To our talented webmasters thank you for all your effort in developing and getting the website up and running. From the most recent bulletin there seems to be a concern with the usage of the club website. I have a question and this is not meant to be a slight, what compelling reason would I have as a member to login to the site on a regular basis? After reading Scott’s bulletin I did login hence my comment and posting. What I did find after cruising through the site is that the information is dated therefore raising the question why would I login?
All the information typically comes to the members Scott’s terrific bulletins. If the bulletins were only posted to the website I believe that would create a great furor as I suspect some members only use their computers for receiving and sending emails thus cutting off access to the bulletin therefore creating the dilemma, to use the website or not.
I do believe the website provides great information to those from outside the club who happen to be surfing the net and happen to type in Gyro Club on a search engine. Anyway I do not have the answer to increasing the usage, some will use the site and some won’t.
Al asked a question that leads to some serious naval gazing: “Why would someone log onto the website?” The rhetorical answer “some would and some wouldn’t” is probably generous at this point. It is discouraging, after the great work Doug and Jim have done setting up the website to see it either unappreciated or perceived as inaccessible by a significant portion of our membership.
I chose not to consider the website as a limited success but rather that its current usage should trigger some additional introspection:
1. Why did we want a website?
2. What is the limited use telling us about our motivation and how we have dealt with it?
3. Are there any deeper underlying questions that need to be addressed?
It seems to me we may be trying to treat a single symptom rather than getting at the underlying cause. Time and again the over the years I have been in the club I hear concern over growing the membership numbers. Perhaps the first question might be “Why do we need more members and if we do, what sort of demographic should we troll for?”
Is big always better? I know it’s a men’s club, but maybe we should ask the Gyrettes that same question. Size doesn’t necessarily mean a better, healthier club. It depends on one’s definition of health. Perhaps we need to look at our club in its present state, its demographics, and our objectives.
We currently have about 50 members. Approximately 40% are away for much of the winter. Is this a sign of a sick club? Should we think outside the box and split into two clubs – one for snowbirds and one for those who stay behind? Should we be trying to bring a new younger demographic into the club to ensure its longevity or would the interests of those over 60 be too different from those under 45?
Personally, I am not in favour of seeing our club strive for, say, 100 members. It might set a record but the friendship within the club could not possibly be as close and fraternal as it is in a smaller club. I am not sure that seeking out a new generation of members is essential or practical either. The post boomer generation has different interests, responsibilities and priorities – no judgement, not better or worse, just different.
One of the motivations for the website was, , as I understand it, to communicate with non-members in the hopes of enticing some to join. Using social media (websites, Facebook, Twitter etc.) to get our message out was touted by Gyro International as the way of the future. To some extent it is, but I think we also need to take a hard look at our current membership. Perhaps 1/3 of us are pretty comfortable with computers and half of those use social media regularly. (How many of us have \twitter accounts and USE them? Another 1/3 are barely computer literate, myself included, but muddle along. We might be persuaded to visit the website from time to time and as we became more comfortable perhaps actively participate in it if there was sufficient current, up to the minute information and content to entice us to check it regularly. The remaining 1/3 have little or no computer skills and the thought of logging on to a website is daunting to say the least. Perhaps, if we really want to be inclusive we should consider holding an actual in person course on the fundamentals of using our website. To do it via the bulletin may be self-defeating. If one is barely comfortable enough to open a word document attached to an e-mail, written instruction with no immediate feedback will probably end in frustration and abandonment. They don’t have to be computer whizzes but they need to be spoon fed (we are not college kids any more and are closer to a future of diapers than that of our distant past).
Something else we probably need to do is give some more thought and brainstorming that includes all three groups referred to above in what content would make the website appealing enough to precipitate regular use by almost all the members. If it isn’t current, interesting and surprisingly exciting from time to time member viewership and participation will fall away.
Al asked the question “what compelling reason would I have as a member to login to the site on a regular basis? ” Well Al I have to admit as the site is currently being used – nothing. And I assure you no slight is taken.
When Doug and I started this project and met with the executive, we were charged with:
• Provide a public profile of the club to the public
• Enhance the communication platform for club members
• Provide an “electronic” repository for club archival records
To meet these goals the following design requirements evolved:
• The “Front Page” of the website needed to be:
• Inviting (attractive to new members) by being:
o Informative about who we are
o Provide an International scope
o Outline history – International, District and Local
o Upcoming events
• Provide for a means of securing contact
• Enable enhanced communication for members
• Interactive communications
• Club Bulletin online – “Park Points”
• Online Events Schedule
• Enable web pages to be viewed on multiple technologies (i.e. Responsive screen sizing)
• Integration with Facebook page
• “Electronic” archival capability
• Improve the retention process for historical documents
• Enable electronic access to historical documents
The design of the new website has focused on achieving each of these significant goals. And, we feel these goals have been met, with the exception of the archival portion which requires the appointment of a “historian” as 1 webmaster cannot do it all.
All that being said I now realize that we missed one key parameter, which Scott has struck upon, in the initial decision to even build a new website. And, that is; less than 1/3 of our membership use their computer for anything more than email and playing games. There are less than a half dozen of our Gyro members that use Facebook.
Doug and I attended a Gyro International interim convention seminar on social media in Tempe this past January. There they toted “social media” as the saviour of Gyro. But, have you looked at the Gyro International or District VIII websites lately. It just isn’t happening.
If we have any hope at all of attracting younger members, it is better to have no social media presence at all than have one that is stale, outdated and lacks interest.
I feel like the emergency room physician trying everything he can to save his patient knowing that the patient has a “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” order in effect. The patient has no desire to live.
Does the Club really want a website? If so, they need to show it. Otherwise there is no point in wasting a webmaster’s time trying to keep a website alive that no one wants.
I look forward to discussion at the AGM and hopefully some more detailed discussion here on the website prior to the AGM.
As Al Gordon points out, there is stale material on the site. However, I have finally toured the site and, by golly, I’m hooked! That’s the key – having been pulled into the site to read Scott’s most recent Bulletin, the sheer creative design of the site caught my interest and, lo and behold, I discovered lots of items to explore.
Several suggestions: 1. Get a show of hands to determine the percentage of members who do surf the internet. 2. Take 15 minutes at a meeting to demonstrate accessing our site and to show everyone what’s on the site. I have the portable equipment to make that happen. 3. Make sure that those few members with no access to the site do receive Scott’s bulletin. 4. Since the site is intended to “communicate”, promote comments and replies – making that activity a significant part of the site.
I personally feel that I’m having a conversation, right now, with my fellow members and that’s what it’s all about. Eh!
Art I could not agree more, I like your suggestions
Art, if you could bring your equipment to Wednesday night’s meeting? I would be willing to set it up either in another room or in a corner of the room and demonstrate the new website during happy hour. Since whist night is such a full evening, I am reluctant to take time during the actual meeting. Ray, what do you think?