The member directory lets you showcase your members in a searchable, browsable directory. Members can create their own profile with a photo, biography, expertise, location, and social links — and the directory can be viewed as a card grid, a compact list, or an interactive map.
Viewing the Directory
The directory supports three view modes that users can switch between:
Card View
A responsive grid of member cards, each showing the member's photo (or initials), name, headline, organization, location, and a link to their full profile. This is the default view.
List View
A compact row-based layout showing key information at a glance — useful for quickly scanning through members.
Map View
An interactive map powered by Leaflet with marker clustering. Members who have provided a location are plotted on the map, which auto-zooms to fit all visible members. Clicking a marker shows a popup with the member's name, organization, and a link to their profile.
Member Profiles
Each directory entry is a member profile page with the following information:
Personal Information
- Name — the member's display name
- Profile photo — an uploaded photo, or a gradient placeholder with initials
- Headline — a short tagline or summary (e.g., "Senior Architect specializing in sustainable design")
- Biography — a longer text description
Location
Members can specify their location at two levels of detail:
- City and country — a broad location shown on the profile and used for filtering
- Full address — if provided, the address is automatically geocoded and the member appears as a pin on the map view. Their individual profile page also shows a map centered on their location.
Professional Information
- Organization — company or organization name
- Job title — role at the organization
- Expertise — one or more areas of expertise, entered as comma-separated tags. These appear as labels on the profile and are used for filtering.
Online Presence
- Website — a link to the member's personal or professional website
- Social links — up to four social media or online profile links. The platform is automatically detected from the URL and displayed with the appropriate icon. Supported platforms include LinkedIn, X (Twitter), GitHub, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Mastodon, Threads, TikTok, Dribbble, Behance, and any generic link.
Search and Filtering
Users can find members in the directory using:
- Search — full-text search across name, organization, job title, city, country, and expertise tags
- Country filter — filter by country
- Expertise filter — filter by expertise tag
- Sort — alphabetical (A–Z) or most recently added
Filters work across all three view modes (card, list, map) and update instantly.
Contact
Authenticated users viewing a member's profile can contact them directly. Contact goes through the platform to help manage communication.
Self-Service Profile Editing
Members can create and manage their own directory entry from the portal under Directory > Manage Your Entry. When a member first visits, an entry is automatically created and pre-populated from their account profile (name, organization, and photo).
Members can update their information at any time. If their account profile changes, they can re-sync by clicking Populate from Profile to pull in the latest details. When a member enters or updates their address, geocoding runs automatically.
Admin Management
Staff can manage all directory entries from the admin portal under Directory.
Adding and Editing Entries
Admins can create entries for members or edit existing ones. The admin edit form includes the same profile, professional, and social link fields as the self-service form, plus status controls (draft/published/archived) and access to sharing and analytics tabs.
Importing Members
You can populate the directory in bulk:
- Spreadsheet import — import entries via CSV or Excel with fields for name, organization, job title, bio, headline, location, expertise tags, and more. Export existing entries first to see the required format.
- URL import — paste a link to a page with member information and Orbit will extract the details using AI.
- Sync from users — a management command can bulk-create directory entries from your user base, with options to filter by active membership, geocode addresses, and re-populate from user profiles.
Bulk Geocoding
Admins can geocode addresses in bulk from the Django admin — select entries and run the geocode action to plot members on the map. Geocoding uses OpenStreetMap's free Nominatim service.
Sharing and Embedding
The directory and individual member profiles can be shared via direct link, social media, or embedded on your website. All three view modes (card, list, map) work in embedded mode. See Sharing & Promotion for details.
Analytics
Built-in analytics track views and visitor data for both the directory listing and individual member profiles. See Per-Feature Analytics for details.
Portal Dashboard
The member portal dashboard includes a directory summary widget showing:
- Total members in the directory
- The user's own profile status (published, draft, or not yet created)
- Quick links to browse the directory and manage their entry
Coming Soon
The following features are planned:
- Multiple directories — support for separate directories (e.g., a member directory and a vendor directory)
- Image gallery — allow members to include a gallery of images on their profile
- Richer customization — more control for staff over the directory structure, available fields, and display options
- Membership tier gating — restrict who can create a directory entry based on their membership level
- Member-facing analytics — allow members to see view data on their own directory entry
- Enhanced contact controls — more granular settings for directory communication, including spam filtering and member preferences for receiving messages