We'd love to hear from Committees how they engage with their Members during this time. Please share here so we can all achieve more together

Many thanks Dave, I will look at that and give it a go.

We had some audio issues with our live walk in Tokyo but that's been sorted out. Our next live walk is in Kyoto on 30th March at 9am for an hour and a half and we will hopefully see the Japanese cherry blossom. If you want to come along, please email richmond@theartssociety.org

Richard, that sounds a fabulous way to kick start 2021. Best wishes to you and all at Richmond Society.

Dorset County have already had On-line lectures via Zoom in June, (our lecturer ran it twice) with another this evening. We communicate via MailChimp. For the 12 members without Internet we are sending Newsletters with the Printable Lectures. One page is ideal Because of printing costs, even doing it cheaply via internet. We are supplementing this with articles about Heritage Projects and Church Recording and Trails and will be sending these via MailChimp, too, each month. We are going to offer the rest of the year on-line lectures for new members at half the annual fee, putting leaflets through postboxes. Also putting on an extra lecture in July. Now absorbing all the information sent on16 June and researching You Tube as a possible improved platform, easier for members.

We have decided to “hibernate” our society. We don’t think we’d get sufficient members watching online lectures to justify the incredible hassle and cost, with no benefit for the majority. Instead, we are sending regular newsletters, and supplying them with lots of links to online cultural resources.

Importantly, we have told the membership that we are planning to extend the current subscription year until we have been able to offer the full programme of 10 lectures at the Hall - we can’t in all good faith run any kind of renewals process this autumn, when we haven’t given them value for money for this year, and have no idea what we will be able to offer next year.

We sent out the notification of an email/postal AGM process last week, and are about half-way to a quorum of 75 (25% of the membership), so will send out a nudge or two before the official AGM date.

Many thanks Shirley

Thanks for posting that taster Shirley. DO you have a Zoom licence yourself and if so for how many people? Best wishes Chrissie from Birmingham Arts Soc

There appears to be such a lot of communication going on between committees and society members. It's very sad that some societies are just not communicating in any supportive way with their members.

As another way of keeping in touch with most members, we've just invited them to share photos of anything of an art or caft related nature that they've been working on in lockdown - or reasonably recently - including work in progress. The idea is that they will e-mail to me a photo or photos and then I'll put them up in a kind of 'virtual exhibition' on our website. We'll see what sort of response we get. No doubt this is not a new idea but may be worth considering (and depending on the capability of your website).

We're putting our toes in the on-line lecture waters next month when Sian Walters is going to talk to us about the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Fingers - or should that be toes? - crossed.

How are Societies giving members who do not have any email addresses or indeed computers fully engaged and accessing material? Are there printed lectures we can send by snail mail so these members feel it is worth renewing their membership? We have a small number of totally e-free members and we don't want them to feel there is no point in renewing. We have been in contact by phone with them all, now we need to send them something beyond a printed version of the Mailchimp messages I send monthly. Thanks for all ideas.

Hello Cheryl, it depends how you have gathered your email addresses Are they all on Mailchimp or do you have them on your own email provider? The important thing is that you send out the email with the addresses all entered into BCC which will be under the To, CC. That way they cannot read each others' addresses. As yet, we do not use Mailchimp and I have all the members' emails on my Outlook account gathered into smaller groups as some providers do not like sending out too many addresses at once. Write your email to them all and then press send and they will all go out blind. Send one to yourself as well and you will see that it has worked.

Hope that helps,

Katharine Odlum, Malmesbury

We are are beginning to look at using online lectures. First I would like to email our members to find out their views and which platforms they may already be familiar with using. So a simple question, is there a way I can email our 350 members with one email and not showing all the email addresses and having to write them in one by one ? Advice please.

Thank you Sue for your comments. I accept that there must be advantages in its use, so really should try to give it a fair go in due course.

yes - Mailchimp should be much easier than it is I feel. I was given the manual by someone who went on a course - but she never used it - wonder why? Its OK to look up a few things but i dont think its a good starting point. I then went on a course - but it wasnt that good as there were too many people who hadnt done thier homework so we didnt get very far - but the way she started was better - to use a template that she sent us - not to start from scratch - then you can just reuse the template each time.

So yes - you can add pictures, links to online stuff, get reports of useage ( opens, clicks)

We only have a few members who are not online now so it is easier than emails.

I have so far found Mailchimp too difficult to mastermind, even after having a quick look through the tutorial now available, although I accept that to do the tutorial justice, I should sit down with a stiff drink and work through it in much more detail. However I have relied on good old email, and have been sending out newsletters approx monthly, and where I felt it applicable, have also posted out copies to those members who have not supplied email addresses. I believe that with mailchimp, one can see how many people open those messages, whereas with email this appears not possible. Maybe also with mailchimp, one can add pictures whereas I have not done this with emails. Being in the position at trying to find out more information regarding online lectures, we have been invited by Stratford society to join their lecture tomorrow, so it will be interesting to try to find out how many of our members have taken up this opportunity. I do feel that we probably would need to rely on the lecturer having a Zoom paid subscription as if we had to do this as a small society, it might become an added expense. I have just picked up the availability of a number of printed lectures which seem to be a good idea to send out to those members without email addresses. Thanks for that facility.

The reason these threads are so brilliant is that there is always someone with a super idea. Thank you Jackie for the suggestion of lectures throughout July and August. I shall put it to my committee as we have a meeting tomorrow. Also very much looking forward to Webinar/Zoom/YouTube notes from HQ as we plan to offer online alternatives to (hopefully) the real thing. I too applaud HQ for being quick off the mark in the digital space and showing a real entrepreneurial flair!

Thank you for your reply. We do appreciate the support and guidance from you all at Guildford Street. Katherine has been brilliant. Also knowing about what other societies are thinking.

You mentioned that members could not ask questions with Zoom lectures. Sian Walters has the facility for members to type in live questions at the end of the lecture which she then reads out and answers. Members might need to be forewarned that this is available so they can jot down their thoughts and questions in readiness otherwise there can be rather a strained silence. You could check with your own on-line lecturers if they have this question and answer/chat facility.

The Arts Society Chiswick

TAS Moor Park are sending out weekly online newsletters with links and features from a huge array of Arts subjects. The “ Postcard from the Chairman”( me!) to those without email has been really successful.Several phone calls thanking me , and it leads into nice long chats if they want. It’s also pretty cool to get something in the post , everybody loves a letter/card!

At The Arts Society Chiswick we are holding our monthly lecture on Raphael by Zoom with Sian Walters using her private Zoom account which allows just under 100 participants We will send the link to all our members a few days before and it will be very interesting to see how many join in! We are also using Mailchimp to send out links to virtual galleries etsc.

Hello all,

The Education Department has a list of lecturers who can give online lectures during the lockdown. Please email katherine@theartssociety.org

Richard Lebus can be contacted at richmond@theartssociety.org

Hi All, Please be assured that we are looking into all of this and are developing new models and schemes around all this. For example, there is a way to stream Zoom Lectures on YouTube which is very easy to access. Watch this space, but keep sharing your concerns and solutions: your discussions are valuable to us as we come up with new ideas, and every post on here is read by someone from the Team. All best, Florian

thats interesting - could you please tell us how you will be doing it ...what format...link through?

Graham, are you using a computer or device (iPad etc)?

Graham, I need an email address to do this....and this site is public.

Hi Anne, Your suggestion regarding sending me some 'How to use...' documents sounds to be a good way for me to make a start with mailchimp, thank you.

Graham, if you need help with Mailchimp, let me know. I’ve got some ‘How to use...’ documents I could sent you and also would be happy to help over the phone.

Like many others, I found mailchimp too difficult, but during this lockdown, maybe I will have another try. But it is just as simple to do an ordinary email, and use the membership data information to email it out, which we are doing every couple of months, with postal copies where applicable to those not on email. Graham Grove

Like a number of others, I found mailchimp too difficult, but perhaps now need to train myself during the lockdown. However, it is simple just to do an ordinary email, and with the Arts Society database, send it out to members. We have been doing such every 1/2 months, and posting a copy where applicable to those not on email. Graham Grove Sutton Coldfield AS

Many thanks indeed to Julian Halsby and TAS Sherborne for sharing this brilliant quiz. I've downloaded the quiz and answers (trying not to peek at the latter!). We hope to circulate the quiz to our members shortly with our next mailchimp bulletin - and then let them have the answers in our next bulletin. I'd been thinking about trying to develop a simple quiz based on material to be found in reports on our website on lectures, SIDs, visits etc held in the last couple of years. But this one is so much better!

Shelia, it is in the Forum > Art at home - The Big Art Quiz. Good luck with it.

Hi

I put this in our mailchimp - think it works

https://www.connected.theartssociety.org/forum/arts-at-home/the-big-arts-quiz

Sheila, the .pdf's are now in the Forum > Arts at Home and enjoy!

Here it is....enjoy! And don't look at the answers until you've had a good try to find more about the paintings. Google will be busy, methinks!

Anne - do you have a link you could share?

There is a super online quiz from The Arts Society Sherborne - put together by Julian Halsby (Chairman of TASS) called The Big Art Quiz....and he also gives the answers (I needed those!!).

TAS Granta is holding a Zoom committee meeting tomorrow morning. Lots of good ideas for us to discuss coming out of the broadcast and also this forum. Thank you!

Florian, I wondered if the prospective lecturers who would have presented tomorrow (!) could post a 2 minute video for us to watch....Perhaps your team could set something up for us although I cannot imagine the required the logistics!

We had our first Zoom Committee meeting last week and will do so on our customary Thursday going forward. We will be sending out an expanded eBulletin to our members with links to virtual museum tours, operas.....

we have successfully rescheduled this Spring's lecturers to next year and are paying half of their fee to help their cash flow.

we have recently started using mailchimp - tho I could do with some more help with it! But have yet to do one since the lockdown. some of your ideas are great ! TAS SOLENT

We're sending out mailchimp bulletins, posting to those not on e-mail and ringing members where we can, especially those we know are more isolated. Will be circulating details of NT and other YouTube broadcasts and may pursue the idea of the Seventh Art exhibition films - but could the details say how long they are? Thinking also about a quiz, also advertising virtual tours of museums and galleries. Have set up a Facebook page. Have also advertised local volunteer helplines and local businesses doing food deliveries as so many of our members are vulnerable. All ideas welcome. TAS Grayshott (Hants)

At Bath Evening we're keeping in touch with members via mailchimp newsletters with tips on art gallery virtual tours, theatre and online lectures.

Some wonderful ideas here which I am sure our local committee will want to discuss---thank you

prizes brill how lamentable? guess where ? love it - but how will you publish the pics, that is my problem not being a techy person and it could go viral that would be amazing but i would not cope ?

Telephoning is hugely important Mailchimping does not reach everyone often arriving in junk, promotions box or addresses are cleaned and some members do not use e mail at all and yes the telephone comes to the fore for everyone and hardcopies are being posted, spreading the word by "word of mouth" important. I will be encouraging members to subscribe to the National AS web sites new letter with a step by step how too and I feel a "push " to subscribe to the AS u-tube channel would help with 1,000 sign ups needed ! We have a section in our newletter called "desert island pics" a member is invited to write a pice about a picture it would be amazing to invite everyone to nominate a favorite artwork/museum/piece of art or even a view and build a photo wall - just not sure how that would work on Mailchimp any advice gratefully accepted. Any u- tube clips would be brill, Graven Valley you are lucky I am tempted to e mail Mary Alexandra to see if she would like to spread her words wider. Standing by my lap top tomorrow in readiness for u-tube live broadcast - good luck Florian!

Hi we too are emailing every 10 days/two weeks and popping a copy of the email in the post for those who are not online. Gathering reading suggestions on arty subjects from members and also pics for the 50 Treasures Booklet. Plan to feature some of our Heritage Volunteering work which often bypasses the majority. Some You Tube links will be most welcome as I've had a few requests already. Many thanks

At Glaven Valley we are Mailchimping (is that a verb?) short resumes on different topics written by our President, Mary Alexander. We are planning to do this on a weekly basis.

Yes after years of being a normal member ( not that I was ever “ normal”😂)and the Chair throughout the whole 50th anniversary and rebranding, I am very fond of our members. They look after me as much as I look after them.

The committee at Moor Park are phoning and emailing members that live alone just to check in. I’ve had some lovely cards from them so that personal touch means a lot. We are increasing the frequency of Mailchimp and looking at posting stuff we are doing at home to keep busy eg gardening, painting, quiz( good idea)

We’re sharing online talks on the Arts with our members - using Mailchimp. YouTube talk on Grinling Gibbons work at Petworth is well worth watching.