TOPIC:

For our club, the Online Meeting Agenda is just not going to happen. We are still emailing around a PDF schedule every week.

Some of members commented that it was difficult to find and download our club schedule which is provided as a PDF document in the Members Only Downloads (contains personal information). There were too many clicks.

I created a link in the Members Only Menu linked to the file location (I copied from the download box). Realizing that when the next schedule was uploaded the link would not be correct, I wanted to find a way to manage this without changing the link every week.

I decided to standardize the file name. When the VP Ed send the schedule we save it with the standardized name "schedule.pdf" When the file is uploaded, the new file automatically writes over the existing file, you don't even have to delete the old file, thus eliminating the need to update the menu link.

It is a nice way to reduce the number of clicks members have to do to find information they are looking for.

Less clicks = Happier Members (at least for us!)

robtuttle wrote:

For our club, the Online Meeting Agenda is just not going to happen.

I am curious what issues you ran into with trying to implement the use of the Online Meeting Agenda... Was it something related to the design or functioning of the online meeting agenda features?

It was related to the "design and function" of our members. And I quote "I shouldn't have to go online to find out what my role is..."

Long story short, the Club President and the VP Ed refused to implement because two members complained. Enjoy counting and tracking...

Rob,

I long for the good old days when members made a commitment, and then wrote it down.

Wow... that is a shame. I believe you went to a lot of trouble to make a nice training video, also... right?

I still get upset thinking about how much work I put into it.

I made a series of videos

The Online Meeting Agenda (10 min)


Creating & Editing an Agenda (for the VPEd and TOE) (7 min)


Updating Your Speech Assignment (3 min)


Volunteering For Meeting Roles


Online Meeting Agenda for the TOE (10 min)


Online Meeting Agenda for Members (10 min)


I was contacted by a Toastmaster who was going to try to implement for her club, this was my advice...

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I wanted to share my experience with the Agenda so that you can be successful.

I did make an attempt to get our members to use the online agenda. First I created manuals, but no one want to read them. Then I made videos, but they were too long. Then I made shorter videos, and then we brought in a new VPEd and he refused to use the agenda. It has been an exhausting process.

If you are trying to get the members to use the agenda, this is what I recommend. Just switch. Don't try to ween people off one system to another, it only prolongs the complaints and then people think "It would be so easy to go back to the old way." People will cling to the known and the past. I can't tell you how many times I heard "This is the way we have always done it." Pick a day and switch, people will adapt only when they must.

Also, before you decide to change, you MUST have to have 100% agreement and support from the VP of Education and the Club President. It is also helpful to have support of long-time members (we have members that have been in our club since 1974). This was my mistake.

I tried to show everyone how good it was going to be. I made speeches about the benefits to members being able to keep track of their speeches and meeting roles (CC and CL manual requirements). I gave a talk about the Members being able to swap roles or sign up for specific roles to complete their goals. I spoke about how coordinating collaborative online agendas give young professionals real experience to coordinate online projects on the job. All for naught.

The President refused to stop having the VPEd make and send the schedule on Excel because 2 or 3 members complained (we have almost 50 members). Also the VPEd is very late sending out schedules and takes it upon himself to fill schedules that the Toastmasters of the Evening should be doing. Yesterday he sent a new schedule out about 3 hours prior to our meeting.

If you are serious about making the online agenda a reality, here is my recommendation:
Step 1: Convince the Club Board that it is a good idea and get them to "Buy In"

Step 2: If you have long time members, speak to them first. Tell them about the change and gain their support. If they are resistant, tell them how this project will make your club more marketable and valuable to young professionals who are looking for these conveniences and will need to learn how to coordinate online projects.

Step 3: Pick a date and be prepared to stick to it.

Step 4: Have the VP Ed input two months of schedules. Then create blank agendas for the third month (this will allow members to sign-up for roles voluntarily). And yes, it has to be the VPEd, they make the schedule, don't duplicate work. In the future plan to stay 2 months ahead. For example, During January, you should have the February schedule full and the March schedule available. On February 1, the Toastmasters of the Day/Evening should recruit and fill spots in March and the April agenda should be available for sign-up. You will occasionally need to re-arrange the agenda for new members to get roles or to complete certain projects (for DCP points) but this should work.

Step 5: Tell the members. Don't tell them until the agendas are up! They need to have something to look at. With two months of schedules up, it will help to calm them that they have time to learn this new system.

Step 6: Plan to give some talks to demonstrate how the system works. If you can, try to get some of long-time and well respected members to give talks to, this will lend to credibility. Focus on the benefits to the members: staying current and marketable; building real job skills, convenience, ability to track roles, records of speech information, etc... And don't forget to put a little blurb in each newsletter. You can view ours here: dunedintoastmasters.com/newsletter.html

To make it work, the President and the VPEd have to be behind it. If you are not able to get a step done, I would stop and wait, otherwise you will end up spinning your wheels like me. I tried to do this without the support of the President, VPEd and long time members. After about a year, I just stopped doing them. No one noticed. It was a ton of work and wasted time.

My last suggestion is to train members that once the agenda is up online, it becomes the responsibility of the Toastmasters of the Day/Evening. They are responsible to have members switch roles online or do it themselves. After the meeting they should have a deadline of a day or two to go back and update any last minute changes.

I hope this helps. Please let me know how it turns out.

Rob

Just reading your posts, I'd say that your club probably has more problems than just not wanting to use an online agenda. In your situation, I'd be totally frustrated, too (and, being me, probably looking for another club). Is there any chance of success with a future exec committee?

Don't think, though, that the work you put into your videos was a waste of time. They're available to Toastmasters worldwide for use and inspiration. That means that anyone looking to transition to the online agenda isn't starting from scratch but has a model to follow.

Thanks Jane and everyone else too. The videos are there and I hope that others use them. We are keeping them just in case another Exec Committee decides to use the online agenda.

It is actually a very good club, one of our members won the District Evaluation Contest this year and another won the District Humorous Speech Contest last year. People are very friendly and helpful, just not interested in using computers.

I also hope that these posts help other VPPRs to implement their website successfully.

At our meeting just last night the new VPE expressed a reluctance using FTH. Instead preferred to use Word to manage agendas.

At the end of the meeting I gently asked why. Reasons were the agenda does not print on one page and she can see who is signed up for what role.

Digging deeper revealed a lack of knowledge on how to use the site. We have a date scheduled so I can show her one-on-one how to use the site. I had no knowledge of her FTH frustration until last night.

In my experience it seems the older 'lifer' Toastmasters are somewhat more reluctant to use the club site than newer members. Not an age thing but I believe its a we've always done it this other way thing.

In my club, I am pretty much driving the use of the FTH 2 agenda. We were using the FTH 1 agenda system before, so we were already used to using an online signup system.

However, even with that, I still have to print off the multi-meeting signup form and make sure I circulate it at all our meetings. I have to then take that sheet and enter the role signups from it myself. If I did not do this, I am not sure how many people would go online and sign up. (probably not many) It is the only way I can ensure that less computer savy members are signed up for roles and actively participating.

I really like the multi-meeting signup form... glad we got it back in the row and column format. It allows me to accommodate the "old and the new".

I am not sure what will happen after I stop driving the use of the FTH 2 agenda. I have basically built out the use of it entirely myself.

I do believe that there is a lot of room for usability improvements in FTH 2 that would benefit less computer savy members perhaps keep them from "straying from FTH". For example, not everyone is comfortable with doing drag and drop so reordering agenda items can be a bit intimidating to them making the agenda seem harder to use.

In one club I belong to, we are implementing the online agenda in place of using a word document. I'll be giving a presentation on how to use it, so I'm interested in other people's experiences.

One objection I've come across a couple of times now: that with the ability of members to sign up and (especially) remove themselves from the agenda, the VP Ed loses control. I did know of one individual who would log in and remove self from agenda without telling anyone - to the point where, if I saw that name at the top of the recent logins, my first reaction was to check the agenda!

However, at the end of the day, what's the difference between a person who's quietly taken themselves off the agenda and one who just doesn't turn up? As I see it, the end result is the same: a last-minute agenda change.

I've also come across the older (as in age) member who is not happy using computers. In one case, all they needed was their own computer and the freedom to learn at their own pace. So many training programs have time limits, and if you feel you're a bit slower at learning, you could end up feeling you don't have a chance to absorb the material in the time available. Plus, there are differences in learning styles and it can be very helpful to have a tutor who understands this and can adapt. Probably more easily done in a one-to-one situation than in a group, though.

Ultimately, I think it comes back to what's in it for them. If it's sufficiently worthwhile for them, they'll be interested in learning. I have a friend who largely avoided online stuff; that all changed when it came to planning and organising the trip of a lifetime.

I agree, quietly removing yourself at the last minute is just like not showing up when you are scheduled. A sad unfortunate truth of Toastmaster meetings. We have a Cancellation Policy that requires a member to contact the TOE if they are in a major role like Speaker, General Evaluator, or Table Topics Master. Other roles we just fill from whoever shows up. In the policy and videos we talk about how it is polite and courteous to inform the TOE if you can not make it. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

The Board had to enforce it about a year ago because one member was not coming whenever he were scheduled but showing up when he was not scheduled. The board made a decision that he would not be placed on the schedule but, could volunteer when roles were vacated or unfilled for a meeting (another member didn't show up).

I also used to put a bunch of stuff on the top of the agenda. There was too much because no one was reading it and it pushed the agenda to two pages. Instead I changed it to links on the website. This way they could read what they wanted to read, and not see what they didn't want to see.

Jane,

Your comments are exactly why I made the improvement suggestion in the following thread:
support.toastmastersclubs.org/forum/7-im...-from-a-meeting-role

I know that in the past their have been concerns about system notifications to members being considered spam, but I think that some limited, but useful notifications to one or more officers and selected meeting roles (e.g., limited number of people who agree to get those notifications) could be very helpful, especially in the case of someone removing themself from an agenda at the last moment.

Rob,

We posted a Tip/Trick a while back on how keep stuff in the Agenda header from showing up on the printouts (but visible on the screen). Basically, there is a non-printing style that you apply.

Here is the post about handling non-printing elements

support.toastmastersclubs.org/forum/6-ti...-html-question#20458