers at a meet), the alert feature works from within reports as well.
We're glad you've been enjoying the Live Bar!
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