[Sagamore Online] An example of how communications could work differently

[Nancy Shober]

Thanks, Dave, for you ideas, comments, etc. 

I agree with much of that. At the beginning I had great plans for organizing and cleaning up Constant Contact (you may have questioned some of the folder structure - 'twas me, starting and then losing imitative and time). I am fine with a non-Constant Contact option; it is not a very efficient system and the web nature of it takes a long time to accomplish anything. I know the craziness the next 5 weeks will bring, but would love to dig into this over the summer (early). I have 2 kids attending Sci-Quest and will have some time on my hands that week. Maybe we (and other interested parties) could plan some time to hash some things out then? 


Nancy 

----- Original Message -----

From: "David E.F. Klein" <d_e_f_k at hotmail.com> 
To: "sagamore online" <sagamore.online at list.9.0ne.org> 
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 1:37:13 PM 
Subject: [Sagamore Online] An example of how communications could work        differently 

Dave and John and others, 

I want to start this post by stating that none of my comments below are meant at all as a criticism of what we are doing now and the people currently doing it. I know that we are all doing the best that we can to support the school with the limited time and resources available. I totally get it. My thoughts and ideas are merely about how we can potentially improve our communications and parental involvement by refocusing the efforts (hopefully without creating more total work for anyone). I would also like to state that I am not a technical expert, web expert, or a communications expert so take my ideas for what they are. If anything is impractical or just plain dumb please let me know. I'll plead ignorance. (It's worked before). 

I agree with John's mission statement for the website and have an example of how it might work. 

Using the login info from Dave I explored our Constant Contact data for the first time ever and have a few thoughts: 

1. There is an amazing amount of stuff there that isn't doing anyone any good anymore as it currently is, but perhaps can be harvested and reused. 

2. Is the "open rate" listed for the wildcat updates what I think it is and is the number accurate? 30% to 50% doesn't seem like a super-successful communication method. 

3. When you study individual emails on Constant Contact you can see the click through rates to specific links or pages (this may be obvious to some but not me). This seems like a great way to study the effectiveness of my example below. 
  
4.  As an example of what I think would be a better way to operate, I opened the first weekly Wildcat Update of this school year (July 15, 2103) to see what it contained. The blue text in quotes below is cut and pasted from it. Below that are my thoughts/suggestions/ideas. 

"We wanted to pass along a few dates for your calendar. The  Sagamore Hills Elementary Open House  will be held  Wednesday, August 7th  from  2:00 -4:00 . This is your opportunity to get your spirit wear, order your child's folder or agenda, and learn more about all of the exciting things planned for Sagamore Hills this year. More information about Open House will be sent out soon including information about how you can help." 

Thought 1 - One sentence or maybe two in the Update is perfect for telling everyone what the topic is   and when it is  (in this case Open House). Short and sweet. If you already know what Open House is then you're done and move on. If you are new and don't know what Open House is then you probably have 50 questions. The Wildcat Update can't address all 50 of them and we tend right now to just try to answer a few in the update and let the rest go. 

Thought 2 - The next sentence should read "For more  information  about Open House click here (with a link to the website and/or the website URL listed as plain text). Clear URL's are critical to reinforcing the PTA web page address and contents in people's minds - e.g. sagmorehillspta/openhouse. 

Thought 3 - The website Open House page would be able to contain all of the following things that the Wildcat Update currently cannot: 
     1. A paragraph or two at the top about what open house is , what happens there, what you need to know or bring, what you can expect to find, etc. 
     2. Pictures or a map or a  list of tables/booths planned or any other relevant information. 
     3. A link to the PTA membership/order form for people to look at ahead of time. Perhaps with explanations of what some of the items are and/or why they are important (enrichment fund, pta membership cost, etc.) 
     4. A few sentences about what the school administration does at open house (rather than just what the PTA is doing there). I know this information is not ours to control or ours to be responsible to give out but no one usually does give it out so no one really ever knows (bus routes, lunches, proof of residency, I don't know what else). 
     5. A section that describes Volunteer Opportunities . People don't know what they can or should be doing if they've never done it before. This is where the link to the "bring it" could live. (It could also be listed as a link in the wildcat update if we wanted to do double work -  "For more  information  about volunteering to help out at Open House click  here "). If we can list all of the people and tasks required then we may get more help. I think people don't even know what help is needed sometimes (and that a lot of things could be done at night or on weekends, so having a full time job is not necessarily an acceptable excuse for not participating). 
     6. Information that Spirit Wear will be available at Open House and a link to the Spirit Wear webpage on the PTA site for more information about what it is. We don't need to duplicate the information here about what is available (shirt sizes, magnets, etc.), but just link to it. 
     7. A link to the Google Drive workspace folder where behind the scenes stuff lives (to do lists, email drafts, flyers, handouts, etc.) The drive is password protected so no one sees it without logging in first (i.e. no internet creepers). All of the information that we need and have to recreate every year because we can't find it would be located in this one place. And you don't have to remember where it is because you can get to it easily from the webpage. 

Thought 4 - The above list of items looks like a ton of work to set up, but it only needs to be done one time. Then it is there forever. The following year's open house would be so much easier to manage. And people who are new to the school could see this page any time all year long and feel like they know a little more about what goes on. It doesn't just disappear after August 11th. 
      
5. The next section of the 07/15 Wildcat Update is below: 

"Come out for  Ground's Day  on  Saturday, Aug 10th, 9:00 -12:00.   Bring your shovels, wheelbarrows, rakes, power tools, gloves, and anything else that might be helpful. With all the rain we've had, there's lots to do!  Come for an hour or three.  Any amount of help is good help.  Ground's Day is a great way to lend a hand, reconnect with friends and meet new ones!  Don't forget to bring yourself plenty of water (and snacks if needed)." 

I won't go into as much detail on this one, but the same thought process as above applies. A webpage with the "Ground's Day" name or "Buildings and Grounds" or whatever. The "bring it" list link . Names of who is in charge of this and contact info (email or phone). Pictures . Maybe an  FAQ  or something about why we are doing this and not the county? People won't help if they think that someone else will just do it anyway. 

6. The next two sections of the 07/15 Wildcat Update are below: 



"Ambassadors Needed!    
Do you remember when you started at Sagamore? So many questions and concerns and so much to learn in the first few months. Now that you know it all (or much more than you used to) can you share that knowledge with new parents? Ambassador families will be paired with 1 or 2 new families to welcome them to Sagamore. Please contact  Stephanie Hart  if you'd like to help." 



"New to Sagamore?   
Our Sagamore Ambassadors can help with all there is to learn in the first few months of school. If you would like to participate please contact   Stephanie Hart  with your info and your child's name, gender, and grade. Please pass this along to any new families who are not yet on this email list.  You can use the "Forward this email" link below and encourage them to join our electronic newsletter.  It's the best way to stay in the know!" 

This could be another webpage ("Ambassadors?" "New Students?" "New Parents?") with contact info for volunteers to get involved, contact info if you are a new parent , and generally more information about what it is (I still don't know and I've been here three years). Maybe even a sign up thing on the webpage instead of having to send an email that might get lost or deleted? 


Final thoughts - This is just one example of one wildcat update, but in general I see this as a way to make the wildcat update shorter, which may increase it's usability. It also provides more permanent info for those that who want it or need it. It also maintains the info so next year's wildcat update essentially writes itself. It also centralizes all of our information and efforts into one location. And links to all of these pages could be in the Google calendar too, I think. Tweets could also include the URLs, I think. Everything pointing back to one central place. 

Thanks for reading. I'm done. 

David 

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