Create Event Group for mass communication?

[JacquiN]

I am researching options for mass communication at an annual Church event with hundreds of volunteers.

Is there a way to create a "group" in LDS Tools with members from different stakes?

Alternatively, could a Church event "entity" be created analogous to a stake, with subcategories like wards (to group participants by dates of service), and then a further division of the participants by roles/duties at the event, similar to the PH/RS/SS/Primary organization categories?

To my knowledge our only options are all outside apps, such as Group Me and What's App. I am seeking a more elegant way to accomplish this under the Church's umbrella.

[BrianEdwards]

I am researching options for mass communication at an annual Church event with hundreds of volunteers.

Is there a way to create a "group" in LDS Tools with members from different stakes?

Alternatively, could a Church event "entity" be created analogous to a stake, with subcategories like wards (to group participants by dates of service), and then a further division of the participants by roles/duties at the event, similar to the PH/RS/SS/Primary organization categories?

To my knowledge our only options are all outside apps, such as Group Me and What's App. I am seeking a more elegant way to accomplish this under the Church's umbrella.

My understanding is that what you're asking about is likely not supported. I believe the way for multi-stake communications for events like this, is to have the Council-level communications shared to the stake communications directors, who then distribute as needed. While this does add another layer, it also can actually be helpful since the stake communications directors better understands how to interact with their local members, and can better follow-up when uncertainty arises regarding whether all volunteers are actually receiving the info.

[ambldsorg]

To my knowledge our only options are all outside apps, such as Group Me and What's App. I am seeking a more elegant way to accomplish this under the Church's umbrella.

What do you consider "elegent" with respect to this kind of communication? There are various possibilities beyond Group Me and WhatsApp. Is this forum an example of what you would consider an "elegant" way for mass communication? What about a traditional email many-to-many mailing list (are you old enough to even know what that is?) or perhaps even a hierarchical organization of lists? What about a self-hosted Matrix (chat) server? How sensitive is the information going to be that is to be communicated?

[JacquiN]

This isn't a multi-stake event, and there isn't the typical line of authority or layers of communication available. That's why this is challenging.

The group consists of people from all over the country who voluntarily serve in different capacities and for different lengths of time, without official callings, so there isn't any official church entity (ward, stake, area, mission, etc) that we fall under.

It is an official church program, and it is very organized with a leadership structure, but it does not have a presence on the LDS Tools app. There is not any efficient way to communicate at a moment's notice, for example, if there are changes in plans due to weather, emergency situations, last minute venue or schedule changes, etc. Email is not effective in this situation, unfortunately.

Does this forum serve as a suggestion box for the IT department, or is there another way to contact them directly with a problem that could really use their expertise?

I am not the person to make a formal request, but I've been tasked with finding a solution to the communication problem, so I could pass that along (and in the meantime figure out how to collect data from hundreds of people and export it into a lot of different What's App groups based on their dates of service, try to get hundreds of people to download and create a What's App account, and then attempt to train everyone on how to keep track of which groups we are messaging depending on what day it is. yay.)

[russellhltn]

Does this forum serve as a suggestion box for the IT department, or is there another way to contact them directly with a problem that could really use their expertise?

No, it does not. I'd suggest contacting the group's leadership to ask for a referral to someone you can talk to.

Given IT's workload, I don't think they'd be able to spin up something for you to use, but you might find someone knowledgeable about existing apps to offer suggestions.

This sounds like it has some rather unique requirements.

[jonesrk]

It is an official church program, and it is very organized with a leadership structure, but it does not have a presence on the LDS Tools app.

If it is an official church program then it sounds like it may be something that is or could be in CDOL which might be a way to record/track those volunteers. The public version of CDOL is still getting a lot of work this year so some of what you need may still be in progress.

[ambldsorg]

Email is not effective in this situation, unfortunately.

What do you think would be an effective communication mechanism? One that is ubiquitous and generally available to all participants.

[BrianEdwards]

Thinking ahead, although things might be set in place for this year's event, this might be something that could be added into the next-year-planning topics. Although quite small in number, throughout the Church there are different multi-stake events and assignments, that while officially organized by the Church, don't have any reflection in either CDOL or LCR. And each of them encounter these same communication issues, but there's no Church solution. Whoever is the top-level leader for your event, should hopefully be open to having this be a discussion topic as they begin high-level planning the next year.

My thought is that if the appropriate person (Area Seventy, general leader, etc.) is made aware of this issue, they can work through the considerations at that higher level. It may be that once they are aware of this need, they can help provide a church solution as you hope for. And if there's nothing currently available, they would also be the best champions to try and effect changes that would support your multi-stake communication needs. Perhaps this idea isn't applicable for your case, just food for thought.

While different than yours, my current calling also spans multiple stakes, and includes Group Leaders who unfortunately don't appear in CDOL. But luckily I don't have hundreds of people to contact!

[JacquiN]

Thank you all. What is CDOL and LCR?

This is definitely something for our event's top-level leaders to address, and your answers have been very helpful.

Is there a specific entity name to which the problem should be taken? Like a specific division within the IT department, or a particular task group or something?

I'd like to be able to report back with something like, "Let [area seventy] know that to solve this issue, someone needs to initiate a discussion with [department] in IT."

[sbradshaw]

If it's a service event (you mention volunteers), I wonder if JustServe has options for an event organizer to communicate with volunteer participants?