Discussion Boards provide a positive space for families to connect, ask questions, and get support, with built-in AI moderation to help your team monitor the conversation. Once you've implemented a Discussion Board, check out our other Discussion Boards Guides to further your understanding.

Prefer a more visual walkthrough? Check out our short video guide:

Setting up a Discussion Board

In the admin area, navigate to the Configuration icon and select Discussion Boards. On the Setup page, click the Create a Discussion Board button.

Put in the key details for your Board. This includes:

Name - Make this specific to your audience (e.g. Model University Family Forum, Class of 20## Families, First Generation Families)
Description (optional) - Add a short introduction, description, or welcome message to families. This appears to users when they click into the Discussion Board.
- TEMPLATE: Welcome to our Discussion Board, a space for families to connect, ask questions, and get support! Learn how to navigate the Discussion Board in our quick how-to guide.
- You may want to use this space to share important links or guidelines with families. We recommend using the template above with the linked guide, but you are welcome to customize this!
Audience - Target your audience based on who the Board is for (e.g. all families, admitted families, first year families, first-gen families, etc.)

💡 Pro Tip (strongly recommended): Tag the audience to a test community that you're in before switching it to the proper audience when you’re ready to launch, so you can test out how your Board looks.

Visit our Guide on Dynamic User Targeting to see every option for user targeting and learn how you can segment your Discussion Board audience further.

Use the “Digest Emails” and “Reported Content” tabs to turn on admin notifications. There are two options:

Adding a user to the Digest Emails provides them a summary of activity in the Discussion Board. There is both a daily and weekly option.
Adding a user to Reported Content notifies them of reported content.

NOTE: Different admins can be notified for different Discussion Boards.

When you're done with the setup, click the "Create a Discussion Board" button.

NOTE: The Discussion Board will automatically set to active on the setup page. You can disable your Board at any time.

💡 Pro Tip: After at least one Board is setup, you can add Trusted Contributors from the setup page. Discussion board posts and comments from these users will have a badge, so families know that their contributions are trusted by your institution.

Getting Started

Once your Discussion Board is set up, you'll want to get it in front of families with some initial content and a heads-up that it exists. This means loading a few starter posts so families see something to engage with, and sending a launch email (plus recurring reminders) to let them know the Board is live.

Want to save time? Try our Discussion Board Quickstart! In just a few clicks, you can pre-populate your board with "starter" posts to help get the conversation going from day one. You can also send a pre-made launch email announcement and recurring reminder emails, so you don't have to build everything from scratch.

How to access Discussion Board Quickstart:

After creating a discussion board, you'll be automatically directed to the Quickstart page.
Alternatively, open an already-created Discussion Board and click Complete Setup in the top right.
Browse Starter Posts and Email templates to edit and send, right from the Board creation page.

If you'd rather set things up manually, or want to customize further, follow the steps below.

Adding Posts

We suggest adding 3-5 initial posts for each Board so that families see something they can engage with when they check it out for the first time.

NOTE: You can only create a post in the Discussion Board once your Board is set to active.

To create a post, click on the chat (💬) icon in the top right corner of the parent-facing portal to open the Discussion Boards area, then click the Create Post button to open the Create Post page.

If you have no existing Discussion Board content, you'll also see the Create a Post button on the Discussion Activity page.

Select the Discussion Board you want to post to. Here you can:

Add a Headline
Upload an image (optional, but highly recommended)
Add an attachment (optional)
Write your content in the text box
Submit your post when you're ready! You can check out your post by clicking on the "chat" 💬 icon in the top right corner.

💡 Pro Tip: Click on the caret icon next to a post and “Pin post” to pin it to the top of the Board. Don't forget to unpin it once you are done!

Sending Launch and Reminder Emails

If you'd rather write your own launch and reminder emails, you can create them manually and customize the content as needed.

View our Guide to Send an Email for step-by-step instructions to help you set these up.

Example Launch Email:

Configuring Class Year and Funnel Stage Based Discussion Boards

We recommend reviewing the setup of your Discussion Board(s) at least once a year to account for any maintenance that might be needed. Here are suggestions we have for some unique use cases:

➡️ Discussion Board Use Case	❓How to Handle
If your institution uses both CampusESP for Student Enrollment and Family Communication and your Discussion Board is for an incoming family audience (i.e. a stage with a funnel workflow like Deposited or Enrolled)	There is no need to adjust this audience if you want them to continue using the Board throughout their student’s college experience.
If your institution uses CampusESP for Student Enrollment and your Discussion Board includes earlier stages of the funnel (i.e. Inquiry, Applicant, Admitted)	Make sure you disable the Board at the end of the cycle and create a new Board for each cycle.
If your institution uses CampusESP for Family Communication and your Discussion Board is for a specific class year community (i.e. First Year Families, Second Year Families, etc.)	You will need to update the Board annually. We suggest aligning this with the annual class year workflow, which typically occurs in May or June.

View our Best Practices for Discussion Boards Guide for more recommendations!

Still need guidance? Check out our video tutorial by clicking on the image below:

Implement a Discussion Board