WordPress for Toastmasters*
There are couple of different ways you can update the agenda when signed in as a member, and the latest WordPress for Toastmasters update tries to make it easier to switch between them. One of these is particularly oriented toward using the site from a mobile phone.
The different views are:
- Signup – the default where you click Take Role on any open role or Remove Me to withdraw from a role
- Edit Signups – the mode you use as a meeting planner (Toastmaster of the Day, VP of Education, or other club leader) assigning people to open roles.
- Assign – a variation on edit mode where random / suggested assignments are shown (random assignments explained in more detail below)
- Recommend – like Assign, except instead of being assigned to the role, members will get an email asking them to confirm acceptance
- Planner – a new tool that shows your current assignments and open roles you can take for multiple future meetings.
One of my fellow club members who has been using this software for years now told me she was confused when trying to navigate our website on her phone and using the dropdown menu under Edit Signups to switch from meeting to meeting. She found it awkward that it opened in editing mode when she was simply trying to sign herself up for a future meeting.
As shown above, the dropdown menu has been changed to show each date twice with the editing mode listed second. As a meeting organizer, I find it useful to switch between meetings in editing mode (particularly when recording entries from a paper signup sheet), but that shouldn’t necessarily be the default.
This should also make the agenda a little more smartphone friendly.
Assign, Recommend, and Random Assignments
The random assignments feature is intended as a feature to help a VPE or other meeting organizer fill the agenda, while also trying to steer members toward a role they may not have filled recently (both for variety and to help them fill educational goals such as Competent Leader).
Here is the regular editing mode:
If you click Assign or Recommend, or the link for displaying randomly suggested assignments, you will get the view below with the suggestions highlighted with red text. These are not confirmed until you save the form.
The difference between Assign and Recommend reflects how different clubs run their meetings and organize their educational programs. Some clubs tell members what role they will fill on what date, while others are more comfortable asking than telling.
In the Recommend role, the member gets an email suggesting that they take a specific meeting role, and the message includes a link they can click to accept that role. The role remains open until and unless they click to accept (or write back to the meeting organizer to confirm, in which case the organizer can then assign them to the role).
The Assign Mode is basically the same as Edit Signups, but with the random assignments feature turned on. If you accept the randomly assigned suggestions and save the form, those meeting roles will no longer be open — they will be assigned to the people you chose.
