The website is the visage of District 42 Toastmasters. Coincidentally, it’s also the place we as members go to for information. All events, including contests, conferences, and training appear there. As a plus we also get to know our leaders via their profiles. In other words, the website is a gold mine of information.
Website A Primary Priority
When D42’s Public Relations Manager, Marcy Field, joined the Executive Team in July 2019, she quickly recognized the website needed modernization to accommodate the needs of its members. Not only did it needed to be compliant with Toastmasters branding, she knew if it became more visually appealing, people were likely to visit it more often. Additionally, Marcy wanted to create a user friendly, intuitive site that would house the stories of the District, its Clubs, and its members.
Behind the scenes
Enter Greg Ptashny, with a similar vision and the much needed web design skill. Together they laid the foundation to make the dream a reality. With a background in software and web design, it was up to Greg to make sure the website built on the WordPress platform would run smooth for every member. In fact, Greg wanted everyone using the website to find their information in three clicks or less! At that time, Glenmore R.S.V.P. Club President, Greg knew how important the website was as a tool to gain information.
Website Volunteers
Was everything smooth sailing? No, of course not! When dealing with volunteers it’s important to understand that life happens outside of volunteer commitments. Fortunately more Toastmasters stepped up to facilitate and add to the dream.
Vesna Ivkovic, Calgary Pace Setters Club immediate past President, found the time to create a visual history of the District. She also discovered the online printed history for District 42.
MVP Advanceed Toastmasters member, Susan Cramer, brought her background in IT project management. She provided invaluable direction in getting the Event Espresso system operational.
At the same time, working on the project was an opportunity for Tzonka Boukliev (Calgary Pace Setters Club) to be mentored by Greg and acquire website development skills.
Website obstacles
Furthermore, to make the process more challenging, the team had to stay within budget, as well as, work with fluid deadlines. Add to that a new plug-in called Event Espresso that deals with event registration and ticketing. Needless to say, everyone discovered a few more grey hairs ☺
Evolving for tomorrow
At the end of the day the website created by countless hours of volunteer time is a success and a work in progress. Coincidentally, the team evolved and grew along with the new site.
My comment would be: SUCCESS! Kudos to the whole team, and thank you for the new visage for the District 42 Toastmasters website.