Ward Use of LUWS

[kisaac]

is the meeting schedule you refer to above the schedule of PEC, Councils, etc.? I have added the times for those meetings under the "meeting times" feature on the home page.... Just a thought...

I haven't put those "meeting times" on the front page, but I have put the major "arcane termed":) meetings on the ward calendar. The meeting schedule is a spreadsheet of the complete rotating sunday schedule, with the whole slew of abbreviated meetings BYC, YSA PPI's, HP, RS, etc.

I just found today that I can send a link via email to the PDF in "resources" and the recipient won't have to be logged on to view it!

Here is my "plea" to ward leaders to use the calendar for inputting their events. found here with attachment, just add your ward name to it.

[chriswoodut-p40]

My ward has been using the calendar, the news and information, and the directory features with great ease for almost a year now. In the coming year, we'll be using the resource calendar with another ward as our primary tool for coordinating building use. It was a rocky transition, and we are still fighting some battles (namely a Google Group that refuses to die). The primary frustration has been the e-mail broadcast.

Our biggest challenge is the email broadcasts as well. We have three auxiliaries in our ward maintaining their own email lists -- they are silos. We have had trouble with the email list getting out and being used for garage sale announcements, political opinions, etc. All while the LUWS email addresses are out of date and can't be updated by anybody but the individual members who don't care enough to update it.

Do you all recommend we don't try to use the broadcast system and go to a stand alone system? Our Elder's quorum is using a listserv for their emails -- maybe our ward should go that route. (Though, I get tired of people moving out of the ward and emailing me complaining they are still getting emails.)

During tithing settlement, we setup 3 computers at the church to sign people up for the LUWS after their tithing settlement appointments. I'm sure we've broken the 10% translation level (probably pushing 50%), but I'm not sure our active use of the site is above the translation level of 10%. That must be why we're still here! Our ward luws admin even has been going to people's homes to get them to sign up.

We have also made the LUWS calendar as the master calendar for the ward. The primary is using it and the others take constant reminding to post their items.

So, while my original email was sarcastic, we are pushing hard to use the site.

[russellhltn]

Our Elder's quorum is using a listserv for their emails -- maybe our ward should go that route.

You should read the Authorized Church Web Sites policy. It's from 2004, but it hasn't been superseded.

[coloradotechie-p40]

But perhaps you've heard that MLS is going to start populating e-mail addresses out of LDS Account. This has great potential for a stop-gap until the LUWS 2.0 is fully released and functional. With this new addition, it won't be difficult to generate e-mail lists for the auxiliaries that they can use in their own e-mail programs without having to go through the LUWS. What's more, this circumvents the drawback of all e-mails being sent from the website administrator.

How can I generate email lists for auxiliaries out of the LUWS? I was going to do it via MLS, but if it can be done via the LUWS, even better! (b/c we don't have internet access at our church building, it is easier to fulfill a request from home than it is to do it at church).

Thanks!

[aebrown]

How can I generate email lists for auxiliaries out of the LUWS? I was going to do it via MLS, but if it can be done via the LUWS, even better! (b/c we don't have internet access at our church building, it is easier to fulfill a request from home than it is to do it at church).

You can't generate email lists from LUWS. But an LUWS administrator can send e-mail broadcasts to all registered users who have subscribed in their profile to receive emails for a particular organization. For example, a mother of a Laurel might subscribe to Relief Society and Young Women, and then she would get e-mail broadcasts and calendar notifications that were associated with those two organizations.

[techgy]

My primary concern with Email lists is that there may be individuals who may choose to not receive Email and who may be upset if their Email were to be added to such lists. Before I would ever add anyone to a list, I would certainly want to contact them and gain their permission.

Using the LUWS to send Email gives the individual the opportunity to turn off the receipt of Email to their account if they so desire.

[nbflint]

Using the LUWS to send Email gives the individual the opportunity to turn off the receipt of Email to their account if they so desire.

Yahoo Groups and Google Groups have this same functionality. Every message sent to the group email address (unless the group admin changes it on purpose) includes instructions for how to be removed from the list automatically.

I am not discussing the church policy noted above. I'm only saying that the technical aspects of these types of groups allow for good opt-in / opt-out functionality.

[russellhltn]

Email broadcasts from LUWS were updated to include a footer explaining how to change the subscription.

[sorrel]

The Sunday School lesson schedule works well. The Priesthood/Relief Society schedule presumes that the lessons are scheduled on a Stake-wide basis. Our Stake delegates the assignment to the Wards as per standing instructions but the software does not allow the lessons to be scheduled on a Ward-by-Ward basis like the Sunday School lessons.

[lajackson]

The Priesthood/Relief Society schedule presumes that the lessons are scheduled on a Stake-wide basis. Our Stake delegates the assignment to the Wards as per standing instructions but the software does not allow the lessons to be scheduled on a Ward-by-Ward basis like the Sunday School lessons.

The software probably does not allow it because there is no provision in the curriculum instructions for the stake to delegate the assignment for the 2nd and 3rd Sunday priesthood/Relief Society lessons to the wards.

Yes, the stake may delegate the 4th Sunday, and the 5th Sunday belongs to the bishopric, so those entries do not contain specific lesson topics. Ours merely say (4th) As assigned by the bishop from the May 2010 Ensign and (5th) Bishopric Instruction.