Positive Opportunities
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Exceptional Results

Club Websites - Content for Members

Club Websites sometimes have information for members that usually fall into several categories

Administrative (bylaws, policies, budget, meeting minutes);
Current happenings (PDF version of newsletters, informal notes of what happened at each meeting;
Member and meeting information (agendas, schedules, contact information, educational achievements of each member);
Educational materials for improving club meetings, club leadership, or speaking skills (lists of manuals, how-to guides, links to other sites that contain information to help people perform their roles or to be better speakers, leaders, listeners);
Publicity and membership materials for use in gaining and retaining members;
News from outside the club (TLI dates, Area and Division Contests, District Conference);
Anything that might be in a printed newsletter.

For members to find a club website useful, they need to find information that is fresh, exciting, and updated frequently. If the information is only updated once a quarter they probably won't use it at all as a general resource and will forget it's even there. Thus, the club leadership and website maintainer need to make a decision up-front ... if you know you can afford the time to keep it up-to-date, then by all means add date-sensitive material that will keep the site fresh for members. However, if you or your content contributors might have a hard time keeping the material up-to-date, then maybe it's best not to put much effort into a members area of the website. For example, if you have a newsletter, agenda, or officer list on the site that's outdated by a year, then not only will your members not go to the website, but any visitors that stumble onto that section will believe your club is either low-quality or no longer inactive.

If you believe you may have issues keeping the site up-to-date, then before you put up any information, consider whether:

It's a general reference that will provide some benefit to someone, but won't quickly become out-of-date;
It's of short-term use and will become almost immediately out-dated;
Your content contributors will keep the material coming (e.g., how often is the newsletter published and whether it will be way out-of-date before the next one is available);
There is any way to "share the load" of keeping it up-to-date;
The club has a fall-back plan if the website maintainer can't afford the time;
You can update or get rid of the website if the website maintainer leaves the club (if not, the material will become outdated. but you won't be able to get rid of it either);
Next-years' officers will continue your excellent work of keeping the information up-to-date.

NOTE - WHQ has policies regarding personal information online: The Club President is responsible for the content on the Club Website. The club must have written approval from every member whose personal and contact information is publicly available on the website. I suggest that on every page that has officer or member lists with phone numbers or emails you put some indication of whether written permission has been obtained from each member. This will be a must for every club website entered into any District-sponsored club-website contest. If the information is in a password-protected area, this is a moot point.

Ideas for Content:

Here are some possible ideas in no particular order that I've gathered from a multitude of sources.

Future meeting schedules and programs.
Club resource materials, such as educational material related to club practices.
Newsletters, including archives of past articles (if there is an indication of how often the newsletter is published, that would probably be useful to guests who see the newsletter online).
History of the club.
Hall of Fame of previous club officers and winners of the various speech contests and club awards.
Links to District website for up-to-date information on Area and Division contests, District Conference, and TLI.
Promotions and flyers for club, area, division, and District functions.
Reports and photos of club events.
Biographies, photographs, or items of interest of the officers and other members.
List of Manuals and Projects.
Links to helpful sites.
Educational materials submitted by members.
Meeting Minutes from recent Business and Executive Committee Meetings.
Club Bylaws.
Original Materials for Guests and New Members (for club officers to bring to the meetings).
Formal Club Policies that have been passed.
Informal Club Practices that are part of the club culture.
Educational materials created by members.