Throughout this guide, we refer to three key areas:
SG Admin Page
The SG Admin Page, only accessible by convenors, where Specialist Group members can access information about upcoming and past meetings and documents provided by the group.
Content added to the Admin Page is only visible to registered members of your Specialist Group and will not appear on your public webpage.
SG Webpage
The SG Webpage is your group’s public-facing page on the PSA website.
Information published here can be viewed by both Specialist Group members and anyone using the PSA website. This area should be used for public announcements, events, group information and other content intended for a wider audience.
SG Inbox
The SG Inbox is your group’s shared mailbox, accessed using your Specialist Group’s login credentials.
This email address is shown on your Specialist Group webpage, and you can access this inbox to receive and answer member queries.
Accessing Your SG Portal & Admin Page
Each Specialist Group can access their shared SG Convenor Portal using the provided shared login credentials and signing in here.
Access to the Specialist Group Convenor Portal is not linked to an individual PSA membership account and cannot be accessed through a member’s personal login. You must use the login credentials shared. The account provided looks the same as a standard membership account, but has been assigned administrative permissions for your Specialist Group.
The shared email address and password may only be used by authorised Specialist Group Convenors for the purpose of administering the group’s portal.
Convenors are responsible for ensuring that:
- Login credentials are kept secure.
- Credentials are not shared with unauthorised individuals.
- Access is used only for legitimate Specialist Group administration purposes.
If a Convenor resigns, any copies of the login credentials held by that individual must be securely deleted from personal devices, email accounts, documents and any other external records, in accordance with PSA data protection and information security requirements.
Navigating Your SG Admin Page
Select ‘My Group’ and then on the next page select ‘View Group’ under actions, to view your groups SG Admin page.
From here, you can manage your Specialist Group and update information available to your Specialist Group members.
Available functions include:
- View Members
- Add Members
- Send Email Communications
- Create Upcoming Meetings
- View Past Meetings
- Upload Documents
- Add Events (feature coming soon)
Managing your Members
The Members section allows you to view your Specialist Group membership, add new members and send email communications.
Select the drop-down arrow to view the full membership list, including Convenors and group members.
Please note that this is a view-only list and member data cannot be downloaded or exported: it can only be used within this system.
To comply with GDPR and protect members’ personal information, all communications with Specialist Group members must be sent through this centralised platform. Members’ contact details should not be copied, stored, or used outside of this system.
To add a new member, select ‘Add Member’
Complete the required fields:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
Select Save. This will update your member list and can be seen by selecting the drop-down arrow to view the full membership list.
Locate the member in the membership list.
Select the ‘X’ in the Action column.
Adding a member
To add a new member, select ‘Add Member’
Complete the required fields:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
Select Save. This will update your member list and can be seen by selecting the drop-down arrow to view the full membership list.
Removing a member
Locate the member in the membership list.
Select the ‘X’ in the Action column.
Contacting Your Membership
In the member section select ‘Send an Email’ to communicate with your members.
You can choose to send an email to:
- An individual member
- A selected group of members
- All members of your Specialist Group
This function allows you to send a basic email with hyperlinks, and images in the body of the email.
Please note: the attachment function isn’t working as intended, please avoid it for the time being.
We recommend sending emails to your membership by choosing your specialist group’s dedicated email address as the sender address, from the drop-down box.
Your members’ email replies will then be accessible in your shared inbox.
- Highlight the text you want to turn into a hyperlink.
- Select the Insert
- Click Link (or Hyperlink, depending on your email application).
- In the Address or URL field, paste the web address (URL).
- Check that the Text to display is correct.
- Click OK or Insert.
- Test the link to ensure it opens the correct webpage.
- Select the location in your email where you want the image to appear.
- Select the Insert
- Choose Image.
- Select the option to insert an image From URL or From Web (if available).
- Paste the image URL into the URL
- Click Insert.
- Preview the email to confirm the image displays correctly.
- Go to Google Images in your browser.
- Search for the image you want.
- Click on the image so it opens in the preview panel.
- Right-click the image.
- Select “Open image in new tab” (this is important for getting the direct file link).
- In the new tab, copy the URL from the address bar.
Adding a Hyperlink to an Email
- Highlight the text you want to turn into a hyperlink.
- Select the Insert
- Click Link (or Hyperlink, depending on your email application).
- In the Address or URL field, paste the web address (URL).
- Check that the Text to display is correct.
- Click OK or Insert.
- Test the link to ensure it opens the correct webpage.
Adding an Image Using a URL
- Select the location in your email where you want the image to appear.
- Select the Insert
- Choose Image.
- Select the option to insert an image From URL or From Web (if available).
- Paste the image URL into the URL
- Click Insert.
- Preview the email to confirm the image displays correctly.
How to get an image URL from Google Images
- Go to Google Images in your browser.
- Search for the image you want.
- Click on the image so it opens in the preview panel.
- Right-click the image.
- Select “Open image in new tab” (this is important for getting the direct file link).
- In the new tab, copy the URL from the address bar.
Sending a Newsletter
In cases where you would like to send a newsletter or use formatting from an external source such as Mailchimp or Canva, you can do so by following the steps and tool listed below.
Extracting your HTML Source
Please send yourself a copy of your newsletter then in outlook you will need to do the following:
- Open Email
- Select File
- Click ‘Save as’ and save the file
- Upload your file below and click the ‘COPY HTML SOURCE’ button
.msg → HTML
runs entirely in your browser, nothing is uploadedOnce you have the HTML, please go to SG Admin Page and select ‘Send email’. Go to the body of your email and select the the HTML button, ‘</>‘. Once clicked this will open a box where you will need to copy and paste your html code into the body of the box (replacing anything with is already in the box).
You should send yourself a test email to see a preview of your newsletter before sending the newsletter to your members.
Meetings (Internal Only)
Meetings are internal Specialist Group meetings – distinct from ‘Events’ which are public-facing activities intended for promotion to members and wider audiences.
To create a meeting, select ‘Create Meeting’ under the ‘Upcoming Meetings’ section of the Specialist Group admin page then complete all required fields.
Required Fields
- Description – Enter the meeting name.
- Code – Create a unique meeting code. Use a format that works for your Specialist Group, such as an abbreviation of the meeting name together with the month and year (e.g. SGMAY2026).
- Date – Enter the meeting date.
- Start Time – Enter the meeting start time.
- End Time – Enter the meeting end time.
- Venue – Enter the meeting location.
- Purpose – Provide a brief description of the meeting and its objectives.
Then select ‘Save’. The meeting will now appear in the Upcoming Meetings section of your SG Admin Page.
To delete a meeting, locate the meeting record, under the ‘Upcoming Meetings tab’.
Select the ‘X’ next to the meeting.
Please note that deleting a meeting is permanent and cannot be undone.
The Past Meetings section displays meetings that have taken place within the previous three months.
This provides a record of recent Specialist Group meetings and activities.
Delete a Meeting
To delete a meeting, locate the meeting record, under the ‘Upcoming Meetings tab’.
Select the ‘X’ next to the meeting.
Please note that deleting a meeting is permanent and cannot be undone.
Past Meetings
The Past Meetings section displays meetings that have taken place within the previous three months.
This provides a record of recent Specialist Group meetings and activities.
Upload Documents
By uploading a document to your Specialist Group admin page, this will only be available to your members to see once they are logged into their membership accounts.
To upload your document please go to your Specialist Groups admin page.
Under the ‘Documents’ section please select ‘Add document’. This will open a new page called ‘Document Setup’. Please input the name of your document that will be visible to your members in the ‘Title’ text box and then select the type of document you are uploading.
If your document type is not available, please kindly contact [email protected] and we can add your document type.
Under ‘Attachment’ please select ‘Choose File’ and upload your document and select ‘Save’ to upload your document onto your Specialist Group Admin page.
Updating your Specialist Group Webpage
On your group’s public-facing page on the PSA website, information published here can be viewed by both Specialist Group members and members of the public.
In this area you can update your Specialist Group’s webpage text and add documents to your page.
Updating your Specialist Group’s Page
To update the text on your specialist group webpage and add documents such your groups constitution please click on the link here. You will need to use the same login in credentials provided for your SG.
This part of the website uses WordPress therefore to update the text on your SG page click on the text box and start typing. You can add images, hyperlinks, videos and tables by selecting the plug ins on the top bar of the text box and either uploading the image for a picture or adding the URL for hyperlinks and videos
Please remember to select update so that any changes made can be saved.
Due to cached data, text may occasionally not display correctly or completely disappear. If this happens, there is no need to worry. Please log out and log back in using a private (incognito) window.
Listing Convenors on your Webpage
If you need to make a change to the list of convenors of your Specialist Group, this is not something which you will not be able to edit on your own. The convenors which are listed on your website are drawn directed from the database where we keep our contact records, including information which are tied to Specialist Groups.
If you need to make a change to the list of your convenors, please contact us with the details of what needs to be changed. The list of roles which can be assigned to your convenors are as below:
- Co-Chair
- Deputy Convenor
- Honorary Chair
- Vice Chair
- Officer (Policy)
- Office
- Officer (International)
- Secretary
- Officer (Events)
- Officer (Publications)
- Officer (Programmes)
- Treasurer
- Officer (Web)
- Officer (Early Careers)
- Officer (EDI)
- Officer (Communications)
- Convenor
- Officer (Membership)
- Chair
Accessing your SG mailbox
Each Specialist Group has been allocated a dedicated group email address with a shared mailbox. Using your Specialist Groups unique log in credentials please log in by clicking on this link.
If you receive an error message, please attempt to log in again and then you will be prompted to input your password again.
Your groups’ shared inbox is now displayed on your Specialist Group webpage. Please ensure that this inbox is monitored regularly so that members’ enquiries receive timely responses and are dealt with promptly. This inbox allows you to reply to members using your Specialist Groups email address.
We hope that introducing shared inboxes will reduce the number of emails being sent to individual work email addresses and provide a clearer, more manageable way for your group to handle communications.
You can go to the inbox here and if you tick the box ‘Open my inbox when I log in’, as seen below, it will open your mailbox by default when you are logged in.
As mentioned, the shared email address and password may only be used by authorised Specialist Group Convenors for the purpose of managing and updating your Specialist Group.
Convenors are responsible for ensuring that:
- Login credentials are kept secure.
- Credentials are not shared with unauthorised individuals.
- Access is used only for legitimate Specialist Group administration purposes.
If a Convenor resigns, any copies of the login credentials held by that individual must be securely deleted from personal devices, email accounts, documents and any other external records, in accordance with PSA data protection and information security requirements.
Increasing your Specialist Group’s reach:
We would, of course, ask you to encourage people to join the PSA if they are in contact with you.
However, do encourage non PSA members who contact you to sign up to your group, by going to the Specialist Groups area of the PSA website and scrolling to your group.
When they select ‘Join this Group’, they will be asked to log in to their database account or to register and create one:
- If they already have an account, but haven’t logged in this year they will need to use the ‘Forgot Password’ prompt to create a new one.
- If they don’t have a database account, they should follow ‘Don’t have an account? Register now’.
Please assure those who aren’t ready to join the PSA, that doing this simply creates their database account. It doesn’t register them for PSA membership, and there is no cost involved. It simply creates a contact record/account that enables them to join and receive communications from your Specialist Group.