How did you succeed in getting members to use tools at LDS.org?

I'm curious how people have had success in getting the members to use the lds.org tools provided by the church. I've been called to do this in my ward and have some ideas and inspiration about how to approach this, but I'm wondering what others have done?

I think most members are completely unaware of what's out there and how it can help them. I have stake leaders telling me that even tech-savvy members aren't interested and find it too much of a problem to log in to look at the directory, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts...

I have a similar experience. I think it will need to be introduced as one of the official curriculum courses before it takes root.

First: you need to provide members with the instructions on how to obtain a log on. I plan on doing this when I handout Donation statements along with a IOS. I also going to put in the instuctions on how to obtain a log on.

Second: you need to educated member about whats Tools are available, such as the directory, calendar, lesson Schedule, and News Letter, etc. things they need to be aware of if they want information.

Third: you need to start using all the tools at the ward level so that the information is there and upto date.

Fourth: when members ask about items they could have looked up on LDS.ORG ask them if they have check on the church web site.

I think if you follow these steps that ward members will start using the tools and will soon find the benefit of all the different things available on LDS.ORG.

We used the fifth Sunday in September for have a combined Relief Society / Priesthood meeting to 'introduce' what is available to the members (and non-members). I emphasized 'ministering' vs. 'administering' (see Alma 22:23-25). I tried to cover much more than just the logged in accessible items (directory, calendar, etc.) but, unfortunately, I ran out of time way before I was done, so I am working on ways to 'keep going' with this. Someone even suggested we have a Saturday activity to do this, but I'm worried about getting members to show up. I guess we could include food (heh heh).

In addition to following the suggestions that Gary made (thanks for those), I am considering putting a short article in the newsletter giving a new suggestion with instructions. And change that regularly. The hard part is getting people to actually read the newsletter.

I have other ideas I'm working on, but nothing ready to talk about.

At the combined meeting, the members were very attentive and wanted more.

I was toying with the idea of an lds.org tip-of-the-week for ward bulletins in the stake. Maybe one or two sentences designed to generate interest on a different feature available to them online.

Mikerowaved wrote:I was toying with the idea of an lds.org tip-of-the-week for ward bulletins in the stake. Maybe one or two sentences designed to generate interest on a different feature available to them online.

Good idea. And since I sit right next to the sister that does the bulletin while she is doing it, I can and do have input to it every week.

I just need to come up with a way to get people to notice it.

For some time, with the help of our website administrator, we have been able to talk about the new tools on-line in leadership meetings and on a fifth Sunday as well. When we are the last ward in the building on Sunday (once every three years) we have a light dinner social after church on the 5th Sunday of the month. We take that opportunity to have a laptop set up in a corner of the cultural hall where people could ask questions and learn about LDS Classic. Next year when we are last again, I plan on doing the same with the new lds.org (with more laptops as needed).

We have no more printed calendars. Members are given directions to access it on line.

One big thing is that requests to the library for a copy of the ward directory have dropped dramatically. We still do a few but people are handed a sheet of instructions on how to do it at home.

One way I have been gauging how things are going is from the number of family pictures on the ward directory. We have 37 pictures now, more than the other eight wards in the stake combined. Granted that’s just a drop in the 389 households we have but a start.

Just recently we called, well not really called, but asked a person to take pictures of the families in the ward for the directory. This should add to the interest.

We plan to use the time at Tithing Settlements to spread the word too.

We had the same struggle in our stake, and things aren't perfect yet by any means. But a couple of years ago as Stake leadership we committed to having the stake calendar complete and accurate in the online calendar. That year we still printed a stake calendar for distribution, but made sure everyone knew that the online calendar was the place to go for the most current information. The following year we quit publishing a stake calendar completely and told ward leaders that if they needed a printed calendar that they could pull up the online calendar and print it themselves. Since then, we've seen a significant increase in the online usage across the stake. We've also had technology workshops and 5th Sunday lessons to explain many of the other available resources on lds.org. We've had clerks helping people register while waiting for tithing settlement... following many of the great suggestions noted in this thread. The hardest part is just to get it on the radar as a good helpful tool and getting people registered. Once they get used to going there for calendar and directory, they just seem to keep digging deeper into the other resources.

I did a 5th Sunday Powerpoint presentation about the "new" LDS.org back in January 2011. It was helpful in getting people to use the site, but I suppose it would be nice to do another such presentation. Maybe I could do it more succinctly now because not everything I show them will seem so brand new.

Does anyone have material they would like to share? I am looking for a nice "how to sign up for LDS Account" I have seen a one page flyer once, but can't find anything online.

clintonjjames wrote:Does anyone have material they would like to share? I am looking for a nice "how to sign up for LDS Account" I have seen a one page flyer once, but can't find anything online.

You are probably thinking of the "getting started guides" already produced for you!
See them all here on a wiki page. 15 colorful introduction posters / handouts for members on each aspect of LDs.org. One of them is on LDS account. Perfect for cycling through on your bulletin boards! We handed several out at a recent leadership conference. Perhaps have them printed in color at the local copy shop, have them spiral bound and have it around as a reference copy at tithing settlement for those waiting? I'm going to make one "book" for our stake offices waiting room...

I don't know why you would need to make your own....But if you REALLY MUST, that same page offers:

If you would like to create a getting started guide for a Church application, you can download a Word template here. This is the same template used to create the above guides.

and

If you're presenting a lesson on Church technology, you can use this Church technology PowerPoint slide deck. The slides provide a PowerPoint theme with a temple image in the background, as well as some sample slides that you might want to use. Because the slides are in PowerPoint format, you can modify the slides as needed (adding, removing, or changing slides) as you prepare your presentation.

Note that many of the help features, especially the calendar, have additional PDF guides, and the calendar has a series of videos that would help you get the word out or help in giving a presentation.

kisaac...thanks for pointing out these resources!

Do you know if the church is going to redo this material to correspond with the new look at LDS.org?

mevans wrote: Do you know if the church is going to redo this material to correspond with the new look at LDS.org?

Being a forum member and not a church employee or developer, I couldn't say...

I'm glad the getting started guides are helpful. About redoing them to correspond with the new look of LDS.org, I'm not really sure that they're out of sync. The only significant update to the look of LDS.org is that the featured slider/gallery has thumbnails on the right, and the Tools menu is now the Sign In/Tools menu (I need to update that).

The guides are mostly introductory awareness material. As far as getting wards and stakes to adopt the tools, I think the local leadership has to start using the tools before the members do. If wards stopped printing out paper calendars and directories and stopped sending newsletters in email or printed formats, and instead directed members online to these tools, that would help.

Also, as classic.lds.org gets shut down, it will drive more traffic to the new site. Additionally, because the software teams follows an agile methodology, the tools will become more intuitive and user-friendly (hence adoptable) over time. (For example, the next version of the directory makes it significantly easier to upload and manage photos -- you can crop and rotate uploaded photos directly in the browser.)

You'll notice that technology is never the driving message of the church. These technical tools help support members and leaders in their various efforts, but the message of the Church is the gospel. That being said, a few endorsements at general conference wouldn't hurt.

johnsonth wrote:About redoing them to correspond with the new look of LDS.org, I'm not really sure that they're out of sync.

The only getting started guide that needs attention is the "Church Websites Overview". The path for Lesson Schedules is not in the same format as the other tools. Also the path for newsletter is out of date and displays the beta path.

jdlessley wrote:The only getting started guide that needs attention is the "Church Websites Overview". The path for Lesson Schedules is not in the same format as the other tools. Also the path for newsletter is out of date and displays the beta path.

Actually, far more than just that one need attention. The headers in the screen shots are all for the old header. And many of the guides have the path to the tool in the little banner at the bottom that says something like "Tools > Calendar"; that's close, but the current documentation doesn't use that exact term "Tools" anymore (it uses "Sign In/Tools").

Ahh, I see now. I forgot about the new headers. Yes, that is a significant change and I will be updating these.

Johnsonth,

Perhaps a bit off topic, but do you have other general templates for official Church use? Like, I would like to get a powerpoint template for our stake media representatives. I would need something with the church logo and fonts as well as standardized colors. Anywhere I could download any or all of these things?

headybr wrote:Johnsonth,

Perhaps a bit off topic, but do you have other general templates for official Church use?

Tom Johnson no longer works for the Church, so he's unlikely to respond to this post.

And yes, that was certainly off topic

Thanks for the response. I created a new topic here: https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 34#p104884