Website work I’ve started deleting old pages and moving others to storage in the hope that the site becomes 1) easier for web administrators to navigate on the backside 2) loads and runs faster. Also I’ve moved the member login to the main menu on the front page to make it very obvious where to log in. Let me know if you see other changes that would make the site easier to navigate. The home office has started a Stripe account for us so we can stop using PayPal for credit cards. The next step is to get into the guts of Membership works and QuickBooks to remove Paypal and insert Stripe. I’ve gotten a lot of complaints about how hard PayPal is to use and am excited for this change. Don in the home office thinks we may be able to go live with Stripe next week.
Archives I’ve started collecting documents that have gotten misplaced and might be of benefit to our membership to have access to. Things like the Methods and Materials Handbook. Old members will remember this as a pair of 3 ring binders mailed to each new member filled with helpful hints about glass, glassblowing, lab technique and basic chemistry. It hasn’t been given out to new members for a number of years as a cost saving measure. If the board agrees to make it available again, I’ll post it to the website for all members to use. Another one is the Book of Motions. This was a chronological list of every motion made by the board, what it was about and if it passed or not. It seems to have been misplaced since 2017 when it was last updated. I’ll find a spot for both of these documents on the website and am looking for someone interested in helping to update the Book of Motions. No big tech skills are needed: just a willingness to browse old Fusions on the website looking for the board section in each then copy and paste those published motionsd into an excel file. It’s very low stress, the work environment couldn’t be better: sit on your couch in your bathrobe sipping coffee while you read and type. Payment is a hearty thank you from me. Let me know if you’re up for helping with a small project.
Videos The link to The Flow magazine’s video site where we are supposed to be able to see our symposium videos is broken … again. I’ve started the process (again) of looking at what’s not working (this time). The real fix is to bring our videos back to our members on our own YouTube channel. Do you have basic video editing skills or are interested in learning? If so connect with myself or Jill Korgemagi who will be heading up this project.
Board Stuff I’m starting to prepare for the next BOD meeting. Because the Pres and Pres elect will be at the VDG conference in Germany the BOD meeting call has been delayed one week from Sept 18 to Sept 25. All members are welcome to hop onto the call and listen in or watch the recording later.
