Western Plains District

Present (by Google Hangout): Bruce Clary (Chair), Kendra Flory (Staff Rep), Eric Goering, Ryan Goering. Absent: Peter Samland.

No discussion on minutes from October 20, 2013. They were approved.

Continuing conversations from previous meeting….

Website

• Will touch base with Peter on this next time.

District Newsletter Proposal

• Bruce wondered whether we should wait until the end of the year to present the proposal to TVT, so that we can present to them the complete financial information from 2013. We all agreed that waiting until after the end of the year would be a good idea.
• Over the last month, Bruce and Kendra had been in conversation regarding what the transition to an email newsletter might look like. One possibility would be to continue with the current layout, but only send it out by email. Therefore, the actually newsletter would look the same as always; it’s just being sent by email, not US mail. They also discussed the possibility of moving into an e- newsletter format. This would allow Kendra to save time by not having to do a layout. It would also allow ease in sending out newsletter more often.
• The original thought was that we would stay with the old format to give people time to get used to getting the newsletter by email. However, we’re beginning to wonder if transitioning into an e-format more quickly might be a good idea, particularly as it would save Kendra office time. Another thought would be continuing the original format for awhile (every 2 months), and add an e-newsletter on the off months to introduce it to people.
• We also want to make sure we get input from Sonja regarding all of this. Kendra will ask Sonja about it when she calls her next.

Online Survey for congregations and technology

• Bruce asked for feedback on the survey and whether we are ready to take this to TVT. It was agreed that the survey looks good and is ready to go.
• Next step: We’ll start by asking TVT members to identify a contact person from each of their congregations for taking this survey. We would like one person from each congregation to take the survey—a person who would be familiar with the current use and desired use of technology in worship and office settings.

New Business: Registration Ideas for District Conference/Gathering

• Kendra reported that Nancy Minns, who has taken care of District Conference (DC) and Gathering registration for many years, might not be available to do registration for DC 2014. It is Kendra’s feeling that this would be a good time to start looking at ways to make registration for DC and the Gathering more efficient. [Kendra and Nancy have been talking about this, and Nancy agrees.] Currently, registration forms are made available online and in hardcopy, but all registrations are written out and sent back by US mail or scanned/emailed. Therefore, all information is entered into a spreadsheet manually.

New ideas suggested:

• Ryan said he can easily take the current registration form to make it a fillable PDF.
• People could then fill it in and send it back by email more easily. o Bruce suggested using a Google Form, which can be put on the district website.
• Registrants would fill out and submit the form online. The information would automatically be entered into a Google spreadsheet, eliminating the need to enter information manually. Kendra will send the registration form to Bruce for him to take a look.

We did not talk about our next meeting. According to the typical schedule, our next meeting would be Sunday, December 15, 9pm Central, by Google Hangout.

Respectfully submitted, Kendra Flory 11/25/13