A Rose By Any Other Name. . .

Handbell Musicians of America

National Seminar

an AGEHR Event

This first Handbell Musicians of America national event, National Seminar, takes place July 14-17, 2011, in Minneapolis at the upscale Hilton Minneapolis. Handbell Musicians of America National Seminar offers a variety of experiences and opportunities for all levels and types of handbell musicians and enthusiasts. Numerous class topics, access to the latest handbell products and literature, a wide range of concert performances, and valuable networking with the best and the brightest in the handbell community.

As I bet you have noticed, the 2011 National Seminar is a dual branded event. If you have been on our website on some of the "deep" pages that receive less traffic, you may have even seen this at work sign:

Slowly but surely, your national office staff and Area Leaders have been working together towards October 1st, 2011 when we make our official name change. In fact just this month, all 12 Area Chairs and other Area Leader representatives meet this month in Minneapolis with the National Board and office staff where we spent a great deal of time discussing the actual pragmatic and logistical changes that need to take place in the coming months. One EXCITING change that your Area Boards voted on is that Handbell Musicians of America will begin using Arabic numerals when referring to our 12 Areas instead of Roman Numerals. The Area Boards also voted to move to a standardized web site naming system. Currently, all the Area's have their own web address' as you can see here there are several variations currently being used by the Areas:

Area 1: agehrarea1.org/

Area 2: area2agehr.org/

Area 3: areaiii.org/

Area 4: agehr4.org/

Area 5: areavagehr.org/

Area 6: area6bells.org/

Area 7: areaviiagehr.org/

Area 8: areaviii.org/

Area 9: areaix.org/

Area 10: myweb.cableone.net/davadahlgran/AreaX/

Area 11: area11.org/

Area 12: areaxii.org/

which you can also access on the Area Connections web portal on the AGEHR website. By moving to a single standardized web address for the Areas, handbell musicians and interested individuals from the general public will have an easier time finding us all across the nation. Ringers whether they have moved or are on vacation looking for handbell events and other ringers will be easily able to access not just the national web site and maybe their Area's website but all of our websites! This further helps to brand us as one community working together to ensure the future of our community and our art.

So, as we move ever closer to October 1st be sure to not only keep your eyes peeled for the dual branding of our organization during the transition, but also help us to spread the word with your fellow ringers, directors, composers and other handbell enthusiasts!

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????? ;>)

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!