The Glen Waverley Uniting Church PSALTER
Communications Committee
Glen Waverley Uniting Church is a faithful, Christ-centred community that meets God and shares that unconditional love: [email protected]
Minutes
Monday, 12 August 2013
1. Sharing Time
JohnSnare introduced the suggestion that the heading on the weekly bulletin – welcome to our church – could be viewed as placing God and our congregation in the wrong perspective. In the following discussion we considered how the words we use affect the sense of spirituality people perceive concerning out activities.
2. Attendance and Apologies
Attendance: JohnSnare, AaronBlakemore, JanClear, JohnHurst, KenCoutts, LesleyArmstrong, AndrewWheatland
3. Confirmation of the agenda
Minutes of the previous meeting are at CommunicationsMinutes20130708
4. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting
None
5. The GWUC Web Site
KenCoutts spoke to his presentation summarising his research looking at other web sites (Ken's web-site research).
There are lot of good church web sites, but there is nothing obvious about the best way for us to approach refreshing ours. They all do the same sort of thing, although some are higher maintenance that others, depending on how much topical but rapidly dating material they include.
Ken concluded with the following remarks:
- His review has reinforced the importance and relevance of web pages as an appropriate vehicle for both internal communication and external marketing and awareness.
- There are a variety of styles and approaches that are relevant to our review.
- We also need to understand the technical aspects and issues associated with a revamp of our site.
- The challenges of maintaining currency and relevance in a timely sense appears to be a critical factor if we move from a site with mostly static data and information.
- Our site and the many people who have been engaged over the years have produced a robust site that is still relevant but needs upgrading.
It was noted that the images used give an immediate impression of the character of the congregation and how it sees its mission.
AaronBlakemore presented the issues that need to be considered from a design point of view and then some ideas on how we might proceed. Emphasis was on design considerations. He also explained the significant of the usage stats that we have received (GWUC web site analytics Jan-June 2013).
The intent of the web site is described in the Strategic Plan. This is adequate for the review and no immediate changes are needed.
Aaron presented a design concept based on the three-click rule. The top page would be a simple, visually appealing and easy to understand/use portal to the rest of the site, with buttons/tabs taking the user to areas for each of the mission and administrative areas, as well as to an area containing vodcasts and other publications.
The top page would include a ribbon of perhaps three ‘hero’ images – people oriented painting a visual picture of our congregation and its mission – perhaps selected from outreach – youth - cooee – leisure time – the hub – home study groups. It would include a news area to bring to the fore special events like the fete and special Hub activities. It will answer the question ‘if I go to this church, what can I be part of’?’. Each activity page would have a menu to prevent people from getting lost.
A big no-no for web sites is information that is obviously out of date – e.g. advertisements for events in the past.
Aaron presented an example from WPBandit - The Incubate Theme - as an example of what he had in mind.
He stressed that we should stay with the WordPress tool to implement this. However, the point was also made that we should move away from the blog-style structure of the current version.
Using WordPress, it is possible to have the site render sensibly on a range of devices from traditional personal computers to tablets and smart phones. Using WordPress, ongoing maintenance and posting of materials can be done by a team of trained volunteers within the congregation. Training could be done in 3-4 hours, and while Heather Hon should be one of the people trained, a team of three or four volunteers is needed to work with the missional groups to maintain their respective parts of the web-site. Aaron expressed concern that having too many people maintaining the web site could cause problems. This will need to be taken into account, but it is important not to overload or be too dependent on any one person.
Everyone like this approach he outlined and discussion moved on to next steps towards implementation.
As a next step, Aaron will work with RussellGreenwood to prepare a mock-up and specification that can be used as a basis for the detailed design and implementation.
| prepare mock-up and specification for design and implementation | AaronBlakemore RussellGreenwood |
The congregation through the mission groups will need to be consulted before changes are made.
The CommunicationsCommittee will have to decide whether to seek volunteers to implement the new web site or whether to have it professionally done.
| whether to use volunteers or professionals to implement the new web site | JohnSnare |
6. The GWUC Facebook site
Andrew Wheatland has offered to help as a 'champion' for enliving the Glen Waverley Uniting Church Facebook site as communications option. Discussion was deferred until the next meeting.
7. Next meeting
Monday 14 October Room 1 – room booked
8. Other Business
- Replaying recorded services in the church at a regular time during the following week.
This item arose following input from Heather concerning a suggestion she had received. It was agreed that this is a good idea. Replaying recorded services in the church should be done at the same time each week so that people make a habit of attending if they wish. Perhaps 10:00am on Thursdays would be a good time because this would be just before the Hub.
| discuss practicalities with Heather | JohnSnare |
- Shortening the Weekly Bulletin Header from 'Welcome to our Church' to 'Welcome'.
- This item arose from a suggestion to Heather. See next item.
- Spelling out the acronym 'GWUC' in the Weekly Bulletin Header.
- It was agreed to change the heading as follows:
- Glen Waverley Uniting Church (as at present)
- The bold ‘Welcome to our church’ will be deleted
- The following italicised introduction changed to read:
Welcome to Glen Waverley Uniting Church which is a faithful Christ-centred community that meets God and shares that unconditional love: [email protected] If you’re new to our congregation, please say hello at the welcome table in the foyer after the service.
- It was agreed to change the heading as follows:
| follow up with AaronBlakemore | JohnSnare |
9. Closure
No later than 9:41pm