10/27/2013 Sarah Holland 2 PACs, DPAC, geek What do we - - PDF document

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10/27/2013 Sarah Holland 2 PACs, DPAC, geek What do we - - PDF document

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10/27/2013 Sarah Holland 2 PACs, DPAC, geek What do we communicate, and what do we want people to do as a result? How can we communicate? What tools can we use? How can we keep this sustainable? Different schools will use

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Sarah Holland Prince George District Parent Advisory Council October 19, 2013

Sarah Holland – 2 PACs, DPAC, geek What do we communicate, and what do we

want people to do as a result?

How can we communicate? What tools can

we use?

How can we keep this sustainable? Different schools will use different tools –

enrolment of 20 students very different from 1,278

Twitter and Facebook and group meetings and newsletters are all TOOLS. Tools matter, because tools impact the way you

  • interact. You don’t need to use every tool, but every tool you

use you must use well. – Seth Godin, courtesy of Chris Kennedy

How can we communicate both OUT and IN? How do we make this as simple as possible for our

volunteers?

How do we make it as reasonably priced as possible? How can we make sure communications is a priority? How do we keep from excluding people? How can we get someone else to do it when we move

  • n?

How much of this is going to be controlled by the school

  • r school district?
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Some people

will always complain, no matter what

Accept this and

move on

Info – minutes, reports, agendas Actions required – volunteers, wanted,

events, meeting attendance

To feel informed about what is going on Answering questions So parents know how to get more

information if they have questions – means and people

Face to face Meetings Signage & posters Phone calls and trees Newsletters – paper, email Websites Social media – facebook, twitter, etc

Face to Face – this is the most effective method, and

most time consuming

“Hi, I’m ____, can you ...” Meetings “If they really wanted to know...” Don’t mistake parents who don’t come for parents who

aren’t interested

Parents who go to meetings are the strange ones Signage and Posters Useful, but limited – especially when bussing Phone Calls and Trees Works better in smaller schools

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Most traditional method of communications Pros Expected Some people need paper Cons Teacher time Bottom of backpack Siblings Environmentally un-friendly Talk to school – publish in conjunction? Pay attention to design! Consistency Use a grid, template, don’t distract from message Conservation (Clutter-busting) Adding fonts and clip art does not make a

newsletter more interesting

Readability is important Contrast Type contrast, white space, sizes

  • !"#$%&!'!
  • In order to communicate, we need to:

Get a reader’s attention and interest Be easy to read Content comes third You are competing with a lot of other material

for parent time and interest

Why handicap yourself? There is a lot of research in this area – try

googling for Typography, Readability, Legibility

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Big question - where to get emails, how to

maintain, confidentiality, transition year to year

Different methods Email program or merge Email list manager School secretary Privacy concerns – CC often used instead of a

merge or BCC

should everyone be able to see everyone’s email

address?

Life too short for me to maintain email lists People need to be able to add or remove

themselves from list without taking up my time

Are people actually reading the emails? Do we send a copy of the paper newsletter as

a PDF, or something in the email?

Mail Chimp – great service Free up to 2,000 users and 12,000

emails/month

Allows users to administer themselves (add,

remove, change)

Reports on who opens, how often opened,

etc.

Set up design for email newsletter

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Pros Easier to maintain and publish Environmentally friendly Anyone can access The new expected Cons Not all parents have internet access Some are on dialup - slow Need some tech ability to setup and maintain SD57 school websites horrible

As of October 2012

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December 11, 2012 last update, as of October 2013

Is an abandoned web site worse than no web

site?

What’s your commitment level? How do we make this as simple as possible for

  • ur volunteers?

How can we get someone else to do it when we

move on?

Might there be problems with continuity? Can more than one person update the website?

Domain name Web Host Platform

  • Address, or URL
  • Points to…
  • Which computer

files are stored on

  • Displayed by…
  • How you control

what appears on the website

Domain name Web Host Platform

  • Heatherparkpac.info
  • $9.99 /year through

GoDaddy.com

  • Points to…
  • DreamHost.com, paid web

host

  • Currently $8.95/month
  • Displayed by…
  • WordPress blogging

platform

  • Free platform
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Domain name Web Host Platform

  • Free or paid?
  • Paid can point

wherever you want

  • Free or paid?
  • Power and

configuration

  • HTML website
  • Blogger, WordPress
  • Others…

Low tech / low cost Don’t have domain name Use blogger.com or wordpress.com Bit more cost Get your own domain name Point it at the blogger or wordpress.com site Higher tech / higher cost Own domain name Web host Which platform – depends on your technical people Don’t forget to get rid of the job at some point

garibaldipac.blogspot.ca

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Old method - bookmark websites in your

browser, manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added

Gets complicated, miss information, keep seeing

same info

New Method – RSS - “Real Simple Syndication” Have website let you know everytime it updates Use RSS reader or use RSS update service But – one big problem with using RSS Anyone know what it is? Set up one RSS to email campaign on

MailChimp

Automatically emails RSS updates once a day

  • r week at a specific time

Volunteer only needs to do one thing – post

to website

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MailChimp gives ability to see if emails are

being opened

Google Analytics gives ability to see how

website is being used

Free service Set up one time

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Pros: Lots of parents use Facebook daily Communicating with parents where they already are is a

great way to keep them updated about news, events and meetings

Cons: Confidentiality issues Moderation important School site or PAC site? Some parents don’t use Facebook – information would

need to be provided elsewhere

Recommendation: Use this tool as supplemental

communication for your school and parent-group. Sample Facebook Page Some PACs do a good job of this – takes moderation Basically, it is Pinning your Interests. The idea is you create boards and you "pin"

pictures to them.

How many people here use it?

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Twitter is an online social networking and

microblogging service that enables users to send and read "tweets", which are text messages limited to 140 characters

How many people here use it?

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Twitter

Also good for breaking news

Visit -

jointheassoc iation.com

Face to face Suggestion box Online surveys Going to meetings Post comments on website or Facebook Emails Phone calls ThoughtStream Allow for anonymous?

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As a volunteer, 3 major goals: Reduce my time spent Communicate with the maximum

effectiveness

Eventually get someone else to do it Some geeky time spent setting up pays

  • ff

Different methods work for different people Hit them with as many messages as possible;

hopefully a few will stick

There is a difference between communicating

and CYA-ing

Technical issues: Google is your friend PTOToday.com Can you get a geek parent to help with setup and

maintenance?

Ask for help