--- title: "Member start guide for Talkspirit" description: "Your first steps as a member of Talkspirit: signing in, setting up your account, and finding your way around Structure and the apps built on it." category: getting-started section: first-steps type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-09-23 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/getting-started/start-guide-for-members --- # Member start guide for Talkspirit This guide helps you take your first steps as a member of Talkspirit. It shows you how to sign in, set up your account, and find your way around the apps your organisation has enabled. Every app is reached from the navigation rail on the left. ## What is Talkspirit? Talkspirit makes how your organisation is structured explicit, and connects that structure to how work happens and how information flows. **Structure** is the foundation: it maps your organisation as circles and roles, and the other apps build on it, from goals and meetings to news and files. Each area is an **app** in the navigation rail on the left. Which apps you see depends on what your organisation has enabled and on your permissions: - **Home**: your organisation's landing page, with its latest updates. - **Cockpit**: your personal dashboard for the tasks, meetings, goals and governance items you follow across every app. - **Structure**: your organisation mapped as circles and roles, with the governance process that runs inside it. - **Goals**: your organisation's objectives and key results, linked to circles, roles and projects. - **Projects**: boards for organising and tracking work. - **Meetings**: structured meetings with agendas, reports and action items. - **Calendar**: a shared calendar of meetings and events. - **Newsfeed**: posts published to the groups you belong to. - **Chat**: real-time messaging with one or more colleagues. - **Drive**: shared file storage, with document collaboration built in. - **Groups**: the spaces posts are published to. - **Members**: your organisation's people directory. - **Apps**: the catalogue of connected apps. ## Signing in and setting up your account ### Sign in Go to your organisation's Talkspirit address and enter your **email** and **password**, then select **Sign in**. If your organisation uses single sign-on (SSO), select your provider (for example **Sign in with Google**, **Sign in with Microsoft** or **Sign in with LinkedIn**) instead. ### Complete your profile Other members can view your profile, so filling it in helps colleagues understand who you are and what you do. 1. Open your profile menu and select **My Account**. 2. On **My Account**, set your **First name**, **Last name** and profile picture. 3. Open **Information** to add your **Bio**, **Position**, **Company**, **Skills** and contact details. ![The My Account page in the converged account area, showing the avatar with its camera button, the required First name and Last name fields filled with Elena Ruiz, and the My cover section below.](/images/getting-started/start-guide-for-members/02-my-account.png) ### Choose your language and notifications - **Language**: open **My Account → General** and pick your language under **Language preference**. You can also set your **Timezone** here. - **Notifications**: open **My Account → Notifications**. Turn email and desktop notifications on or off under **Global Settings**, then fine-tune events per app under the **Structure**, **Goals**, **Projects** and **Meetings** tabs. You are never notified about actions you perform yourself. ## Structure, Goals and Meetings ### Structure: circles, roles and proposals The **Structure** app maps how your organisation works and who is responsible for what. Your organisation is described as nested **circles** (units of the organisation) and **roles** (named pieces of work) rather than a classic org chart. Each circle and role carries four core fields: **Purpose**, **Domains**, **Accountabilities** and **Policies**. You have been assigned to one or more roles. To find yours, open **Structure**, then open a circle or role to see its members, or open a member from the **Members** app to see the roles they hold. When a role or circle needs to change, that change is made through a **proposal**, and a **tension** is the raw note of a gap someone senses between how things are and how they could be. ![The Explore organisation view for Alpine Tech in the Circles & roles view, showing the organisation as nested circles: Operations, Finance & People, Product Development with its Platform and Mobile App sub-circles, Customer Success and Marketing, each holding its roles.](/images/getting-started/start-guide-for-members/03-structure-chart.png) ### Goals and Meetings - **Goals** tracks your organisation's objectives as goals with **Key Results**, which can be linked to projects and tasks. Open **Goals** and use **My goals** to see what has been assigned to you. - **Meetings** hosts structured meetings whose agendas are fed by tensions, projects and goals, with reports and action items. Open **Meetings** to see the meetings your circles hold. ### Members The **Members** app is your organisation's people directory. Browse it as **Cards**, a **List** or a **Hierarchy**, filter by member, guest or administrator, and open anyone to view their profile, roles and the goals they contribute to. ## Newsfeed, Chat, Drive and Groups - **Newsfeed** gathers the posts published to the groups you belong to. In a group, select the post composer to publish a **text** post (optionally with a gallery, **Poll**, **Checklist** or attachment), an **Event** or a video. Mention colleagues to notify them, assign a colleague when you need them to act, or send a **Private message** so only your chosen recipients see it. - **Chat** is for real-time messaging. Select **New** to choose one or more recipients and start a conversation, and add people to a **Room** at any time. - **Drive** is your shared file storage. Create text documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or upload existing files to share with your group. - **Groups** are the spaces posts are published to. Open the group directory to **Join** an open group, **Request access** to a closed group, or join a secret group by invitation. If your organisation allows it, use **Create a group** to start your own. To find people, open the **Members** directory; to connect other tools, open **Apps**. ### Everyday shortcuts - **Read and unread**: turn on unread mode to focus on messages you have not seen yet and add an **Unread** tab to your Newsfeed. - **Edit after sending**: double-click a message or a published post to edit it. - **Translation**: when translation is enabled, a translate control appears on content that is not in your language. - **Status**: set a status (for example **In a meeting**) to show your availability. This is separate from **Do not disturb** mode. - **Video room**: share your personal video room from **My Account → General → Public video meeting link**. - **Desktop app**: install the Talkspirit desktop app to open your organisation without a browser. ## Next steps - [Signing in to Talkspirit](/en/getting-started/signing-in-to-talkspirit) - [Editing my own profile information](/en/getting-started/editing-your-profile-informations) - [Configuring my notification settings](/en/getting-started/how-to-configure-my-notification-settings) - [Admin start guide for Talkspirit](/en/getting-started/start-guide-for-admins)