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

[Monica Ellingson]

David,
Thanks for these insights. Although it might seem bleak, these open rates
for an email newsletter are actually pretty great. Some business would kill
for those rates. That being said, I like your less is more suggestions. I
would love to meet over the summer (without recorded video conference) and
discuss options for improvement. Thanks!


On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 1:37 PM, David E.F. Klein <d_e_f_k at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  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<stephaniehart at gmail.com> 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 <stephaniehart at gmail.com> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> sagamore.online mailing list
> sagamore.online at list.9.0ne.org
> http://list.9.0ne.org/list/listinfo/sagamore.online
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.9.0ne.org/archive/sagamore.online/attachments/20140427/c36e6e10/attachment.html>