AMS&NW Optimist Journal Launched

We are now publishing a weekly online newspaper that brings together Optimist news and stories that may be of interest to you and your friends.  You can find it in quite a few places:

Learn more in our Web Services announcement "Did you know we published a newspaper".

• Look for a new tab at the top of the OptiNews Blog ... do you see it?
• As a dedicated page on our District website.
• And at Paper.li where it is actually hosted.

We publish a new edition every Monday at 9 am (Mountain US & Canada). Please subscribe to get a regular notice of each new edition.

District Website Service Restored

UPDATE:  access to www.amsnwoptimist.org has been restored.  The alternate website link of amsnwoptimist.weebly.com will always be available should the same issue happen again.

At the present time, the District website at www.amsnwoptimist.org is not available due to a problem with our DNS service provider.  The issue has been reported.

The District website is also available at amsnwoptimist.weebly.com.  That website link can be used until the primary website address becomes available again.

We apologize for any inconveniencce this may cause you.

Get More Help

One of the new web service projects that we have embarked on is adding a dynamic support service that can accept support requests, provide knowledge base articles to help Optimists and visitors find information, and that can accept new ideas from website visitors.

Just Added - Get More Help

We have just added a new graphic on the right border of the web page when visiting our District website called "get more help".  If you click on that, you will be introduced to the new online support system that we are implementing.

The website will become greyed out in the background and a new support window will open.  From here you will be able to submit a "Contact support" request, provide feedback, and look at the newest knowledge base articles.

Read Getting More Help to learn more about the new support feature.

District launches 2012-13 website

Although the 2012-13 District website has been live since October 1st, the final pages and touch-ups have been added.  I invite you to take a tour and discover all of the changes.

We would really appreciate your comments and suggestions on how we can improve your online experience with the District.

You can pass along your suggestions by email, use our new Contact Us form, or drop us a comment on our District Facebook page.

Into the sunset ... 2011-12 Web Services Report

Optimst Gord Welling
Web Services Chair
2009 - 2012

As most of you have heard, I am passing the role of District Web Services Chair to Wendy Skoretz.  We have been working closely for the past two months getting the 2012-13 District website ready.

I just wanted to post my last Web Services Report before handing over the reigns.

I want to thank Past Governors Darryl, Tim and Ted for their trust and support over the past 3 years, it has been a pleasure being part of your respective teams … and finally I appreciate all the kind words from all of you who participated in my workshops.

2011-12 District Website is now LIVE

2011-12 District Website

I am pleased to announce that the 2011-12 District website has been published and is available for public viewing.  You will find links to all the current documents including the 2011-12 District Directory.  There is a "Tour Guide of Website Changes" available which will explain some of the changes and new features that have been added.

Corresponding changes will be made to the OptiNews pages within a few days.  If you spot any errors with the District Directory, please contact Connie Plenke (our District Secretary-Treasurer).  If there are any issues with the District website, please contact me.

Recent Changes to District Web Services

Hello, All.

I wanted to take a few moments to announce some recent changes to District Webservices that have just been implemented:

• On our District website at www.amsnwoptimist.org we have added some quick pick navigation graphics in the menu column on the right.  You will now see graphics for our District "OptiNews" blog, our District Facebook Page, our District Twitter feed, and to "Put Your Club Online"
• "Put Your Club Online With Blogger" has been retired and been replaced with "Put Your Club Online" at putyourclubonline.blogspot.com.  The focus of the new blog is to cover a wider variety of topics and not just focus on Blogger.  You should start to see new blog posts appear regularly.
• The URL for our Facebook page has been changed to www.facebook.com/amsnwoptimist. If you had links or graphics on your web sites or blogs that pointed to the District Facebook page, you will need to adjust those links.

We are in the last month of our Optimist year for 2010-11.  On October 1st, our District website will be replaced with a revised site for the 2011-12 Optimist year. Our District facebook page, "OptiNews" blog and Twitter page will also experience some minor adjustments.  If there is information that you want to retain, we recommend that you save a copy of online documents and digital graphic files as we cannot guarantee that they will still be available once the switch to the 2011-12 year is completed.

Put Your Club Online

Many of you have noticed that the Edmonton Dinner Optimist Club has recently published a new website.  We are preparing a set of tutorials on how that site was created.  The tutorials are organized into collections called modules, each with a set of lessons.  The plan is to publish one lesson per day (except Sundays) so there will be six lessons published per week.  We added lessons back-dated to start December 1st, 2010, so there are now 26+ lessons published.

If you want to get a look at the outline plan for the entire "online course", we invite you to look at "Build a Club Website With Blogger".

We are going to add a blog feed in the right column that will display the 5 most recent lesson titles so that you can open a new lesson as they are published.  Each lesson has comments enabled, so if you have a question or would like to comment on a lesson, we invite you to participate.  Lessons will get revised and corrected based on reader feedback in the comments.

District Website Reset for 2010-11

Hello, All.

I wanted to let everyone know that the District Web Services have been reset to support the 2010-11 Optimist year.  The AMS&NW District website, OptiNews, and Facebook page have been modified to support the new year.

There are some noteable changes this year which include:

• Each Zone has a dedicated page on the District website:
  Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6,  Zone 7, Zone 8 and Zone 9
  .
• The Members Quick Resource List has been updated with links to the new resources from OI and the District.


• The District Directory and Contact Cards have been changed to the 2010-11 year and can be downloaded from our Contact Us page.  We are going to ask all clubs to verify the contact information on their respective Zone Contact Card and Zone page.


• The Youth Programs section has been updated and includes the new topics for the CCDHH, Oratorical and Essay competitions.  In addition, we have added a page for Juvenile Curling.

We welcome you to check out the revised website, blog and Facebook page.

Yours in Optimism,
Gordon Welling, District Web Services

District Website Facelift

With the new Optimist year fast approaching, work is now underway to revise the District website for the 2010-11 Optimist year.

Members of the new District Team and incoming Lieutenant Governors are being emailed to ask for your comments and recommendations.

The District website will be "reset" to the 2010-11 Optimist year on October 1st.  If there is information that you want from the current website, you may want to make a copy of it.  Once the website is reset, clubs may want to verify any links that you made to the District website this year, as some links to pages will be changing to make them easier to find with Google or Bing searches.


YIO - Optimist Gord

District Website Update

I'm pleased to advise that I have been able to update the "Members" page so that the forms links work and links to CPA materials have been added.  In addition, the "Zones and Clubs" have been updated to match the contact info from the latest version of the District Directory.  As a reminder ... Zone Contact Cards are now available.  In addition, the District twitter page is now available at twitter.com/AMSNWOptimists.

YIO - Optimist Gord
District Web Services

District Web Services Updated

OptiNews Blog Changes

We have added a Facebook 'Like' badge that links to our Facebook page.  If you have a facebook account, you can click the 'thumbs up' graphic to add it to your list of 'liked pages'.  We need at least 25 people to 'Like' our Facebook page so we can apply for a shortened website link.

In addition, you'll find a set of links to my 'Optimistgord' blog where I publish computer tips for volunteers.

District Website

Two important changes have been made.  The 'News' page now displays a summary of each new article posted on our District Optinews blog.  In addition, a link to the latest Optinews blog articles will appear on the District website 'Home' page. Anytime a new article is posted to our District Optinews blog, it will automatically update our District website.


District Facebook Page

I have also linked out Optinews blog to our District Facebook page.  When a new article is posted on our blog, it will also appear on the 'Wall' on our Facebook page.

Additional Changes in the Works

I plan to open a twitter account that will also be updated when a new article is posted to the District Optinews blog.  In addition, we will be adding the ability to store powerpoint slideshow presentations online, so everyone will be able to see some of the presentations after each District quarterly meeting.

If you have any other suggestions, please email me your ideas.


Yours in Optimism - Gord

AMS&NW District 13 on Facebook

We have created a District page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSNW-District-13-Optimist-International/115482401801355.  So why are we adding all of this extra web presence and what is the difference?

An excellent question ... here is a short explanation:

• Our District Website (http://www.amsnwoptimist.org/) is our official public website.  It provides a central location with lots of information on Optimist programs, projects and membership and in the past hosted our news items.  Technically, it is not easy to change this website, add news items and permit more than a single user to manage the content. For that reason, we decided to implement a news blog that many members can add content to.
  
• Our District 'OptiNews' Blog (amsnwoptimist.blogspot.com) is our official online news site.  Using features from blogger.com, we are able to add contributing editors allowing many member Optimists to publish news.  If you want to become a contributing editor, please contact me at optimistgord@gmail.com.
  
• Our District 'FaceBook' page is an online presence that anyone can add information to ... but you need a Facebook account and you need to 'Like' the page.  We invite any fellow Optimist from any club to add links to your club websites, add an event, start a discussion, upload photos from a project or fundraiser ... and the list goes on.

Facebook is very community based and will help you to get your message out.  You can easily start a Facebook page for your club.  Prince Albert Optimist Club has a website and a Facebook 'Fan' page while the Sylvan Lake Optimist Club has a Facebook 'Group' page. If you would like more information on creating a Facebook page for your club, please send me an email at optimistgord@gmail.com.

We invite you to click on the 'Like' icon and register your Facebook account.  This will make you a fan of the District page and you'll be able to add content.  We need at least 100 'Likes' before we can shorten our Facebook page link to something like www.facebook.com/amsnwoptimist ... so please register and participate.