Scottish Labour Party members across the north-east will have the opportunity to grill leadership candidates later this week.
A hustings event is being held in the Park Inn by Radisson hotel on Justice Mill Lane on Friday at 7pm.
Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale and Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, will try to persuade members why they should be given the top job at a time when the party has all been wiped out at Westminster.
The audiences will also hear pitches from deputy leadership candidates north-east MSP Richard Baker, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and Cowdenbeith MSP Alex Rowley.
No date has been set for a hustings event in the Highlands and Islands where the party is currently represented by list MSPs Dave Stewart and Rhoda Grant.
A recent opinion poll suggested that the SNP is on course to increase its majority in next year’s Holyrood election – a situation that could lead to Labour not winning a single constituency.
Six out of 10 people – 60% – plan to vote for Nicola Sturgeon’s party in the first past the post vote on May 5, according to a survey carried out by pollster TNS.
Speaking at the weekend, Ms Dugdale, a former party deputy leader, said: “We may not be at the bottom of where the Labour party could get to in Scottish public life.
“There might be another storm coming.”
The first hustings will be held in Edinburgh this evening.
Acting Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, who led the party from 2008-2011, said: “This contest is a chance for our candidates, and the party as a whole, to start the work of regaining the trust of people in Scotland.
“This can’t be a conversation simply amongst ourselves.
“We need to speak to, and hear from, people who share our Labour values but haven’t joined our movement.
“Only by reaching out to people all across the country can we rebuild our party.”
Mr Gray admitted that the road back to victory for Scottish Labour would be “long and difficult”.
“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” he added.
“The leadership contest will be an important party in making that change happen.”