Weekly Wonder: Confluence 101 - A Guide to Creating and Customizing Your Own Space

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Hi CUG Members!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekly Wonder! Today, we’re exploring the essentials of creating and managing your own Confluence space, specifically tailored for your CUG members. Whether you're new to Confluence or looking to optimize your existing space, these insights will guide you through the process.

Why Create a Confluence Space?

Confluence spaces are great for organizing collections of related pages, making it easier for team members to collaborate, share knowledge, and manage projects effectively. When you're setting up your Company User Group, having a dedicated Confluence Space can really boost product knowledge, help users find the right resources for assistance, and encourage the sharing of best practices related to Atlassian products. Plus, using Confluence allows members to start exploring the product and discovering its impressive features. It's a fantastic opportunity to engage and kick off the learning process!

Getting Started with Your CUG Space

1. Create Your Space: Navigate to your Confluence site, select 'Create Space', and select 'Team' template. Fill in the necessary details like Space name and Space key. Set permissions for your space to control who can view and edit content.

   • Note: Make sure you have the correct permissions to create a new space – if you don’t, you may need to contact your Confluence administrator.

💡 Pro tip: If you’re feeling stuck or want to enhance your current Confluence space, you can explore a variety of templates available on the Atlassian website.

2. Customize Your Overview: Each space comes with an Overview that you can use to communicate the purpose of your space and what members will find in it. Here’s how you can really make your space shine:

   • Add a banner or logo

   • Include your CUG description and goals

   • Add links to key resources

   • Add a table of contents or team calendar

💡 Pro tip: Collaborate closely with your CUG Leaders to define your goals (think of the first 90-days, what do you want to showcase?). This approach not only establishes a clear direction but also fosters broader collaboration and alignment throughout your organization.

3. Organize Your Content: Now that you’ve created your first space, it’s time to get organized. Structure your space with parent and child pages to create a clear hierarchy. We recommend building out your space with these sections:

   • CUG All-in-One Kit resources – your go-to hub for all your CUG documentation and templates (for CUG Leaders only).

   • Meeting Notes – Keep your meeting recaps in one place to track progress.

   • Atlassian Community - Create a page outlining the Atlassian Community with links to discussion groups, forums, and events for users.

   • Atlassian Learning - Develop a page providing an overview of Atlassian Learning, including links to on-demand courses, live training, and certification opportunities.

   • Team Playbooks - Plays are key in implementing the System of Work Practices, which includes behaviors identified by Atlassian’s research as common in successful tech-driven organizations.

   • Product Knowledge & Governance – Share internal policies, product guidance, and include real use cases to show how teams across your org are using the product day-to-day.

💡 Pro tip: Enhance your space organization by creating unique shortcuts for important content and utilizing labels for easy categorization and searching. Regularly review and update your space to keep it relevant, and encourage feedback from members to continuously improve the experience.

Manage users and permissions

To ensure a secure environment for your Confluence space and provide members with the appropriate access for effective collaboration, it is important to set the correct permissions.

Confluence is open by default, meaning everyone with access can view content unless permissions are restricted. Space administrators can set and adjust these permissions when creating a new space or later on.

Inviting team members

Once your site and permissions are set up, it’s time to invite team members to start using your CUG Confluence space.

1. In Settings, select ‘User management’ on the sidebar then select ‘Invite users'

2. Input the email addresses of the team members you wish to invite. You can invite up to 10 email addresses at a time.

3. Choose a role for the invited team members, which determines their level of access to the site.

4. Customize the invitation message, then click "Invite user" to send the invitation.

Take advantage of your space, work together with your team effortlessly, and see how far you can push your creativity. What innovative strategies are you planning to implement in your CUG space? Share your insights and experiences in the comments below.

[Jimmy Seddon]

Thanks @Fiona Gandy! This is very helpful.

I'm going to ask a couple of questions to the group. 

1) How would you go about managing questions from your fellow coworkers that couldn't be answered during the meeting and required investigation and follow-up?  A blog post?  Another page with "Parking Lot" Q&A?  I'd love to here some idea from others.

2) If you are planning to have an Atlassian guest speaker.  What method would you use to gather questions ahead of time if people already know what they want to ask about?