Happy New Year to you all,
Welcome! You are now reading the blog page of our new site. There is important information contained here to help you transition to using the new site, so please take the time to read it carefully.
This large but necessary undertaking, has been a long and winding ( read frustrating ) road. For the past five or so years, most of us have had to grapple with the current site in one way or another that has left us as a group with much frustration and little satisfaction.
Even after expending much resource, both human and financial, in an ongoing attempt to develop the site to our needs, by the second half of last year we came to face the hard truth. That is, that the current platform will unlikely ever meet our needs.
Two website developers were approached to provide proposals. After extensive discussion and many meetings the AFG engaged " Spot Solutions " to develop a site that suited our requirements.
We have looked to create a site that will improve our admin, give us more autonomy in managing content, create an easier user experience for both members, and the public, as well as be a much better platform for promoting ourselves and the method. Some features that we are really looking forward to seeing utilised by everyone are the much improved profile pages, (check Molly Tippings to see what can be done ) the distinct listings of classes as separate to practices and event promotion. Depending on your membership type, you will be able to promote your workshops online in a very professional looking way that will include booking and payment systems. I believe testing has shown we have fulfilled those aims, and that we have done so while delivering substantial ongoing cost savings to the Guild. Initial sums show that this new site will pay for itself in as little as 6 or 7 years on savings alone.
After we go live, there will still be much to do. Building a website like ours requires attending to a million small details. Many of which we left out of the scope of development to reduce expense for the guild. But the nature of our new site will allow us to develop and organise much of the content ourselves. So if you see something that could be improved, please contribute your thoughts. One of the jobs that I personally hope we can find a volunteer/s to do is to curate our public resources.
Over the coming days, you will be given access through emails.
The first will ask you to confirm your email by clicking a button that will take you to the login page of the new site.
At the login page, click "forgot password "
Enter your email address and click " Create Password ". An email with a link will be sent to you
Click the link. Enter and re enter your chosen password. Click " Create Password "
You will now be able to login with the password you just created.
Separate to the password process, you will also receive a confirmation of member status email from AFG. Once you receive that, you will have full access to the site.
The site will not be live to the public at this stage. We will give you all a weeks window to prepare your profiles. Your membership details have been transferred over for you, but you will need to log in and create your profiles, set up your classes, practice locations and such, basically your public promotional content. Don't worry, the platform has been created in a way that makes that stuff very easy to do and change! Also, as I mentioned in my pre Christmas message, if you want to transfer over your continuing education log (which I recommend you do) or anything else specific to you from the current site, you must do that in the first couple of days.
I want to thank the very hardworking Simon Slieker who has wrestled with the current site for the past years, and been indispensable in the creation of the new one. My thanks also to Molly Tipping and Annemarie De Heus who generously gave their time to test and feedback on the site. Also to the National council present and immediate past whose dedication and commitment has enabled this project to come to life. Also thank you to the team at Spot Solutions who have gone above and beyond the original scope of work, to ensure we end up with a fantastic site.
You are welcome to take a look around the site from here. Until you get your emails to create access, you can only see what the public will see when it does go live. But it won't be long until you have full access.
Kind regards,
Shane McCamish
President AFG
