If your team performs a few simple steps during a swim meet, the SwimTopia mobile app displays a live Event/Heat bar for your team’s parents. If the visiting team also uses SwimTopia, the Live Bar will appear on their mobile apps as well.
Enabling SwimTopia Live features for your team is easy:
- Team admins assign a volunteer to update the mobile app with the current event and heat throughout the meet.
- If the visiting team uses SwimTopia, share a subscriber code with their admin to activate the Live Bar for their team’s parents.
Users will know exactly which event and heat is in the water – which is really handy if you can’t see the pool from your volunteer position or you want to time your arrival at the pool.
If your team is using Meet Maestro™ to run your swim meets your team will also have live results updates and more. See other mobile app features available to Meet Maestro teams.
To Enable SwimTopia Live:
Before the meet
Step 1) Spread the Word
Be sure to tell your team members about SwimTopia’s free mobile app, available for iOS in the App Store and for Android in the Google Play Store.
Step 2) Assign a Volunteer
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
If the visiting team uses SwimTopia for swim team management, their parents can also follow your meet’s live event and heat updates. Connect with an admin from the visiting team and give them the “Subscriber Code” to enter in their mobile app.
Your admin will log in to the SwimTopia app:
- Click on the day’s swim meet
- Click on the key symbol on the upper right of the screen
- Click on Event /Heat Updates
- Click Update Mode > Publisher (Note: DO NOT click Subscriber or this will unlink you as a Publisher and require SwimTopia Support help)
- Copy or note the Subscriber Code to share with the visiting team
- Click Done
The visiting team admin will log in to their SwimTopia app:
- Click on the day’s swim meet
- Click on the key symbol on the upper right of the screen
- Click on Event /Heat Updates
- Click Update Mode > Subscriber
- Enter the Subscriber Code the received from the home team
- Click Done
Step 4) Tap to Update the Current Event and Heat
To begin updating the current event and heat, your volunteer will log in to their SwimTopia app. Once in the app, the volunteer will:
- Click on the day’s swim meet
- Click on the key symbol on the upper right of the screen
- Click on Event /Heat Updates
- Click on the Session
- When ready, click on Broadcast Status to Live
- Use the plus and minus keys to move through the meet. After a new heat starts and you tap the plus sign, click “Update” to save and publish the current event and heat to the mobile app
- When the meet or session is over, switch on Session Completed and confirm your session has finished
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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