wesax wrote:Hi, I have a ward that doesn't use the LUWS much. The calendar gets updated every so often. If you use the submit an event on teh calendar our website person doesn't get it. She demands that we email her directly... The lessons aren't updated at all. Just asking for some suggestions here. I would love to have our ward move into the information age...
In addition to the ideas in the threads that Alan posted, I have recently found that your enrollment campaign needs to be focused and organized if you are going to maximize the use of the LUWS by your ward members. For me, the most important thing is that the ward members are receiving the information from the website, whether they go there or not. So, I send a weekly e-mail broadcast. This will prevent some ward members from ever using the website, because they will rely on receiving the weekly broadcast. That is a decision that I have made.
I have reprioritized my efforts with the website. After passing the challenge of no content, I have focused on enrollment. In other words, I have much basic content: (Updates from ward members, News from the Scouts, News from the Young Women, A ward information packet, etc.). This is how I am conducting the enrollment campaign.
1. Make a list of every "head of household"
2. Categorize the people into one of 8 groups: Enrolled, Gets an e-mail copy, No e-mail/No Internet, Not interested, Not contacted, Intends to sign up, Missionary, Moved.
3. Keep a log of interactions (I use a spreadsheet) for every individual that is in the "Not contacted" and the "Intends to sign up" group.
4. Gather cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses for all the individuals, and start contacting them.
5. Move the "Not contacted" individuals into one of the other categories, (usually "No e-mail/No Internet," "Not interested," or "Intends to sign up").
6. Follow up on the "Intends to sign up" category and move them into the "Enrolled" or "Gets an e-mail copy" category.
7. Keep track of progress, because it is very slow work and when you can see your progress over time, you can stay motivated. When I started this 6 months ago, we had 62 members enrolled. I now have 108 members enrolled. I am hoping to enroll 150 members.
In a few months, I expect to shift my efforts to getting more active participation by the Ward Council. I intend to do this by focusing on each organization's unique needs and how the website can help that organization. For example, the Young Women and Young Men really need a shared calendar. Others on the forum have suggested using the "Resource" item for these calendars. I am going to do this. The Relief Society has a need to share information on specific shared projects and goals. For example, they are collecting recipes. I intend to help them get all of their collected recipes into a downloadable PDF (but my right now, my effort is with the enrollment campaign). The Primary and other organizations will be benefited by having reports with photos of activities on the website. I intend to work with the secretaries of the organizations to do this.