TOPIC:

Isn't there still something that could be done on the website side? Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but I can print things from other sites using the same browser and the header and footer isn't added. And I print using the print functionality built into those websites.

Just additional information. If it can't be done, then it can't be done.

Thanks for all of your hard work, and for getting suggestions from the users!

We do not put the header there.

I am not saying you did. I am merely pointing out that other websites have figured out a way to suppress that header and footer information when you print using the print functions they have built into their websites.

I haven't read the full discussion here, but there is one issue often raised in my club about the printed agenda. That is, the timer would like to know when to display the Green, Orange and Red lights for each item on the agenda. Can it be added as an extra column? For example like for Speech #1 in the extract below?

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Redpath wrote:

I haven't read the full discussion here, but there is one issue often raised in my club about the printed agenda. That is, the timer would like to know when to display the Green, Orange and Red lights for each item on the agenda. Can it be added as an extra column? For example like for Speech #1 in the extract below?

?

This will make agendas longer (maybe more pages)... everything has to go somewhere. If you take up some width, then I wiil need to add more length. Also, scaling the font down is really not a good solution either as a compromise.... people really cannot read 6pt font. (or whatever)

Ahh...I wish I had seen this topic sooner! This is a topic near and dear to my heart as I actually made a (lol horribly coded) php script so our club's agenda's could look better.

Having a graphic designer/print background and now working in digital marketing on the operations sides, I wanted to see how far I could push html/css.

Below/attached is a screen shot of the agenda it takes our VPE about 5 min to create by dumping the Toastmastersclubs agenda email through a series of preg_replace()s. It is an .svg TM logo and completely rendered in Chrome as html/css (and prints perfectly).



However, occasionally a change to the format of those emails is made and I have to fix, What **I** would love is to be able to do is webhook or get a cleanly formatted email out of the system on a regular basis so I didn't have to play regex wizard (though, don't get me wrong, my regex skills are much better now lol). ....but that's a topic for different thread.

I glanced at the html and see it would be battle on the script side...but if you want some help with CSS with a former graphic designer's touch at some point, let me know.

Thanks for all you do!

Redpath expresses a similar view to mine. Seems to want a special printout customized for one role (Timer). Like I said in my previous post, different roles want a dedicated report to support their tasks. For some roles, the printout would be longer (much more data/content). For general meeting participants, a simple printout would be enough. Is it possible to allow role-players to select the content they want when requesting a printed agenda?
For speeches, the full description ("Speaker 1 + long description from pull-down menu of manual speeches") is unnecessarily long. Perhaps "Jane Speaker 'Girls Weekend Trip' (CC#6 Vocal Variety 5-7 min)" for general agenda. (I'll bet we can become used to "short forms" of the list of all manual speeches.)
For Toastmaster, add introduction.
For evaluations, "George Evaluator evaluates Jane Speaker (CC#6 Vocal Variety)".
Right now, I always create one agenda version (one page), by leaving out the agenda item descriptions. With print option, could choose to produce a printed agenda with the descriptions if needed.
Problem for Timer: only manual speeches have pre-set times. Other meeting segments also need timing assistance. A speaker may request different time. (Our club has a "Timer's Kit" with a one-page timing guide instead of relying on agenda.)

Thank you for this topic! Both of the clubs I am in like having one page agendas (Club #922067 and Club #4680303). The second page is used in one club to print the Toastmasters Promise or the draft schedule for the upcoming meeting. I think concise one-page agendas look more professional, so most definitely I would like to see condensed speech information as suggested by others. Section for officer information, meeting theme, word of the day would all be nice. To address the addition of a time cushion in between speeches, we add an agenda item called "1 minute for evaluation". Right now, for one club I use Adobe Pro to edit the pdf and for the other we have a Word template that we use to get the look we want. Both options are quite tedious. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next version of the printed agenda function. Not part of this discussion, but I want to get this request out there: every TLI should have a webmaster session.

SteveTheTechie wrote:

I started to mock something up a few months ago on my development website (this does not function yet):

We would need some spots to address scaling and other print options, etc.

Would each individual member be able to select their own scaling options?

We have had visually-impaired members and guests in the past and will probably continue to do so in future. If the font size for the agenda is shrunk to accommodate the sidebar, it would be useful to have a way for them (or a club officer for guests) to print off a large-print agenda.

I like that you're making the process easier for the users when it comes to printing the agendas. I have created the attached excel document that fills out a lot of other sheets that are helpful during the meeting. It would be nice if your agenda would do something like the linked video.

deedubbleyoo wrote:

Some clubs use agendas to prompt roles what to do. I'm not sure how to handle this and I thought it might be nice to be able to print additional info on page 2 (AKA the back of a double-sided print)

I really like this idea. Before switching to FTH, we included the club mission and officer contact information. I would also like to include upcoming meetings/events. I'd rather have this on the back of the agenda that in the TI recommended agenda format, so the agenda can fit on a single page. While this could be done with a separate document and copied as front and back, it would be nice to do it from a single place.

Carol wrote:

deedubbleyoo wrote:

Some clubs use agendas to prompt roles what to do. I'm not sure how to handle this and I thought it might be nice to be able to print additional info on page 2 (AKA the back of a double-sided print)

I really like this idea. Before switching to FTH, we included the club mission and officer contact information. I would also like to include upcoming meetings/events. I'd rather have this on the back of the agenda that in the TI recommended agenda format, so the agenda can fit on a single page. While this could be done with a separate document and copied as front and back, it would be nice to do it from a single place.

You all are making out the current agenda functionality to be way more constraining than it really is. My club puts officer contact info and any other information it wants at the bottom of the agenda just by making a dummy agenda item and putting the info in the item description, then setting the duration to be 0. Easy, works every time and by putting in an item it is part of the template.

Even after using the site for 2 years, I have a lot to learn. I'll give this a try. Thanks!

From my club's agenda: - My club is President's Distinguished 10 years in a row.

---

(The following is on the back of the agenda at the bottom.)

We use the "Meeting Description" for a few things (TM logo & our logo and motto, meeting #, word of the week, and special notes.). It's a flexible text space that can have a standard setup in the template, but lets us customize it for each meeting.
The problem with putting content in the item descriptions is that it forces us to "turn on" descriptions to print, which may be unneeded text except for the extra comments. Another thought - could we have a "Meeting Footer" text space to let us add targeted content for each meeting?

lisetrudelclsti@gmail.com wrote:

We use the "Meeting Description" for a few things (TM logo & our logo and motto, meeting #, word of the week, and special notes.). It's a flexible text space that can have a standard setup in the template, but lets us customize it for each meeting.
The problem with putting content in the item descriptions is that it forces us to "turn on" descriptions to print, which may be unneeded text except for the extra comments. Another thought - could we have a "Meeting Footer" text space to let us add targeted content for each meeting?

Ok, that is a fair point. However, just because you turn on Item descriptions does not mean you have to fill them in.

If you are talking about just a one time "footer" at the end of the agenda items, I might be able to do that. The question would be how that relates to the rest of the agenda and meeting information. (like is it stored w/ templates and such)

However, because of the limitations of HTML printing, doing footers on each printed page is actually pretty hard. HTML is really designed for page layout on the computer screen, not on the printed page (although it has gotten better). This is not just something I am carping about... it is a real problem w/ HTML printing. (I find it frustrating that something like this that should be easy to implement is not.) If I can figure out some kludge to do footers, I may do that, but please do not hold your breath.

Ultimately, we are going to have to implement PDF output eventually, as it is really what is designed for printing. However, the learning curve for me is steep on that, and I just have not yet committed to doing that yet. (trying to have a life)

I too really like the idea of displaying officer information on the left side of the page. An option for a meeting theme and word-of-the-day would also be a nice to have at the top.

In our club we're updating the standard template to include more specific information for the Toastmaster Role on the agenda. For example, instead of saying "Impromptu Speaking in the description for Table Topics, we're updating to be more descriptive like 1. Ask for Timing 2. Present topics 3. Timer's Report (Did Everyone Qualify?) 4. Recap of speakers 5. Vote for Best Table Topics Speaker 6. Return Control to Toastmaster who introduces General Evaluator.

It would be really nice to be able to use the items on the agenda to track information for VPE purposes. Like who is trending towards their CC, CL, or who has the best attendance for the year. I've used the role report, but it is not very user friendly. For example, if a user signs up for a role and drops off, it still counts it in the report anyway.

Two features that I think might help many clubs:

1) Add a "print agenda" to templates. Unless I'm missing something, currently one has to create an agenda with the template to view how the template will appear in use then typically either delete or revise that agenda. Yes, one can create a template from an existing agenda but experimenting with past agendas or future ones carries risks of losing information or confusing members.

2) Make printing of the manual information for speeches optional. That item takes up a lot of room and in many clubs is provided by the evaluator introducing the speaker's objectives. This would make it much easier to get the agenda down to 1 page for many clubs.

bump

Reviving this thread... I had to put a pause on this for other commitments... Coming back to it.

Suffice to say that I may do several passes on this. I will probably just do a basic revision first, hopefully in the next few weeks if not sooner.

For the technically inclined, here is a key thing to keep in mind...

The agenda *rows* are completely generated by server code, including inline styles and or CSS classes. Essentially, the agenda print template is like an empty picture frame that is filled in with the agenda rows. I can change the template quite a bit, but I am quite a bit more dug in on the agenda rows.

I am not changing the overall design of the agenda rows, and here is why. There is one function that creates the HTML for the agenda rows and it does it for the sign-up screen, the agenda emails, and the agenda printouts. It does a *lot* and saves me having to maintain a different function to create the agenda rows for each of the 3 cases. These agenda rows are all a 3 column table format vs the agenda editor which is a 4 column format and is generated by a different function.

Bottom line: while I can and will do a number of formatting tweaks on the agenda rows, I will not be making any major changes on the *content* of those agenda rows for printing purposes.

BUMP

The Phase 1 update is now completed... Please see the other topic thread on that.