Are you getting value from the emailed agenda enhancements?

I would like to get a sense of whether clubs are getting value from the emailed agenda enhancements I implemented a year or two ago. Specifically, the ability to sign-up for roles by email and print the agenda from the email.

Would anyone be offended if I ditched the dumbed down version of the emailed agenda and just made the version with the response links the "normal' way it works?

We need to keep FTH as lean as possible for good performance, so it is just as important to get rid of old dead unused code as it is to add new features.

Also, if clubs are getting good value out of the emailed agenda enhancements, then there are a couple more enhancements I am considering around being able to easily request a more current version of emailed agenda be emailed to you (from the outdated emailed agenda) and an enhancement to allow you to submit speech details via email.

So... let me know if it would be worth it for me to enhance the emailed agendas functionality even more.

Hi Steve! I created a profile here (my first day being aware of this site) in part to answer your question.

I'm a new VPE (first time officer) as of this month and: YES! The ability to sign up for roles has been incredibly helpful! It has seriously streamlined our club's process for filling rolls. We only have 9 members but I never have to chase people to fill roles. Why? I e-mail the agenda out ahead of every meeting (one week prior and 2 days prior) reminding people to take a look and sign up. It makes things SO easy for us. I can't imagine doing this job without that feature! I also include all pre-meeting announcements in those e-mails so it's a fantastic "only bother you with one e-mail" solution that keeps essential info all in one place.

I have never attempted to print an agenda from e-mail, so I can't speak to that.

I would love to be able to e-mail the agenda to our prospective members or guests, but I believe that is not currently possible. Our workaround is saving and attaching it as a PDF in an e-mail to prospective members / guests, but that's not as efficient as being able to include them when I send out the agenda to everyone.

I don't think auto-emailed agenda updates would be appreciated by my corporate club members; it would just be too much for them. The link to the agenda brings them to the most current/up-to-date version on the website, so they go there to sign up for their preferred role. I don't think we need that feature.

As for submitting speech details via e-mail, how do you mean? That the speaker can submit their project / title / level / pathway and it will automatically populate in the agenda?

I'm the new kid here, but I can see you've done a lot of hard work. Thank you!

Barb

The reason you cannot email the agenda to non members is because it contains members private information. By emailing the Agenda as a PDF you are breaking privacy laws.

Yes a members name is their private information and they must have control over who see it.

I love this feature and wish it were so by default. Ditch the dumbed down version, I say! I would also like to have the Use MAILTO Links In Agenda Emails default to On. I've had to explain both features every few months, and with first time Toastmasters as they are the ones who send out emails urging role signups.

Thanks for your commitment to this venture. Were there a way for every club to pay you $1/month for your time...

Brian, if only Facebook and the other privacy violators were as responsible as FTH!

Thanks, Brian. I was definitely unaware of that.

Something we struggle with, as a small (9 member) corporate club, is attendance and filling rolls. It is typical that we have 4-5 members at a meeting and 2-4 guests / prospective members who just haven't joined yet. It was our club's intention that by sending out the agenda to the recent guests / prospective members could be used to help entice them to attend meetings and join. Particularly because we are adding new meeting types in the upcoming month (an education workshop, an open house, and a contest rather than the usual 2 speech meeting).

We were hoping to get that same information to our guests / prospective members. Do you have any simple suggestions for accomplishing this? We're really looking for extremely efficient, lean solutions because none of us has much time to dedicate since meetings occur during our lunch hour and we have little time left for these administrative matters.

Thank you!