21 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

ONGOING REVISIONS as of May 2019:

 

 

TRIP NAME & DATE:

 

T&C Jan 11-18, 2020 or Turks & Caicos Jan 11-18, 2020

 

TRIP BUILD OUT CHECK LIST:

Backend Opening:

• Pricing/Discounts/Inv Kamala
• Hika Buildout: Pam
• Homepage Table Update:  Pam - DONE
• Dropbox set up:  Butch
• Smugbug set up:  open pls volunteer
• Forums Photo Gallery set up:  Butch DONE

Frontend Opening:

• Forums Trip Details Research from vendor website:   Butch
• Forums Trip Topic Details Buildout (#1-4):   Butch
• Facebook Event Creation:  open pls volunteer
• Trip Forums set up:  Brad - DONE

TC Actions:

• TC Action Item Topic Creation: Should be done by assigned TC but could be done by anyone
• Trip PM Creation: TC creates for each trip and created before or immediately after the first person signs up adding each person as they sign up.
• Forums Booking Status: TC updates Forums booking inventory balance post and Add On purchases in (public) Trip #4 and (private) TC Trip topic
• Documents Submissions: TC track completion and reach out to delinquent members on Surveys, Waivers and itineraries
• Documents Processing: Collect and collate member trip data into Trip Spreadsheet and add to top post of TC Trip topic
• Flights Info: Extract Arrival and Departure data from member flight itineraries and organize by arrival date/time in TC topic
• Rooming / Buddies: Based on Rooming and Dive Buddy surveys post a draft rooming and dive buddy assignments list in TC topic
• Issues Management: Provide support for Ad hoc info requests, assist with member questions / issues
• Trip PM Updates prior to trip:  Kamala and/or TC or other volunteer
• Post Trip PM Follow Up  Kamala and/or TC or other volunteer

POST LINKS TO FINISHED ITEMS OR INFO AS NEEDED FOR THIS TRIP FOR FINAL BUILDOUT & COMPLETION:

 

Pam and I have been discussing a better overall process for opening up trips. We will open a new MASTER TRIP ADMIN TOPIC in the Trip Buildout area identifying who will be doing what for each trip. Pam will help to clean this up based upon our discussions.

 

TRIP NAME & DATE: Cocos 5-15, 2020

Pricing Kamala

Hika Buildout: Pam

Homepage Table Update:  Pam

Forums Trip Details Research:   Pam

Forums Trip Topic Details Buildout:   Pam

Facebook Event Creation:  open pls volunteer

Trip Forums set up:  open pls volunteer

Dropbox set up:  open pls volunteer

Trip Coordinator:  open pls volunteer

TC Action Item Topic Creation:  Can be done by anyone OR the TC for the trip

Trip PM Creation: should be done by the TC for the trip and created before or immediately after the first person signs up.

 

NEW RULES FOR THE MASTER TRIP ADMIN TOPIC:

 

1. If there is no name beside a function and you want to do it PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME and/or VOLUNTEER.

2. If there is a name but that person has gone MIA due to life issues PLEASE JUMP IN and cover for them.

3. Build out the sample trip details for the forums IN THE TRIP SUB FORUM FOR THAT TRIP BUT TELL US IN THE MAIN TRIP ADMIN TOPIC WHEN THEY ARE DONE. Just use the trip name and DRAFT and we will go from there.

4. Whenever there is a change to pricing in the trip forums either due to vendor chgs, or going from TBA to an actual price YOU MUST POST HERE IN THE MASTER TRIP ADMIN TOPIC as well as update the trip FAQ and either post to update the trip details or do just do it but state its been done. THIS WILL TRIGGER PAM TO UPDATE HIKA TO MATCH THE TRIP DETAILS TO HIKA.

5. We will add more guidelines as we work to tweak this process to be inclusive of all things related to getting a trip open.

Edited by dive_sail_etc, 11 February 2020 - 08:12 AM.

[Cmdr. Clownfish]

I have some input based on my volunteer work at the church.  We had new leadership this year that wanted to shake everything up and make everything better but resulted in very little productive.  The program is in alot of ways similar to this website and virtually entire volunteer driven.   The director had multiple meeetings trying to get volunteers and went into the program proud that he had about 80 people.  The only problem was that 4 people showed up each week and as of now I am the ONLY one left on a weekly basis.   The rest were left to pick what they wanted to do and when they wanted to do it and promptly disappeared.  The 3 others got fed up and quit.

 

He had a signup website where people could volunteer to help out on individual weeks (the equivalent of trips here).  This did not work as everyone thought there are 80 people so someone else would do it.  Evene me prodding them all did not get any help.  In the short time that they did help I was overwhelemed training new a person each week that was only going to do this once and did not really want to be there.  There were literally 0 signups after 3 weeks and we had 9 months to go.  What did work was approaching individuals and getting them to take a singular task one week each month and then have a backup if they were unavailable.   I only had to train them once and then they took over.  Still differnt people each week but they were motivated and helped out.  After this change I can basically run a week by myself and don't need the other 3 people.

 

So I think you need three general tasks and 2-3 people trained in each one.  They would alternate trips on a schedule and if one is unavaliable then aonther one steps in.  There must be a an overall director or they will not step in on their own.   So you need a new role, trip "captain", that organizes the activities.  They don't necessarily have to do much other than make sure someone is doing each task and recuriting a new people if necessary.  

 

The tasks can be broken up into several tasks

 

Backend opening 

Hika Buildout: Pam

Homepage Table Update:  Pam

Dropbox set up:  (needs admin access to set up dropbox emails)

 

Front end opening

Forums Trip Details Research:  

Forums Trip Topic Details Buildout:  

Facebook Event Creation:  

 

TC actions

Trip Forums set up:  

Trip Coordinator:  

TC Action Item Topic Creation:  

Trip PM Creation: 

 

You can train two or three people for each group of tasks and the trip captain would make sure the next person in the list handles that trip.  If the next person can't then they contact whoever was next.  They have to approach the volunteer and get them to agree to it.  They generally do.  Without that action I have found that nobody will step up even if completely qualified and available.  This generally works since no one person handles the same task for each trip and they don't feel overwhelmed.  The hard part is getting good people but it is easier if they are not on for each trip. 

[Cajun Diver]

A few thoughts now that I have had time to read and think about it:

 

Unless we are expecting a flood of new volunteers it would seem to me that the trip coordinator would naturally be the person making sure things are done - ie the TC = Captain.

 

That breakdown looks good except for the Dropbox creation which can be done at the back-end stage and the Dropbox sharing which would need to be done either during the trip or at the end depending on internet access.

[Blue151]

I agreed to do the trip details research and trip top details buildout since I am interested in going on this trip.    Topic 1 updated.

[Blue151]

A few thoughts now that I have had time to read and think about it:

 

Unless we are expecting a flood of new volunteers it would seem to me that the trip coordinator would naturally be the person making sure things are done - ie the TC = Captain.

 

That breakdown looks good except for the Dropbox creation which can be done at the back-end stage and the Dropbox sharing which would need to be done either during the trip or at the end depending on internet access.

 

I agree with your suggestions, but would also offer:

 

1.  Identify 1 person (with backups if possible) for all Facebook entries, no matter what the trip so we have consistency on the public facing site.  

 

2.  Identify 1 person (with backups if possible) for all dropbox setup entries, this eliminates for lots of people have access and should be very similar regardless of the trip.

 

I think both of these could be handled fairly easily by one person as it is a fairly small activity relative to the rest of the buildout for any trip.  They could even be the same person, I just don't know that we want to train ever TC to do it.

 

The other thing I have thinking about is we have TC = Trip Captain once the trip is build out on all the sites.  Maybe we need a trip build out lead (TB) - responsible for all things up to when the trip goes live.  It is only a small step above what we have now, in that that person would be responsible for ensuring the Trip Backend and Frontend opening are done correctly and in sync for the actual open.  Then they would hand off all aspects of the coordination/people to the TC.

[Blue151]

 

I have some input based on my volunteer work at the church.  We had new leadership this year that wanted to shake everything up and make everything better but resulted in very little productive.  The program is in alot of ways similar to this website and virtually entire volunteer driven.   The director had multiple meeetings trying to get volunteers and went into the program proud that he had about 80 people.  The only problem was that 4 people showed up each week and as of now I am the ONLY one left on a weekly basis.   The rest were left to pick what they wanted to do and when they wanted to do it and promptly disappeared.  The 3 others got fed up and quit.

 

He had a signup website where people could volunteer to help out on individual weeks (the equivalent of trips here).  This did not work as everyone thought there are 80 people so someone else would do it.  Evene me prodding them all did not get any help.  In the short time that they did help I was overwhelemed training new a person each week that was only going to do this once and did not really want to be there.  There were literally 0 signups after 3 weeks and we had 9 months to go.  What did work was approaching individuals and getting them to take a singular task one week each month and then have a backup if they were unavailable.   I only had to train them once and then they took over.  Still differnt people each week but they were motivated and helped out.  After this change I can basically run a week by myself and don't need the other 3 people.

 

So I think you need three general tasks and 2-3 people trained in each one.  They would alternate trips on a schedule and if one is unavaliable then aonther one steps in.  There must be a an overall director or they will not step in on their own.   So you need a new role, trip "captain", that organizes the activities.  They don't necessarily have to do much other than make sure someone is doing each task and recuriting a new people if necessary.  

 

The tasks can be broken up into several tasks

 

Backend opening 

Hika Buildout: Pam

Homepage Table Update:  Pam

Dropbox set up:  (needs admin access to set up dropbox emails)

 

Front end opening

Forums Trip Details Research:  

Forums Trip Topic Details Buildout:  

Facebook Event Creation:  

 

TC actions

Trip Forums set up:  

Trip Coordinator:  

TC Action Item Topic Creation:  

Trip PM Creation: 

 

You can train two or three people for each group of tasks and the trip captain would make sure the next person in the list handles that trip.  If the next person can't then they contact whoever was next.  They have to approach the volunteer and get them to agree to it.  They generally do.  Without that action I have found that nobody will step up even if completely qualified and available.  This generally works since no one person handles the same task for each trip and they don't feel overwhelmed.  The hard part is getting good people but it is easier if they are not on for each trip. 

 

 

 

I know this might be too much, but since I come from an organization that loves acronyms and structure:

 

TA - Trip Acquisition and Accounting (Lead: Kamala)

• Work with vendors to get the trip (Kamala)
• Work to ensure customer payments are made for all trips (The accountants)

 

TB - Trip Buildout (Lead TB?)

• Backend Buildout - Hika (Pam)
• Front end Buildout - TB could change for each trip

 

TC - Trip Coordination (Lead TC?)

• All the other aspects of trip coord mentioned above!  TC could change for each trip

 

 

 

Thoughts?

[Cajun Diver]

I agreed to do the trip details research and trip top details buildout since I am interested in going on this trip.    Topic 1 updated.

Ok - yeah didn't quite get that from the post but with the edits I understand.

[Cajun Diver]

 

I agree with your suggestions, but would also offer:

 

1.  Identify 1 person (with backups if possible) for all Facebook entries, no matter what the trip so we have consistency on the public facing site.  

 

2.  Identify 1 person (with backups if possible) for all dropbox setup entries, this eliminates for lots of people have access and should be very similar regardless of the trip.

 

I think both of these could be handled fairly easily by one person as it is a fairly small activity relative to the rest of the buildout for any trip.  They could even be the same person, I just don't know that we want to train ever TC to do it.

 

The other thing I have thinking about is we have TC = Trip Captain once the trip is build out on all the sites.  Maybe we need a trip build out lead (TB) - responsible for all things up to when the trip goes live.  It is only a small step above what we have now, in that that person would be responsible for ensuring the Trip Backend and Frontend opening are done correctly and in sync for the actual open.  Then they would hand off all aspects of the coordination/people to the TC.

 

#1 & 2 - sounds reasonable but we need a good list of who all of the volunteers are and what they are doing.  Since TC is already used for Trip Coordinator having it also be Trip Captain would likely be confusing.

[Cajun Diver]

I know this might be too much, but since I come from an organization that loves acronyms and structure:

 

TA - Trip Acquisition and Accounting (Lead: Kamala)

• Work with vendors to get the trip (Kamala)
• Work to ensure customer payments are made for all trips (The accountants)

 

TB - Trip Buildout (Lead TB?)

• Backend Buildout - Hika (Pam)
• Front end Buildout - TB could change for each trip

 

TC - Trip Coordination (Lead TC?)

• All the other aspects of trip coord mentioned above!  TC could change for each trip

 

 

 

Thoughts?

 

Like I mentioned above TC has stood for Trip Coordinator so we should keep it that - other acronyms look OK to me.

[Cmdr. Clownfish]

It seems like whoever is lead TB would act as trip captain to be certain all things get done before it is turned over to the TC for opening. 

[WreckWench]

NOTES FOR KAMALA

 

Need to add the following tasks to the build out/ TC management checklist we are creating:

 

1. Process for verification and double checking if everyone on the list going has been added to the TRIP PM

2. Remembering to update the MASTER flight list , rooming list, add on's list in the TC TOPIC and using the edited by box so we know its current or not based upon the date.

3. Remembering to use legal names for rooming, flights, nitrox etc. basically anything that goes to the resort directly.

[WreckWench]

Per emails from Pam and Butch last night... a few other suggestions have bubbled up:

 

1. Making sure everyone knows that all pricing I supply is CASH PRICE. I will also note that in my pricing info so that Pam can do the 3% mark ups.

2. QC process of the final posts before advising ready to open of links including the book now link (just need to advise PAM when the trip is opened up so she can make the link work in the table) and also looking to ensure that the CURRENT TRIP NAME Is referenced everywhere in the post and not other trip names from other trips we used as samples.   When QC is done feel free to post in the topic to boost it so I know its done and ready. We can even chg the internal title to READY like we do the pricing when its ready for Pam to do her thing.

3. Adding the resort or liveaboard NAME to the title along with trip DATES and the other info we include.

 

If I forgot anything else please add it.

[WreckWench]

Will glean this topic AGAIN for more inputs to incorporate into the Trip Build Out process. We are off to a great start.

 

ONGOING REVISIONS as of May 2019:

 

 

TRIP NAME & DATE:

 

T&C Jan 11-18, 2020 or Turks & Caicos Jan 11-18, 2020

 

TRIP BUILD OUT CHECK LIST:

Backend Opening:

• Pricing/Discounts/Inv Kamala
• Hika Buildout: Pam
• Homepage Table Update:  Pam - DONE
• Dropbox set up:  Butch
• Smugbug set up:  open pls volunteer
• Forums Photo Gallery set up:  Butch DONE

Frontend Opening:

• Forums Trip Details Research from vendor website:   Butch
• Forums Trip Topic Details Buildout (#1-4):   Butch
• Facebook Event Creation:  open pls volunteer
• Trip Forums set up:  Brad - DONE

TC Actions:

• TC Action Item Topic Creation:  Can be done by anyone OR the TC for the trip
• Trip PM Creation: should be done by the TC for the trip and created before or immediately after the first person signs up adding each person as they sign up.
• Trip PM Updates prior to trip:  Kamala and/or TC or other volunteer
• Post Trip PM Follow Up  Kamala and/or TC or other volunteer

 

 

POST LINKS TO FINISHED ITEMS OR INFO AS NEEDED FOR THIS TRIP FOR FINAL BUILDOUT & COMPLETION:

[Cmdr. Clownfish]

Much of the information that the members need in the trip PM is known at the time the trip is opened.  This information should already present in the PM when it is opened.  That will take away one of the gripes of the members with very little work required.  I leave for Bonaire in 45hrs and all that information is still not in the PM.  We have done this destination probably over 20 times so there is no valid reason it is not there now.  Its not a problem for me but for a new member it could be a problem and it does not look good.

 

Adding this information to the PM up front should be as step in the opening process so when it falls apart in the end that is one less thing that needs to be done when people are not available to do it.

[WreckWench]

Good ideas Scott. We have been working to standardize the trip pm info along with timelines for posting them i.e. what to post when we open the PM. What to post each month until the trip is run ensuring at least 1 post a month to the members. The suggestion to post them intermittently so we keep touching them and they feel engaged is good as that has also been a complaint.  This also gets rid of the complaint of too much info in one chunk which we have have had as well.