But who's counting!?!

TRANSITIONS

In the beginning, there was the NEW ENGLAND GUILD OF ENGLISH HANDBELL RINGERS. In 1954, this group transitioned into The American Guild of English Handbell Ringers extending its outreach to a whole new audience across the US. Now in 2011, our community is once again positioning for a name change to extend our outreach and accessibility. On October 1st of 2011, we will be known as the Handbell Musicians of America or the Guild for short. As you know, one of the reasons that this name was chosen was because it quickly identifies who we are and what we do, to a whole new generation of current and future ringers and enthusiastic audiences. In preparation for this change, we have already begun the transitional branding process. Transitional branding process, now there is a mouthful. But all that means is that you should have already begun to notice a mixing of our identities. For example the 2011 National Seminar is officially titled:

HANDBELL MUSICIANS OF AMERICA NATIONAL SEMINAR:

AN AGEHR EVENT.

As we move ever closer to the October 1st transition you will see more and more references to our community that interweave our names, you will see the new logo more and more often, and you will hear the national office and your Area Leaders asking you to help us spread the word throughout our community to help us create a buzz. To help with the transition there are a few things that you can do to help. First, keep your eyes peeled for these transitional opportunities in your part of our handbell community. Talk to people not about the HMA because what is THAT?? Talk about the Handbell Musicians of America or the Guild to shorten it up. While the Guild does not specifically reference handbells it does give more information than a cold un-descriptive, acronym. Second, if you are following us on FACEBOOK and see a status update please repost it to your facebook page. If you are following us on TWITTER, then RETWEET our posts. If you are a director or ringer who knows other ringers and directors who are not following us on facebook or RECEIVING OUR E-MAILS encourage them to do so, in fact help them subscribe themselves or do it for them (with their permission). Generally, I encourage you to be proactive in helping us to make sure everyone in our handbell and handchime community is aware that our name is changing. The fact is that our membership represents approximately 125,000 ringers and we are counting on you to make sure that they know who we are and where we are going!

Help us spread the word!

AGEHR Website Building on-line Community!

Whether you are a handbell director, ringer, composer or just an enthusiast the AGEHR community is where you want to be!

This vibrant and active community has a long tradition of excellence that is reaching new heights via our website because of the huge success of the New Initiatives Campaign as our membership continues to support us with ideas, volunteer hours and financial support. As you are aware from reading this blog, our journal Overtones and e-newsletters ( subscribe / view back issues) the first stages of developing our on-line community have been launched with the help of our new database management system, NEON. From your log in you can now shop in the store, register for events, post to the forums and manage your account information. Perhaps the most exciting aspect is the idea of getting in at the ground floor as our website opportunities begin to explode over the next few years!

In just the last month, we have already had over 10% of our membership that have signed on to the AGEHR website and created their user name and password. (Hopefully, if you are reading this then this 10% includes you! If not, please take a moment to follow the link below.)

But while 10% in a month is GREAT, we would really like to get the word out and encourage more members and non-members alike to get involved and join in the fun! So that is where YOU come in. We need you to help us spread the word. Whether you are at rehearsal, at a concert, participating in a ringing event or using a social media application, please help us to encourage people to login and become active participants in our on-line community.

So what can you do?? Well. . .

• Right now you could click one of the social media sharing icons at the bottom of this post.
  
  
  
• You could take your iphone/ipad/laptop to rehearsal this week and get your whole group set up. (Non-members can have accounts for free and get our emails for free!)
  
  
  
• You could volunteer to man a kiosk at your next ringing event where you take names and emails via a wireless system or even with an old fashioned pen and paper.
  
  
  
• You could add reminders with links at the bottom of your email signature.

The fact is this is our community and there is such a wide variety of things each of us can do to help spread the word about all the exciting things happening in our world!

Remember:

Members
already have accounts & Just need to

create user names and passwords.

Non-members can create accounts

to join our on-line community!

See you next month. . . with double the numbers????? ;>)

New Initiatives Stage 1 Launches

IF YOU ARE A MEMBER
YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT!

Set-up Login Name & Password HERE

There are even Video Tutorials Available HERE

As you may have heard in the January E-Notes, NEON, our new membership management technology is here! If you have had a membership record between January 1, 2006 and now, then you already have an account in our record. As long as that record has a current email address in it then you can quickly and easily set up your Login Name and Password to visit the new AGEHR online membership management pages using the Forgot Password? Get Help link! If your email needs to be updated in the national office please shoot us an email or call us between 9-5EST at 1.800.878.5459.

This initial release of the new technology, has some exciting new features available for you to take advantage of ranging from registering for NATIONAL SEMINAR online to actually getting to create your own unique Login Name and Password that is good across the board, no matter if you are logging into view Overtones online, visiting our forums or shopping in our web store to purchase the 2011 Priority Music Club.

To help in the introduction of these new opportunities we have created some quick Video Tutorials to serve as our welcome to the neighborhood tour. Even if you are sure that you can figure it out, I fully recommend that you take this opportunity to watch them due to the AMAZING voice over talent that really adds to the entertainment value of these videos. Rumors have it that there is already Academy and Grammy Award buzz surrounding these outstanding performances. If only it wasn’t an anonymous performance. . . ;>)

So, if you haven’t already, take a moment now to login to explore the blossoming fruits of the New Initiatives Campaign that is being made possible by the on-going generosity of our members like YOU!

Regards,
Katie

Seeing Vision Come to Reality

If you've been following our Facebook posts over the past few weeks, you know that the national office staff has been deep in the final steps toward implementing our new database system in the national office. While I've been working with this new system for several months, meeting with developers, determining customizations, tweaking details - the rest of the staff had their first real taste of this new technology just before Christmas - a nice little gift for the holidays! This taste included a "Go-To-Meeting" on-line review of the basic features and functionality of NEON.

During the next week, staff were given "homework" assignments that included mock-ups of renewal invoices and new members to create in the new database so they could determine where the glitches are and develop a unanswered questions to use in our live training session schedule for this coming Monday. Also during this time, I tapped a small group of "beta" testers from within our membership to complete a list of basic tasks on the customer side of the system to help us determine final set-up parameters and details with the purpose of making the customer experience easier and more user-friendly. The beta test group returned some excellent, detailed notes that have been a valuable resource as we make decisions about the final system set-up.

Then, yesterday, the national staff spent the entire day reviewing all the notes, comments, questions, concerns that we and the beta group developed in their testing. From this meeting, we produced a set of questions and requests for the NEON team that were sent off last night and a detailed timeline of tasks to complete over the next week as we take the final steps in implementing our new on-line community.

I say on-line community because, for the first time since I became AGEHR's executive director, I believe we finally have the right tools in place to truly achieve that. NEON provides us with so much more then just a database system. It is going open doors to new possibilities and innovations as we take the next steps into our future and continue implementing the New Initiatives plan.

As we were finishing some of our discussions at the staff meeting yesterday, I realized what an accomplishment this is for this small organization. I recall speaking about the importance of a strong on-line presence and robust website solution in my final interview with the board of directors to become executive director. That was in April 2006. It is amazingly gratifying and fulfilling to see that vision come to reality just short of 5 years later.

And we've only just begun....

Gentlemen start your. . .Training!

NEON training has begun for our team in the office. We spent yesterday in a couple of meetings that focused on giving us an overview of the system and how it will work for us. Emily our trainer set up a meeting on-line yesterday to provide us with a guided tour and first look at our test data in the database that they have set up for AGEHR.

While the day was a whirlwind tour it was fascinating. We began by looking at how we will now begin managing our national events. I know this may not sound all that exciting but rather than two databases that don’t communicate, we will now have just one. I know we have been saying this for months but to actually see it in front of us was very cool. This means that we as an office will be more productive and able to more efficiently serve all of our members. It also means that our entire team will have access to the event data and will be able to cross train in order to better assist our members with information regarding their event attendance. There also was this cool new feature that is going to let us. . . oh wait that is a surprise for next month! ;>)

In the afternoon we focused on general membership data management. How our current data will populate the new system, how we renew memberships and create new records for new members. The new system is more intuitive than our current system. It allows us to quickly and easily have access to the information in the system because it is powered by newer and faster technology than our current dinosaur. All of which will once again help our team to help you.

But all of that is behind the scenes and while some of you may be tech wonks who just find this as thrilling as I do, I am guessing most of you have a big “so what’s in it for me” going through your minds. So, here it is. We also got to check out the new user side of the web site. Members will log in and have access to their membership record like never before. With the ease of a dropdown box you will be able to do a variety of activities including create and review your profile (even upload a picture if you would like!), renew your membership, view your payments, change your password and the like. Simply, easily.

Just what you would want and expect from one of your favorite websites. The best part is that this functionality is being integrated within our web site and promises to be a seamless change over that will be the base of your membership experience with our website that will only get better and better as the plans of our New Initiatives Campaign continue to come to fruition over the next 2 years thanks to your continued generosity and support!

Happy holidays to you all! Talk to you next year!

New Identity Making Its Appearance

In the coming months you will begin to notice both area and national events, as well as some newsletters and other publications, using our organization’s new identity, The Handbell Musicians of America. Instead of seeing an event billed as an “AGEHR Spring Festival,” for instance, you may see an announcement for a “Handbell Musicians of America Spring Festival,”  with the tagline, “an AGEHR Sponsored (or endorsed) Event.” Similarly, you may also see a newsletter you are familiar with using the name Handbell Musicians of America with a smaller tagline reading, “an AGEHR publication.”

You will also see increased use of our new logo. And when the identity change is complete, there will be a special logo available for members to use with their own websites and publications identifying themselves as a member of the Handbell Musicians of America.

Eventually the taglines “an AGEHR Sponsored Event” and “an AGEHR Publication” will disappear and we will only refer to ourselves as the Handbell Musicians of America (or The Guild for short). But it is important to understand that while our identity is changing, we will still be the same organization. As John Pfeiffer said in Nashville, the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers is a name we will always honor and by which will always be known. But in an effort indentify ourselves as true musicians and not just a holiday-time novelty, we are taking on a new look and a new name.

So, what does this mean for you as far as registering for events or renewing your membership? Not a thing. You will still register for events the same way as before, and you will still renew your membership like before.

Of course, while our new identity is perhaps the most outwardly visible piece of the entire New Initiatives Campaign, it really is perhaps the least significant. You have already heard much about all the technology improvements, which will allow us to manage the organization better and greatly improve communication not only at the national level but the area and local levels as well. And you will soon begin to hear more about the most important aspect of the campaign, the development of new, first-rate resources for schools, faith-based organizations, and community/professional groups.

Be sure to keep watching this space, as well as E-Notes and Overtones, for further details as the campaign progresses.