Chapter websites ?

[Ruth Niles]

I just got appointed (they said I volunteered, but....) to do our club's website. Randomly I went to some club sites to see what I liked and what I didn't. I was surprised and disappointed at how many links do not work. I also have a few questions:

Should the officers be listed along with either email or phone?
(I have that on our site)

Should there be an email address and/or phone for "contact" info?
Some have this, a lot just have a form and you have no idea where it's going. My club is having Mark Sfirri next month and I wanted to contact the presidents of nearby clubs but 3 of them had no members or officers listed.

Should the meeting minutes either be on the site or available...like PDF?
I was told they have to be on the site so they are on our site.

If anyone is interested, check our site and let me know if you have any suggestions. www.cumberlandvalleywoodturners.com I feel a club's website it not just for it's members but for anyone in an area who might be interested or looking for help. Some of the sites have the aura of a private club with a secret handshake.......just an observation.

Thanks,
Ruth

 

[davidwalser]

Good questions

Ruth,

You ask some good questions. Ideally, a chapter's website would contain a list of officers along with the officers' contact information. Many officers fear that putting their contact information on the club's website will generate SPAM and calls from telemarketers. (Unfortunately, these fears are not irrational.) A decent compromise is to use a contact form that sends any questions and comments to an undisclosed email address. It makes it easier to deal with SPAM and it protects the officers' privacy.

You should be able to get local chapter president's contact information through the AAW on-line directory (assuming you know the name), through the AAW's "Find a Chapter" function (from the AAW home page, select Community/Chapters/Find a Chapter), or by calling the AAW's office.

I don't think it's required that meeting minutes be posted on the website. It's nice, but not required.

Having said all that, I agree with you that many chapter websites are not as good as they might be. Some are outstanding, but most leave a lot to be desired. One service that the AAW might consider providing chapters would be a canned chapter website. Then, each local chapter would only need to populate the website with the club's info to have a decent website.

 

[nicktodd]

Ruth,
Placing phone numbers into pdf files instead of web files will reduce the likelyhood of phone numbers from being picked up by the internet spiders. Norcal woodturners list contact phone numbers in our newsletters(PDF) and list emails on the web files.

As for meeting minutes & all the business stuff, I would not add them unless your board asks for them. It can be alot of work for something that most members don't look at. That time can be spent on content that might attract new members to your chapter or be more useful to the majority of your members.

Also, you may want to put all the business stuff in a members only area.

Nick