How to make common announcements

How to make a:

1. event proposal
2. event website
3. booking form for an event
4. one-off cancellation for a regular activity
5. one-off change to a regular activity
6. other announcements
7. permanent change to a regular activity
8. new regular activity show up on the calendar, frontpage, etc
9. quarterly report summary

Write an event proposal

• Either "create new content" -> "page", OR
• Or find an old event proposal that you like and use the "clone" function. Change everything you need to change and save it under a new name, with a new event tag.
• Use the drop-down menu labelled "event" (above the text editor to select) "new proposals".
• If there is already a tag for your event you can select that too (use the "control" key on a windows computer to select two items; I think it's the "function" key on an apple computer)
• If there isn't a tag for your event, ask the webwright to make one
• Remove the "new proposal" tag once your event has been accepted by the council - open it to "edit", then click on "new proposal" to toggle it off

Make an advertisement for an event

• "create content" -> "Group Event" OR
• Clone a previous event page. It needs to be one that was made using the "Group Event" content-type, so it shows up in all the right places (e.g. calendar). It can't, unfortunately, be a clone of your event proposal, but you can cut-and-paste the content from the proposal.
• Fill in all the relevant fields, including date, location, etc.
• Set "publishing options" to "published" and "promoted to front page"

Make a booking form for an event

• Ask the webwright to do it for you: they will update our standard event form to suit your event. The webwright will need all this information (and perhaps more):
• name and date of event
• bookings cutoff
• attendance types (e.g. full event, day-trip only, etc)
• age/price categories for children attending
• what methods of payment you are willing to accept (usually: direct deposit and/or cash on the day)
• what types of activity you want to ask questions about: e.g. martial stuff, A&S, chores, etc.
• who booking confirmation emails go to - e.g. steward, deputy, cooks; and what email address they're using (personal, event-specific, etc)
• whether you want any event-specific emails created: negotiate this with the webwright
• anything extra you want that isn't on our other booking forms

One-off cancellation for a regular activity

• "create content" -> "story": write an announcement. This will automatically appear on the front page of the website. Include the date of the cancellation: "This Sunday, the 10th of March" is good; "this Sunday" alone is not enough.  It's usually worth noting when normal service resumes. If someone has already written this story, but it doesn't appear yet, it will show up in the list of "pending announcements" at the top of the page.
• set "expiry date" to the day after the cancelled activity (after which the notice stops being relevant)
• un-check "archiveable" (unless you think it's worth preserving for posterity in the archives)
• You can write an announcement now that will only appear in the future (e.g. when you know about a cancellation in advance, but only want it to appear for the week before the activity): when you edit the page, click on "authoring information" and change the "authored on" date to the date on which you want the story to appear on the front page.
• amend the calendar: go to the page for the regular activity (you can get there from the links on the calendar or on the "regular activities" page). Edit it - add an "exception" date for the one you want to cancel. [Note from webwright - get me to do this - the date function is a bit wobbly at the moment]
• email the Ildhafn list (and Cluain, if relevant)
• contact the venue or host, if relevant

Change of time or venue for a regular activity

• "create content" -> "story": write an announcement. This will automatically appear on the front page of the website. Include the date of the cancellation: "This Sunday, the 10th of March" is good; "this Sunday" alone is not enough. It's usually worth noting when normal service resumes. If someone has already written this story, but it doesn't appear yet, it will show up in the list of "pending announcements" at the top of the page.
• set "expiry date" to the day after the activity (after which the notice stops being relevant)
• un-check "archiveable" (unless you think it's worth preserving for posterity in the archives)
• To write an announcement now that will only appear in the future (e.g. when you know about a venue change in advance, but only want it to appear for the week before the activity): when you edit the page, click on "authoring information" and change the "authored on" date to the date on which you want the story to appear on the front page.
• email the Ildhafn list
• contact the venue or host, if relevant

Any other announcement (e.g. officer change, close of bookings, competition etc).

• "create content" -> "story" : this will automatically appear on the front page. It will expire (vanish from the front page) after 2 months.
• Tick "archiveable" if you think it has nostalgia-value for the group, or is a useful record. Then it will still be visible in the "archives" after it's gone from the front page.
• You can write an announcement now that will only appear in the future (e.g. set up reminders about bookings, date-changes, or price rises in advance): when you edit the page, click on "authoring information" and change the "authored on" date to the date on which you want the story to appear on the front page.

Permanent (or lasting) change to a regular activity

• Open the page for the regular activity - you can find it through the calendar, or through the "regular activities" page. Amend as you see fit.
• The description of the activity goes in the body of the text. The details of place, time, date and how often it repeats go in a separate fields, labelled "location", "event date and time" and "repeat".
• If it's a permanent change of venue or time (not a minor update: e.g. change of teacher) it's probably worth also announcing the change, using a story, as you would for a one-off change (see above). In this case, the announcement will be something like "from the 10th of March, the new venue is". You can use the default expiry for this, so the story will remain on the front page for a couple of months (until people are used to the new location or time).

New regular activity

• "create content" -> "regular event"
• fill in all the details
• it will ask you how long you want it to repeat. You can either set an "end date" about  a year ahead (and have to "re-start" it the next year), or set it many years ahead (and remember to add "exceptions" for dates around Christmas and new year).

Quarterly report summary

• Log in. Use your own login, not someone else's.
• "create content" -> "quarterly report summary"
• Give your report a title (doesn't much matter what "web report for May 2014" or similar is fine)
• Use the drop-down menu to select the office. (You will have to make a new report summary for each office you hold. If your office doesn't appear on the list, ask the webwright to add it).
• Write a summary of your report in the body. This will be public. You can cut-and-paste the report you emailed to the seneschal and kingdom officer if you like; deleting anything anything personal (e.g. contact info), irrelevant (e.g. "hello") or private (sensitive matters, private requests for advice, anything else you'd rather have between you and the officers you report to). If a cut-and-paste is impractical you can write a short summary from scratch. You don't have to tell anyone whether what you put on the website is your whole report or only part of it. 
• [If you used someone else's login, change "authoring information" to your username (your SCA name)]
• publish
• check that your report appears correctly on the table at: ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/reports

You should see your report appear in the table at ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/reports, with today's date as the report-date, your name and your office. If any of those are wrong, edit your report (click on "post date" to get it). You can change the office in the drop-down menu labelled "office" at the top, and your name and the post-date under "authoring information" (at the bottom).

If you have other questions, please check the FAQ, or ask the webwright $WEBWRIGHT_SCA_NAME$ ($WEBWRIGHT_EMAIL$).