calendar issues

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farwest
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Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:16 pm
Location: southern utah

calendar issues

#1

Post by farwest »

Well after deciding to forego the hard copy of the stake directory we have been presented with these issues. First it was brought up that it may cost more in the end if members print at church a personal copy of the directory. Where do we put the temple baptismal schedule, hospital sacrament schedule, cleaning schedule, talking assignments. We are brand new at this a don't know how to format and add this all to the stake calendar. Any other thoughts on how to put this all together will be appreciated. Also members seem to want a hard copy.
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aebrown
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Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

farwest wrote:Well after deciding to forego the hard copy of the stake directory we have been presented with these issues. First it was brought up that it may cost more in the end if members print at church a personal copy of the directory.

If every person in the stake were to print out the entire directory, it might indeed cost more, but I would guess that a relatively small portion of the stake will print out an entire stake directory. Much of the advantage of the online directory is that it is current, but as soon as you print it, it will start to get out of date. So some people will just rely on the online version and not print it at all.
farwest wrote:Where do we put the temple baptismal schedule, hospital sacrament schedule, cleaning schedule, talking assignments? We are brand new at this a don't know how to format and add this all to the stake calendar.

For such items you need to decide if it is best to have separate schedules (one sheet with the temple baptism schedule, one with the hospital sacrament schedule, etc.) or to incorporate all that information into one master stake calendar. If you incorporate it into the master calendar, then the answer is simple -- they are just additional events.

But it may certainly be preferable to have separate details for such items, especially those that impact relatively few people. In that case, I would recommend creating a separate schedule (in a spreadsheet or word processor) and then saving it as a PDF. The PDF can then be attached to a News and Information item on the stake web site.

Some people have also created separate Resource calendars for scheduling specific items. You might consider that option as well.
farwest wrote:Any other thoughts on how to put this all together will be appreciated.

One option for pulling it all together is to generate the same directory you always have, but rather than printing it, save it as a PDF and post the one PDF as an attachment to a News and Information item. Such an approach will make a nicer printout and will gather the information all together, but has the problem that it will get out of date. Of course, you could upload updated versions every month or every quarter to lessen the amount of obsolete data.
farwest wrote:Also members seem to want a hard copy.

A shift to online data requires a change in the mind set of the members. While the online version may not be as convenient as a hard copy in some cases, it will always be current. That said, I certainly understand why people might want a hard copy -- you can use it in your car or at church or other places where most people don't have an Internet connection.

Our stake continues to print an annual stake directory for just those reasons, but we also push the use of the stake and ward web sites for current information -- by December the information in the printed directory is getting quite stale.
russellhltn
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#3

Post by russellhltn »

farwest wrote:First it was brought up that it may cost more in the end if members print at church a personal copy of the directory.
Is there any Internet access for the clerk computers in the stake? If not, then the cost of printing it isn't likely to fall on the ward or stake. :D

In our stake the Stake Calendar tends to be just for leadership. Any stake events are "pushed down" to the ward calendars, so there's no need for the general membership to go and look at the stake calender. And since no one arrives at the stake page when they log in, it takes extra effort to see the stake calendar.

I'd say keep adding things until it gets too crowded. Keep in mind that you have have a "details" section. So you might schedule which Sundays are "HC Talk" Sundays and put who is speaking where in the details.

For consistency, I'd suggest starting each event title with standardized text so that everyone can see who the event applies to quickly. For example "YM/YW Dance", "YSA activity", or "Springfield Ward Conference".
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