Website Meeting 02-13-24

The website team from Regenerate Cascadia discussed the glitches they encountered with the RSVP form for the Open Space upcoming event 2/17/24 using a WP form. They also talked about Clare Strawn’s educational asset survey and decided to postpone the creation of a custom post type for submissions until after the Open Space Education Conference. They touched on the topic of (website) role permissions, which had been resolved. Brian K brought up the need to review blog tags and categories for better sorting and submitting of events. The team also discussed the idea of setting up a forum for idea submission and voting, but it was deemed a low priority for now.

The team discussed the creation of templates for their website, emphasizing the importance of clear definitions and correct information. They highlighted the need for editing tools training, particularly on Elementor, the main system for editing. The conversation revolved around the use of Elementor, the potential for confusion, and the importance of understanding the platform before making edits. Clare agreed to watch video tutorials on Elementor. The team also discussed the process of transferring text and photos into a Google Doc, formatting pages using Elementor, and the potential of creating a hybrid page. They also suggested the creation of a draft page for testing and practicing. Clare and Brandon discussed the process of website editing and content creation, and agreed on the use of Google Drive for content creation. aka “copy”.

Regenerate Cascadia, Clare Attwell, and Brtian K discussed their communication strategies and the use of different platforms such as Ning and MailChimp. They talked about the difficulty of managing multiple lists and the need to consolidate them into a MailChimp list. They also considered the use of MailPoet, a WordPress plugin, to streamline their process and allow for easier management of subscribers and groups. The team agreed that implementing MailPoet would make their communication more efficient and user-friendly.

Brtian K explained the process of building newsletters and subscription forms, and mailing out posts to subscribers using the free version. Brandon confirmed the possibility of creating different groups for different regions. Clare Attwell raised concerns about policy, privacy, and access control regarding a shared platform, proposing the need for access codes, passwords, and a log of who has accessed the platform and when. Brian K agreed and noted that when people signed up, they consented for it to be used only by Transition Walk and Regenerate Cascadia. They discussed the permissions and access levels for the Regenerate Cascadia website creation and content team. Regenerate Cascadia suggested linking emails to the platform to prevent data loss and allow users to manage their own subscriptions. The team also discussed the benefits of hosting everything in-house on the Casc Regenerate Cascadia site for better control over access. Clare proposed a process to maintain the firewalls of passwords for each hub’s mailing list. Brtan K clarified that the super administrator of the site could control access to the mailing list. They also discussed a new solution for managing email campaigns, which they found to be efficient and user-friendly.

Braondon discussed signing up for a premium legacy account with Mail Poet and its compatibility with WPST MP. Brian K clarified that Mail Poet has several integrations and its own SMTP server, but it requires some DNS code on the website for authentication. Braondon also decided to add Mail Poet to their website blog list. (Website Tracker?) There was confusion regarding the appropriate Google Drive folder for the website. Clare Attwell was instructed to create a folder named “page copy” and name the Google Doc accordingly.

The meeting involved several participants, including Clare, Brandon, Mike, Brian and Tanja. There was a discussion about ending the meeting early and having a separate conversation between Clare and Tanya. Braondon also expressed an interest in having Mike assist with updating their plugins. Towards the end, there was a brief exchange about concerns about the recording of the meeting (which is here) Passcode: wn40@r$W