Using Spaces for groups, cohorts, & communities


Are you hosting groups with memberships, like a coaching group or small (or large) community? Then you'll want to use Spaces in Clarityflow for that.


This is your guide to all things Spaces:



What is a Space?


In Clarityflow, you can create a Space when you want to organize a "members-only" area where only members can see (and optionally) start conversations with other members (and your team) within the space.


Common use cases for Spaces are:


  • Coaching groups
  • Cohort-based group coaching programs
  • Small membership communities
  • Large membership communities
  • A workspace with multiple stakeholders (example: Set up a Space for a long-term consulting engagement where contacts from the client's company and your team can collaborate in one private Space).

Think of a Space as a private area that can contain multiple conversations, which are only seen by the members of the space. More on what the difference between a Space and a Conversation below.


Spaces can (optionally) be broken up into multiple cohorts, where each cohort has it's own set of members and conversations. More on using Cohorts below.


What's the difference between a Space and a Conversation?


A Conversation is a single page containing multiple messages (with threaded replies). A single conversation can be 1-to-1 or it can have multiple participants. All participants can see everyone's messages and post messages into the same conversation. A conversation can be private (invite only) or public (anyone with the link can access).


A Space can contain multiple (many) conversations. The conversations within a space can only be seen by the members of that space. More about the visibility of conversations in a space below.


So when you just want a single conversation with 1 or a group of people, then you probably only need to fire a Conversation (no need for a Space).


When you want to host a group of people who may start and participate in multiple different conversations, then this is when you'll want to create a Space.


Creating a Space


To create a Space, simply go to "Spaces", then click "New Space", give your Space a name, and create it!


Note: The name of your Space will be visible to members when they access the Space.


Private vs. Public Spaces


By default, new Spaces are private—meaning only the members of the space can access the conversations in the space. In most cases, spaces are intended to be private.


You have the option to turn the "private" setting off (in the Space Settings). This will make conversations in this space behave like any other conversations: If the conversation is public (anyone with the link can view), then anyone can view it. New participants who are added to a conversation will also be added as members in the space.


Spaces with multiple Cohorts


By default, every new Space has a single cohort, called "Cohort 1". When there's only 1 cohort, then all members who are added to the space are added into the same single-cohort. Same is true of all conversations.


When you need to break your group into separate cohorts, you can create additional Cohorts within the same space.


A few common use cases for multiple cohorts in a space would be a coaching program that has a Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter session, each with it's own members.


Each cohort within a space has it's own set of members and its own set of conversations. Meaning: Members of one cohort cannot see the members or conversations in another cohort. Each cohort can have it's own settings and configurations, but they can also "inherit" the settings from the parent Space.


To create additional cohorts in a Space, navigate to the Space, then click "Cohorts" and additional cohorts here.


Managing members in space


Every Space (and Cohort) has a list of members. The only people who can access a space and all of the conversations in the space are members of the space (team members who can administer spaces can also access a space).


By default, the list of members in a space is visible to all members in the space. You (and members) can click to a view an individual member to see the list of conversations that this member is in.


Don't want members to be able to see the list of members in a space? You can disable this in the Space or Cohort settings. Uncheck the box for "Members can see the members directory".


Inviting a new member to a space


There are 2 ways to invite a new person to become a member in a space:

  • Invite them from the Space Members area
  • Invite the person to a conversation that is in this Space.

Inviting a member into the Space:

  1. Go to the Space. If it has more than 1 cohort, navigate into the specific cohort you wish to invite the new member to.
  2. Click "Members", then click "Invite Someone"
  3. Enter their name and email address, then click "Continue"
  4. This will create an invitation for this user, which is configured to onboard the user into Clarityflow and then into your Space. You can continue to configure this user's invitation and their onboarding steps before sending their invitation. (more info about how invitations and onboardings work here).
  5. Then you can send the person their invitation, so that they can click their invitation link and proceed through their onboarding and into your Space.

Inviting a member into a Space by inviting them to a conversation in the Space:

Conversations within a space are only seen by the members of the space.


You can invite new people into a conversation that's in a space like you normally do. But when you do, it will create a new membership for these invitees in that space.

Here's the process:

  1. Create or go to a conversation within a space
  2. In the conversation, click "People" and then "Invite a new member"
  3. Enter their name and email, then click "Continue"
  4. A new invitation will be created, which will be configured to onboard the new user and lead them directly into this conversation in this space. You can continue to configure this user's invitation and their onboarding steps before sending their invitation. (more info about how invitations and onboardings work here).
  5. Send the person their invitation so that they can click the link, proceed through their onboarding and then into this conversation in the space.


Allowing members to start conversations in a space


By default, members in a space have the ability to create new conversations in the space. You can disable this ability in the Space settings by un-checking the option for "Members can create conversations".


When members are allowed to start conversations, any member in a space can click the "Create Conversation" button to create a new conversation in the space. At least 1 team member in your account will always be added as a participant in any new conversation in the space (you can control which team member(s) are added to new conversations in the Space settings).


A space member who creates a conversation has the ability to do the following on that conversation:

  • Rename it
  • Invite any other existing space member as a participant in that conversation (but does not have the ability to invite new non-members to the conversation or space).
  • Delete the conversation

By default, space members do not have the ability to make conversations "private". You can enable this abiilty in the space settings by checking the box for "Space members can make conversations private". When enabled, a space member will be able to create a conversation and make that conversation private and only visible to the invited participants in that conversation. At least 1 team member will always be a participant in all conversations in the space.


Who can see and create conversations in a Space?


When a conversation is in a space (or cohort), it can only be seen by:

  • Active members in this space (or cohort)
  • Team members in your account

By default, conversations in a space are visible to all active members in this space (or cohort).


A conversation's visibility can be changed to "private", which will make it only visible to the specific members who've been added as participants in the conversation. See a conversation's participants by clicking the avatars and the top of a conversation.


At least 1 team member in your account will always be added as a participant in every conversation. You can set which team member(s) are to be added to new conversations in the Space (or cohort) settings.

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