The Glen Waverley Uniting Church PSALTER
Communications Committee Report
9 May 2016, 7:30pm – 9:30pm, Room 1
1. Sharing Time
Jan Clear led discussion about what the New Testament says about trees and how trees are special to us.
2. Attendance and Apologies
Attendance: John Snare, John Hurst, Jan Clear, Neil Peters, Lesley Armstrong
Apologies: Aaron Blakemore, Jit tan, Ken Coutts
3. Confirmation of the agenda
4. Matters arising from the report of the last meeting
A report of the previous meeting is at CommunicationsReport20160307
Are brochures up to date?
Action: Jan Clear to follow up.
5. The GWUC Web Site
Status of new web page for the church vision?
Status: Aaron Blakemore has started to prepare material for this. It is difficult because there is no existing descriptive text concerning the vision. Before the material is published on the web site, it needs to be reviewed and approved by Church Council.
Action: Aaron Blakemore to refine his initial draft and take to Church Council.
Web site home page. John Snare reported that he is now able to change photos. John Hurst suggested looking at photos on the Church in Celebration page on the wiki.
Action: John Snare to follow up.
6. Information for established newcomers
Status: Jan Clear reported that the Inclusive Community Committee made a list of what new, new comers would like to know when they arrive and will prepare a booklet. When this booklet is ready they are going to get it translated into Mandarin. John Snare apologised for not having prepared the previously discussed FAQ material
Action: John Snare to draft FAQ material and refer to to send Jan Clear.
7. Updating our church brochure
Report from JohnSnare on progress on writing a version suitable for translation into Chinese.
Sheila Chan has translated a slightly changed version of the glossy brochure into Chinese (as discussed at the last meeting). Aaron Blakemore has converted the text into the glossy brochure template, and this has been checked by Sheila. Aaron has been asked to arrange printing. Having shown ourselves to be welcoming in our printed materials and some of our activities, we now have to deal with people who come into the office expecting to find someone who can speak their language.
One way to deal with this is to have a list of Mandarin speaking people available who can be contacted by the office when need be. This leads considering the amount of training the person doing the translation would need to be able to accurately answer questions. There is no easy, convenient solution, but maybe the translator could be just an on-the phone go-between relaying questions and answers to office staff.
Action: Further consideration is necessary.
8. Inserts in the weekly bulletin
Sometimes special circumstances arise when inserts are needed in the weekly bulletin. In the past, these have been handled in an ad-hoc way. It was decided to formalise dealing with special cases in the CommunicationsBulletinGuidelines.
Decision: The following has been approved.
8.1. Exceptional circumstances
Occasionally circumstances arise where special attention needs to be brought to information or events with short term relevance. Sometimes an insert in the weekly bulleting is the best way of achieveing this.
Prior to choosing a weekly bulletin insert, the following should be considered.
1. The reason for keeping the bulletin compact and concise is to increase its effectiveness in communicating short-term information.
2. Other communication options might be better (e.g. direct email to members of a group or the congregation, or a notice during worship).
3. Inserts should only appear occasionally with gaps of at least several weeks between their use.
4. Multiple inserts promoting the same event or information should be different each time so that people take note by recognising them as something new.
5. If an insert is required, a member of the communications committee should be contacted for approval (either directly or through the office manager). (The communications committee representative will advise the rest of the communications committee using the email group [email protected] .)
Examples where inserts may be appropriate are:
- Easter
- Church Anniversary
- Fete
- Christmas
Other exceptions might be: seeking volunteers and support for particular tasks, ad hoc events or messages (such as from the Moderator) of significant concern to the congregation, etc..
9. Church 'postcard'
Discuss suggestion from Warren Greenwood and follow-up from John Hurst.
Decision: It was agreed to produce a church postcard. Subject to agreement from David Williams, we would like to use his sketch of our church on one side and on the other side to include: Church service times, a statement that our church offers programs for all ages, the church address, the office phone number, and GWUC web site URL.
Action: John Snare to follow up.
10. Wiki Update
Nothing new to report. Templates for people wishing to apply the visual identity to materials that they are preparing will be collected on http://wiki.gwuc.org.au/gwuc/StyleGuide
11. Process for Real Estate Agent Sponsorship Boards
Alanee to update. Amongst other matters, readability is important. It is essential that information can be read by people walking between the multi-level car park and Kingsway.
John Snare observed that the minimum font size should be that used by the donating estate agents for their details on the board. John Hurst offered to provide assistance based on the standards used in large university lecture theatres.
12. Advertising Gluten-free Communion
This is no longer a communications matter. Those organising Communion worship will deal with making sure that people with gluten intolerance are aware of what is available according to the circumstances.
13. Next meeting
Monday 4th July 7.30pm – Lesley to book room.
14. Other Business
Advertising 10.00am services – Neil Peters
Neil Peters reported that over Easter, serval times people came to worship at the wrong time because the information near the doors did not so the special worship times. It is very important to communicate the time of change for all services – (Christmas, Easter, all 10.00am services) - on all notice boards.
Action: Lesley to follow up with Ken Coutts to ensure that the Office Manual adequately deals with this.
Medical Information
Jan Clear reported that Inclusive Community has started to send out letters to update medical forms held in the office.
15. Closure
No later than 9:15pm