Thank you all for the input. I personally am not a fan of multiple sources of information. It sounds like many units have a similar issue as our,, that being either inadequate use of or ignorance about how to use LDS.org for calendars and event details beyond scheduling a building or room. As I have contemplated this request of my bishop I have come to a couple of conclusions:
- There is no getting away from having a weekly program per guidelines
- Online data sources for units outside of LDS.org are inherently risky due to concerns about security and rights to privacy
I don't know what to propose to him as I am not as tech savvy as I was in the nineties. But thank you all once again. Feel free to post additional suggestions or thoughts about this challenge. I will check back periodically to see what the community figures out since this is an actively explored subject it seems.
Mass Communication
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davesudweeks
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2761
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 9:16 pm
- Location: Washington, USA
Re: Mass Communication
I have been a quality engineer for many years. The problem that often occurs is folks forget who the "customer" is. From a ward bulletin perspective, who is the customer? Certainly not the bishop and not the ward council. If the customers of the ward bulletin are the ward members (which I believe is the case), the next question is, how can the ward leadership get the information to them in a manner they want to receive it? Good customer service requires you to understand the customer and meet their needs, not make them conform to your methods.
The problem with the person who is good with a hammer is they tend to see everything as a nail. But a good mechanic will use different tools for different situations to get the best outcome.
In our ward, we would miss a significant group of "customers" if we eliminated a printed ward bulletin. I suspect that is not the case in many wards. We have a ward facebook page, a printed bulletin, a mid-week email of upcoming events (like a calendar list), and the LDSCalendar application. This seems to be working well for us to meet the different demographics in our congregation, but your mileage may vary.
It isn't always easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is...
The problem with the person who is good with a hammer is they tend to see everything as a nail. But a good mechanic will use different tools for different situations to get the best outcome.
In our ward, we would miss a significant group of "customers" if we eliminated a printed ward bulletin. I suspect that is not the case in many wards. We have a ward facebook page, a printed bulletin, a mid-week email of upcoming events (like a calendar list), and the LDSCalendar application. This seems to be working well for us to meet the different demographics in our congregation, but your mileage may vary.
It isn't always easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is...