Reservations worth it?

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craiggsmith
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#11

Post by craiggsmith »

Our stake currently reserves Thursday nights for stake events, so Tues. and Wed. are shared among the wards and quite crowded. (Occasionally the stake decides to usurp one of those nights as well.) The bishops in each building get together and decide how to do this, and then we input it as reservations. Some buildings are better than others. We have to get down to the room level, and create separate reservations for the various organizations (Youth, RS, Cub Scouts) even if they are in the same ward. It is of course up to the wards to decide how they split their available rooms among the classes. They are aware that we have created these reservations.

In general this has worked OK, but took a lot of effort. But occasionally we have had serious conflicts where someone had scheduled an event and another organization did not but set up in that location anyway -- they thought they had a standing reservation for that time. Events are more easily viewable and I think would make it clearer to everyone who has what. I'm not sure the risks will be that much greater.

Since the building schedulers don't have as much to do any more, we have one scheduler for the stake center and another for the other 3 buildings. It was one of them who suggested this plan. We think it will encourage the wards to use the calendar more. There might be some bumps at first of course, but we will try to train them well.

The schedulers' value does come in knowing the wards and how they share the buildings, and in contacting the bishops to get clearance for private events. Having reservations in the system makes it so anyone would know who to talk to, but we also have documentation from the bishops on that. I think a single scheduler could handle the whole stake now.
Craig
South Jordan, UT
craiggsmith
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#12

Post by craiggsmith »

jdlessley wrote:I can see problems arising when the young women have the mutual event with the entire building on their calendar and the young men want to schedule a Boy Scout event using certain rooms. They would have to go through asking a young women calendar editor to edit the recurring event just for that particular need. Asking someone to remember who has what room on mutual night is a setup for conflict and hard feelings. The simpler method is to have a reservation in which all the youth organizations can schedule their individual needs. Plus, those subscribing to the calendars for information about events know when important events are actually happening.
I'm not sure I understand -- the problem you mention exists today even with a reservation -- are you suggesting a system where we can reserve for a particular organization, not just the unit?
Craig
South Jordan, UT
russellhltn
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#13

Post by russellhltn »

craiggsmith wrote:Some buildings are better than others. We have to get down to the room level, and create separate reservations for the various organizations (Youth, RS, Cub Scouts) even if they are in the same ward.
Well, you can create a reservation down to the room level for the ward, but not the organization. Sure, you can say who you're setting it aside for, but that's not how the system enforces it.

Seems to me that if you already know what organization will be using what room at a given time, it's better to have someone put the event in the calendar.
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jdlessley
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#14

Post by jdlessley »

craiggsmith wrote:I'm not sure I understand -- the problem you mention exists today even with a reservation -- are you suggesting a system where we can reserve for a particular organization, not just the unit?
No. This was a response to the suggestion that instead of making reservations for mutual night a single recurring event be used. And as I pointed out a reservation works better for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons a reservation works better is that specific rooms can then be booked, an email notice sent out by the system, and those with calendar subscriptions will see the event.

I can see where this would not work any better than a recurring event if nobody was using or referring to the calendar to see if there were any events booked. To avoid ignorance about an organization booking an event on mutual night we also communicate that we have done so to all the other youth leaders. As the Scoutmaster I notify the YW president, the YM president, the Primary president, the Cub Master, and as many Pack leaders as I can when we need the cultural hall for things like courts of honor. They are reminded to check the calendar for these events. When I create an event for something like the court of honor I put the event on the YM calendar and book the rooms with that event. I also create an event on the combined youth calendar and the ward activities calendar but use "other location" for the location, enter the ward meetinghouse name in the "fill in the location" field, and specify rooms to be used in the event description.
JD Lessley
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craiggsmith
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#15

Post by craiggsmith »

RussellHltn wrote:Well, you can create a reservation down to the room level for the ward, but not the organization. Sure, you can say who you're setting it aside for, but that's not how the system enforces it.
Yes, we just put the organizations in so we people know.
RussellHltn wrote:Seems to me that if you already know what organization will be using what room at a given time, it's better to have someone put the event in the calendar.
Agreed.
Craig
South Jordan, UT
Gary_Miller
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#16

Post by Gary_Miller »

jdlessley wrote:Reservations are made for a unit. Events are made on a particular calendar. Since most, but not all, calendars are for an organization then what organization gets to create and therefore manage the one recurring event?
The organization who's calendar the event is for.

For example our RS has a recurring event on the 2nd Thursday of each month. They want the use of the kitchen, RS room and Cultural Hall from 1pm to 9pm. So they booked a recurring event placed on the RS Calendar through Dec 2013. They had decided on themes through May 2013 and there was a couple of months where they moved to a different day or there was not going to be an activity due to a scheduled stake conflict.

First the RS scheduled the recurring event titled 2nd Thursday RS Nights, placing within the event the times and resource they were to use..

Next the RS went in and edited each event in the description to show the theme for the month. Deleted the event for month where they had the stake scheduled conflict and changed the date for February from the 14th (valentines day) to the 7th. They did this all the way through May. For the months of June through December they just left the event the way it was originality booked. As time get close to the event then the RS will go in and edit each event to show more specific details.

jdlessley wrote:I can see problems arising when the young women have the mutual event with the entire building on their calendar and the young men want to schedule a Boy Scout event using certain rooms. They would have to go through asking a young women calendar editor to edit the recurring event just for that particular need. Asking someone to remember who has what room on mutual night is a setup for conflict and hard feelings. The simpler method is to have a reservation in which all the youth organizations can schedule their individual needs. Plus, those subscribing to the calendars for information about events know when important events are actually happening.
Not sure how it is in your building. However, in our building we have two wards meeting. Each Wednesday is youth meeting night. On that night we have all the YM/YW meeting, as well as Cub Scout Den meetings and Girl activity days for both wards. The wards alternate day of the month for the GYM and Kitchen. Each ward has assigned rooms which they are assigned, and each organization has assigned rooms which they are assigned.

So it would be quite easy for an organization to book a recurring event for the whole year. Such booked event would place on the individual organizations calendar for the location (building), times, and resources (the assigned room). The only time a conflict would accrue would be if the individual, who booked the event, booked the wrong resource (room).

There is no conflict or hard feelings because each ward and organization has assigned rooms.

While a recurring reservation could be set up for each organization. There is no need if the organizations just book a recurring event and the edit each event for details as the details become available.
jdlessley
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#17

Post by jdlessley »

Gary_Miller wrote:
jdlessley wrote:Since most, but not all, calendars are for an organization then what organization gets to create and therefore manage the one recurring event?
The organization who's calendar the event is for.
My question was not a general one. You stated that recurring events serve the same purpose as a reservation. My response raised the issue of what calendar do you put the mutual night recurring event on? There are five youth organizations in our ward using the building. One calendar does not fit for all five.

We don't make reservations for events such as used in your example for Relief Society. Just as you do not. But mutual night is not a single event. It is several events.

I don't know how the other three bishops using the meetinghouse do it for their ward but our bishop prefers to reserve the entire building for the mutual night time block and allow each using youth organization, of which there are five, to work out what rooms they will need amongst themselves. This is less rigid and allows flexibility for changing needs.

The cultural hall has the biggest demand. Assigning it to one organization was not acceptable to all the organizations using the building on mutual night. When an organization needs the cultural hall, or any other of the bigger rooms, they schedule an event and notify the others.

We also use events to highlight a special activity in which the scheduling organization wants others to be aware is not just another mutual night activity.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
craiggsmith
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#18

Post by craiggsmith »

It's sure a lot easier when only one ward uses a building on a given night -- it's an ideal candidate for a reservation. If the youth groups have a set schedule among themselves as to who gets what rooms which weeks, then recurring events could work.

With multiple wards (and possibly even without) there aren't enough large reservable rooms for all the groups, so activities are often at homes or other locations.

Independent of reservations I'd really like to see the groups put all their activities in as events so I know what they're doing when and where!
Craig
South Jordan, UT
Gary_Miller
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#19

Post by Gary_Miller »

jdlessley wrote:My question was not a general one. You stated that recurring events serve the same purpose as a reservation..
Recurring events if done properly work better than a reservation. If the recurring event booked properly, they lock out a date, time period, location, and resources for a specific organization, on the same day each week, or any other senerio, for a limited or unlimited length of time. No other organization can book an event at the same time using the same resources.
jdlessley wrote: My response raised the issue of what calendar do you put the mutual night recurring event on? There are five youth organizations in our ward using the building. One calendar does not fit for all five.

That would all depend on how your calendars are set up. In my ward, for YM/YW organizations, we have a calendar for, YM/YW combined activities, YM Activities, YW Activites, Deacon Quorm, Teacher Quorm, Prest Quorm, Beehives Class, Miamaids Class, and Laurels Class.

So if the Laurels were to book a recurring event such as mutual night they would book it using the Laurels Class Calendar and the resources (rooms) assigned to their class. Same for each other group, the date, time, location could all be the same. However the resources (rooms) would all be diffrent, thus avoiding any conflicts.

You could use only one calendar and the out come would be the same, no conflicts as long as the resources (rooms) are diffrent.
jdlessley wrote:But mutual night is not a single event. It is several events.
However since no two classes will be using the same resource (meeting in the same room) you can book as many events on the same date, at the same location, at the same time, with no conflicts.
jdlessley wrote:I don't know how the other three bishops using the meetinghouse do it for their ward but our bishop prefers to reserve the entire building for the mutual night time block and allow each using youth organization, of which there are five, to work out what rooms they will need amongst themselves. This is less rigid and allows flexibility for changing needs.
This works fine as long as its just one ward meeting in the building. But remember reservations do not show up the monthly calendar layout. So there would be nothing showing that it was mutual night on the calendar, unless you also booked a event also. And if you added a single event such as Mutual Night, 7pm, JDs Building, the entire building on YM/YW Calendar. Then no one group could add the details on thier group calendar, due to the entire resource is booked.
jdlessley wrote:The cultural hall has the biggest demand. Assigning it to one organization was not acceptable to all the organizations using the building on mutual night. When an organization needs the cultural hall, or any other of the bigger rooms, they schedule an event and notify the others.
Our ward works this out in PEC at which time the winning group would then modifys the recurring event for that date to show they are meeting in the cultural hall. no need to notify others if its on the calendar, if some other group tried to book an event at the same time using the cultural hall they would get a resource conflict.
russellhltn
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#20

Post by russellhltn »

craiggsmith wrote:Independent of reservations I'd really like to see the groups put all their activities in as events so I know what they're doing when and where!

Amen. The real power of the new system I like is the ability to sync the church calendar to one's personal calendar - like a smart phone. Not as something to look at like in LDS Tools, but right in your own calendar.

But that only works if 1) The event is entered and 2) the calenders are broken out so that you can subscribe to what you need to know and ignore the other events.
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