Tech Forum

For those interested this year our ward used calendly.com for Tithing Settlement it worked like a charm.

I selected it because:
-I'm out of town for work and can't sit at a table for sign ups
-Cross syncs between a shared google calendar so if I set up a regular appointment it will block out those times on the booking page.
-Easy to use
-Free

It has worked out really well. In fact, the ExecutiveSecretary in the other ward will be using it next year.

If you want to see it in action let me know and I can send the link otherwise just sharing good experiences and ways to automate some processes.

Ryan

Hey Ryan, if I want to try calendly for tithing settlement, should I set up a new gmail account, or is it safe to just use the general bishopric gmail account already set up, where the calendar is not heavily used? Any other setup tips? Thanks. Dale cooleyclerkcrandall@gmail.com

We put a sign on the Bishop's door. No need to sit with a table, no need for 'technology', old school, no tech, paper and pencil/pen. Easy to change at any time during the week if someone needs to without bothering anyone. Works for us, and has since I was Financial clerk the first time in about 1993 (dos 3.3).

waynecooke wrote:We put a sign on the Bishop's door.

We used to put a sign on the Clerk's office door, until the FM group smacked us across the knuckles with a ruler... Something about no tape allowed on the doors. The next year we tried "sticky-tack" product and found that was crosswise with our FM group as well.

Now we just put a table near the bishop's office and tape several sign-up sheets to that. Works pretty well and we only post a few at a time anyway to encourage early sign-ups. It also provides a place for a small stand that advertises the upcoming ward Christmas social.

We got our hand slapped before when we put a sign up on the door...that’s why we went high tech. Also we started OCt 15 to get a head start and free up the bishop in December.

Thanks for posting! Online makes it it so much better. To answer your question I prefer gmail for the calendar function but I think any will do check the Calendy website for integration options.

When I rolled it out I did four things which really helped
-went to Relief Society and priesthood and walked them through it, I also let those non tech people to call me
-put the link in the program
-QR code on the clerks door
-emailed the facebook group

There was about 10 people who needed my help this year. Highly successful!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Concerning the lists on the door, I guess that shows that the Gospel is the same where ever you go, but the 'Church' can very from place to place in regards to some rules. Our Executive Secretary is with the FM group, and he is the one who prints up and puts the lists on the Bishop's door.

We just have a bulletin board right outside the bishop's office.

If you serve red punch at the ward social, the FM Group won't notice the schedule on the door for tithing settlement. [grin]

Another way to do it is to have the executive secretary schedule all of the appointments.

And I was visiting another ward Sunday where the program had a link to a scheduling site the bishop uses.

I am the ES ...I just like the automation and it works. We also get very few no shows because is sends a reminder the day before. All appts are done this way. I have even set up an automatic reply based on keywords to emails letting them know how to schedule online.

Just because you have been doing it one way doesn’t mean you should keep on doing it the same way.

davidry wrote:I just like the automation and it works.

I am 100% with you on this. I do make an exception, though. I will not download software on my computer or an app on my phone. Otherwise, I'm in.