We started by building an application to support choirs and choruses because singing is our passion! But lots of other groups could benefit from a tool like Groupanizer for all the same reasons - it can be made to really understand the problems and therefore give much more lift than any free or general-purpose tool.
Just to get the ball rolling, it seems that service clubs are a good candidate for a Groupanizer solution. Right now we are doing a trial with an Elks lodge. They particularly like the project management module, since it turns out they have standard projects that need to be run.
What other group types do you think might be well served by a Groupanizer solution?
Up until recently I was President of the Alberta Sport Parachuting Association.and Groupanizer would have been excellent for that group and I think other provincial sport bodies could have benefited from it too.
There are a lot of them in Alberta
http://www.asrpwf.ca/about-us/organizations-we-fund/provincial-sport-recreation-associations.aspx
One could approach them individually, but getting the Provincial governing body on board might get more action.
I think that many of the provincial sport bodies have the same problem. They have and executive that needs help getting organizing and they typically have a website for the public with limited resources to keep them up-to-date. In my experience with ASPA they resort to Facebook to give them easy access to updating information and emailing their members.
My suggestion would be to keep the actual loggins to the site restricted to the executive but implement a mailing list module for sending bulk emails to hundreds of members of their group. Also as resources are limited in these groups having a template for them to create public pages would be a real benefit.
Having been president of a provincial sport body I am glad to offer any of my experience to help where I can.
Ian Harrop
Western Hospitality Singers www.sing4fun.ca
Alberta Sport Parachuting Association www.aspa.ca
ian.harrop@live.com
Great idea Ian!
Do you know anyone currently running such a group who might be interested in piloting a Groupanizer site?
Tom
I am close to the Alberta Sport Parachuting Association, but sorry, that's about it. Typical skydiver answer, "what? there are other sports? why would anyone do anything other than skydive?"
The next AGM in March will see a wholesale change to the provincial executive of that group. Once the new board is in place I can easily approach them.
I don't have great contacts to the National organization, not too many from the west on that board, but I'll blast an email off and see if I can rouse any interest.
Ian Harrop
Western Hospitality Singers www.sing4fun.ca
Alberta Sport Parachuting Association www.aspa.ca
ian.harrop@live.com
I have exchanged messages with the one of the key people at the national association and they are already in the process of redeveloping their site in Joomla. I connected with the developer and it sounds like they have invested a bunch of time and will go live in not too long.
However, that still leaves the provincial organization here in Alberta and I know they haven't done anything with their electronic presence. I'll make contact with one of the board that I expect to be sympathetic to implementing things better over the next while. I don;t expect he'll be on the board after the AGM but it can't hurt to start now
Ian Harrop
Western Hospitality Singers www.sing4fun.ca
Alberta Sport Parachuting Association www.aspa.ca
ian.harrop@live.com
Aha, but I wonder if the groups themselves might be interested, apart from what's happening on the central site. Thoughts?
oops... I wasn't specific enough. My most communication at the "national" level was with the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association. I will open up communication with the Alberta Sport Parachuting Association before their AGM.
Ian Harrop
Western Hospitality Singers www.sing4fun.ca
Alberta Sport Parachuting Association www.aspa.ca
ian.harrop@live.com
I take my son up to an Archery club - Northwoods Bowmen's Club - on Wednesday nights. Been doing this for about 3 years now. They're very small, maybe 12-20 active shooters. But...they collect dues, they stage several events over a year's time, some that involve other local clubs, they create and present awards, purchase targets, organize work parties, keep scores which are submitted to some state and national archery associations, etc. My feeling is that this particular group would shoot you before you were able to convince them to move from hand-written notes and rudimentary email communications, but I can see the potential there. A tool like groupanizer could make life easier for whoever's life is filled with doing all this stuff. And by the way, I am not nor will I ever be that person. I've got enough to do learning lyrics to Valentines songs!
~Bond
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E. Bond Francisco
President (2012) - Marin Golden Gate Barbershop Chorus - D039
415.342.3295
Not far off from the chorus / singing ensemble, how about vocal coaches (or any kind of music coach)? They'd need a lot of similar functionality to allow their clients to log in and download music, submit recordings, accept payments, communicate. Could revolutionize the private piano lessons industry by getting folks to practice more often :)
Jamie Bedford
Voices In Harmony, VP Music
Brewhouse Quartet, Tenor
Cool idea! Know any who would like to be guinea pigs?
Actually I just might know someone. There was a post of Facebook last week about what software local music teachers are using. Let connect over email.
Joseph Workman
President - West Michigan Gay Men's Chorus
www.wmgmc.com
joseph.workman@gmail.com
I think churches could really benefit from a product like this. My church is looking to build a website and get better organized. This tool is meant to do both! Of course churches have different needs but i think your product could be expanded to be called Groupanizer CHURCH!
I am building a site for a church right now using Groupanizer.
I just turned off the modules I didn't need such as stuff related to singing. Tom open the trial for the church a couple of days ago and I've put together the basic frame work. Just waiting for the church to give me content for the various pages they want.
http://evo.groupanizer.com/
Once I have it ready the I'll remove the Admin Login from the site so that it looks better
Ian Harrop
Western Hospitality Singers www.sing4fun.ca
Alberta Sport Parachuting Association www.aspa.ca
ian.harrop@live.com
Fantastic idea Jason. You can already do it, as Ian is for EVO (see his reply).
However, I'm very keen to add any church-specific features that would really be helpful. Any ideas there? I'll give your church a site for free for at least a year, if you'll work with me to build features to support such a group.
T
Homeowner Assocations ( I work for a small one with mostly seniors/retirees living here) -- Property Management Companies...?
I don't know enough to give more suggestions, and older HOAs wouldn't use it because of the age bracket of most of the residents ~ but there are Associations that cater to HOA boards (the one in Arizona is CAI ~ Community Associations Institute) and they send at least two emails a week -- they have events, they take money, they network... as I said, I don't know a lot about property management or HOA management ~ but I would think Groupanizer would have huge potential there too.
Best,
Carrie in Tucson ♫