- Do you know how to write and build a web page?
- Is your club website in need of an overhaul?
This Club Website Building Workshop run by the District Webmaster will help club webmasters (or potential webmasters) who want to find out how to write and build a club website home page.
If your Division would like to hold a workshop, or want to know about the planned workshops, please email webmaster@toastmasters.org.nz with your request.
Past Workshops:
- Division E - Saturday 30 May and Saturday 13 June 2009
- Division C - Saturday/Sunday 24-25 May 2008, Dunedin - (organised by Dawn Brieseman)
- Division G - Sunday 4 May, Nelson - (organised by Area G5)
- Division E - Saturday 19 April, Wellington
- Division G - 5-6 April, Christchurch - (organised by Richard Moffat)
- Division E - 29 March 2008, Wellington
- Division D - 8 March 2008, Rotorua - (organised by Gordon Acres)
- Division E - November 2007, Wellington
Resources for Workshop Participants
Please go to the Training Resources folder, and download, save to a USB or your laptop, and unzip the file named Zip File - ClubWorkshops, to a suitable folder (a zip file is a compressed file, so you will need to unzip or uncompress the files once downloaded). This has all the training resources and sample website files you need for the workshop. If you have time, review the contents of the files ready for the workshop. Note this is a 4.2 megabyte file, which when unzipped will occupy 5.5 megabytes, so be patient. If you have any problems, please contact webmaster@toastmasters.org.nz. These files and the program noted below will be available on the day of the workshop from a USB.
Also, if you can, download the program FirstPage 2006 from the link below and install on your laptop or pc.
HTML Editor
FirstPage 2006 is a free html editor downloadable from http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage3.shtml as an executable file. You will need this installed on your laptop for your workshop.
This program colours your tags, and allows a preview of the web page. It is easy to use and you can have your whole site open at once and jump around it.
Credits: The following Competent Leadership Award projects can be fulfilled:
- Being the Club Webmaster - Project 10
- Assisting the Club Webmaster - Project 6
Wellington, 13 June 2009
Another cold and wet day, but it didn't deter our hardy Toastmasters who were keen to learn how to manage a club website.
We got a working website, and everyone learnt what's involved in setting up and managing their site.
Here's some photos from our day:
Wellington, 30 May 2009
It was a cloudy and cold day in Whitby, so we didn't feel too bad being inside all day.
Only six participants turned up, but we had a good time, and got a working website by the end of the day.
Here's two photos of everyone hard at work.
Dunedin, 24/25 May 2008
Despite the weather, the Dunedin workshops were very successful with 6 people attending each day, from Taieri, Wavecrest, Dunedin, Animated, Lunchspeak, and Foveaux in Invercargill.
Dawn Briesemann provided an excellent venue and delicious lunch for me, and once again we tackled the sample template, completing it with a working site right on finishing time. Well done southern Toastmasters for keeping up with me! Thanks also to my chauffers Dick Knopp and Dawn B for picking me up and dropping me off at the airport and my cousin's place for the night.
Here are some photos from our 2 days of fun:
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Everyone gathered round to see what's going on!
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Preparing keywords
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Preparing keywords
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The final list!
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Preparing a page description
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The Foveaux ladies hard at work!
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Nelson, 5 May 2008
Nelson and Blenheim clubs attended this one day workshop held at a local school in the staff training room using laptops provided by the school. We got the template finished with 5 minutes to go, and had a working website. Everyone was very happy and really enjoyed the day. They went away with a greater understanding of how the internet and search engines work, and how to optimise a club website to take advantage of the keywords people use in Google. Members from Wider Horizons, Nelson, Golden Gavellers, and MadHatters attended the workshop.
Thanks for coming and having a great day together.
Here are some photos from our day showing the participants hard at work, and presenting the results of their work to the group:
Wellington, 19 April 2008
Another successful web workshop for Wellington Toastmaster Clubs. Attending were members of 5Crowns, DIAlogue, ANZToastmasters, Capital, Upper Hutt, Hutt City, Hutt Valley and Petone, and Waikanae/Otaki.
Christchurch, 5-6 April 2008
The Division G Christchurch Workshops were highly successful, with participants from Belfast, Bishopdale, Boaters, Northside, Shoreline, Southern Cities, Sunrise, Oaklands, Pegasus, Woolston, Riccarton, Everest, Victoria, WiseHearted Women, Kaiapoi and U-Can-Speak clubs.
Saturday's weather was grey and overcast, so I didn't feel too guilty keeping everyone inside all day, but Sunday was much brighter, with sunshine and warmth. I only felt a little guilty!
The venue at Addington.net was superb, comfortable and quite suitable, and we had no computer problems at all.
By the end of each day, we had a working website, which was our ultimate goal. Everyone now knows how Google search works, and how to make their club website findable in Google. I expect to see a race for number one search result ranking for all Christchurch clubs very soon!
Here is a ditty from Richard Moffat, the workshop coordinator summing up the sessions:
I had high expectations, they all were exceeded
Dale's teachings were relevant, spot on and needed
Our brains were de-weeded and then they were feeded
We agreed that our sites will succeed, most indeeded.
(inspired by Dr Seuss!)
He (and I) also thank the following:
- John Sullivan (Division G Governor - taxi service, entertainment supervisor, project adviser)
- Jan Dunn (for billeting Dale)
- Maria Gear and Ailsa Milner (helping out at the end)
- Norm McDonald (for entertaining little Tessa during the Saturday morning mayhem)
- Addington.net (for a fantastic, no-fuss venue)
I was treated like royalty and really felt welcome and at ease.
Here are some photos from our weekend showing everyone hard at work planning and developing their websites:
Wellington, 29 March 2008
This one-day session used a new template and training notes developed by the District Webmaster.
The seven participants from Wellington clubs completed the session with a working website. We didn't feel so bad being stuck inside all day as it was the first day it had rained in Wellington for weeks, and we sure needed the rain!
Here's some photos from our day:
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Workshop participants helping each other
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Rob Julian explaining his club navigation menu
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Rob hard at work on his laptop
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Dale holds the sheet up for Kath to explain
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Dale helping Rob
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Pauline and Mike explain their navigation menu
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Jimmy and Chandra hard at work
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Jimmy and Chandra explain their navigation menu
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Martin explains his navigation menu
while Pauline holds the page up for us all to see
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Workshop participants hard at work
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Rotorua, 8 March 2008
This was a one-day session run by the District Webmaster, Dale Hartle, and organised by the Area D5 Governor, Gordon Acres, held at Waiaraki Polytechnic. There were 11 participants from clubs in Rotorua, Tauranga, Morrinsville and Thames.
During the workshop, we discussed and prepared a club website's metadata, such as keywords, title, description and headings. We looked at how websites are constructed, and then got to work amending a free template. While we didn't quite get the template finished, everyone has the training notes which they can use to continue work, and if necessary, practise again.
Everyone had a thoroughly good time, with lots of laughter and interaction, and the amount of preparation completed by the participants paid off as we were able to get straight to work on analysing websites and designing a navigation system.
My thanks to Gordon Acres and his wife Judith for their kind hospitality, and to all the participants who gave up their Saturday to come along and try something new. Let's hope we'll see some new club websites springing up on the internet before too long.
Here are some photos from our day, showing everyone hard at work:
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Gordon and Judith Acres, Elisabeth Walter (Geyserland), Peter Harington (Arawa, Geyser Goumet, Lake City Breakfast), Matthew Acres (soon to be Geyserland)
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Peter Harington (Arawa, Geyser Goumet, LakesCity Breakfast)
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Heather Heywood, Heather McAllister (Lunchtime)
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Velma Rutten and Bette Blance (Piako)
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Velma Rutten and Bette Blance (Piako)
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Mike Fields (Otumoetai)
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Velma Rutten and Bette Blance (Piako)
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Karen Haakma (Hauraki)
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Heather Heywood, Heather McAllister (Lunchtime)
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Mike Fields (Otumoetai)
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Rotorua Web Workshop Participants
Back, l to r - Velma Rutten, Bette Blance (Piako) Peter Harington (Arawa, Geyser Goumet, Lake City Breakfast) Matthew, Judith & Gordon Acres (Geyserland), Heather Heywood (Lunchtime)
Front, L to r - Dale Hartle, Cathie & Karen Haakma (Hauraki), Heather McAllister (Lunchtime) Taking the photo - Elisabeth Walter (Geyserland) – left early Mike Fields (Otumoetai)
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Wellington, October 2007
Day 1 Report
The first session held on 27 October 2007 focused on writing for the web. We looked at Toastmaster website visitor statistics, Google search results, home page design and construction, navigation and F-writing skills.
For homework participants are to compose a home page and one other page for their club website.
Day 2 focuses on modifying a free template to build a working club website, with all the elements that make up a great home page.
Here is a photo gallery of Day 1 activities:
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Dale Hartle (centre) with Susan Dugdale (Island Bay)
and Kath Cherie (Spinnaker)
discussing keywords and site description
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Area E7 Governor Maree Cullen (right) with
Alison Jones (Talking Union)
planning their keywords and site description
for Google search results
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Donna Daken (Coastmasters)
and Dave Stonyer (Hutt Valley/Petone)
designing their home page navigation
using the card sorting technique
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Susan Dugdale (Island Bay) and
Kath Cherie (Spinnaker)
discussing their home page and
website navigation
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John Gibbs (BBC) and Edward Phillips (Karori)
planning their club website structure
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Donna Daken (Coastmasters) and
Dave Stonyer (Hutt Valley/Petone)
describing their website structure
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Susan Dugdale (Island Bay) explains
her idea of a website navigation
while Kath Cherie (Spinnaker) holds up the sheet
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Chandra Koswatte (Newlands) and
Lachman Prasad (Johnsonville)
show the group their proposed
home page layout and content
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John Gibbs (BBC) and Edward Phillips (Karori)
show their club website structure
including what's on their home page
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Dave Stonyer (Hutt Valley/Petone), Chandra Koswatte
(Newlands) and Lachman Prasad (Johnsonville)
working on their keywords and site description
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Day 2 Report
The second day of the web workshop on 2 November 2007 focussed on the steps involved in building a club website. We typed up a simple web page in Notepad, and learnt what the basic html tags are all about.
Then we learnt how to modify a simple template downloaded from the internet, and link up all the pages to make a working site. Troubleshooting errors quickly became a newfound skill when links didn't work, or style sheets didn't display correctly, which is why having knowledge of basic html tags is so handy.
While we didn't quite finish the process, everyone got the hang of how websites are constructed, and how planning and preparation make the production so much faster and easier.
Detailed tutorials on the process will be prepared so everyone can go through it again in their own time. They should then be able to find a suitable template and modify it for their own purposes.
Perhaps an advanced workshop could be held in a few weeks time to finalise the new sites before they go live, as half a day is not really long enough!
A basic website was built by the District Webmaster for Karori Toastmasters and uploaded to their new webspace on WCN-Net to coincide with local advertising. However this site needs finishing to provide more information for visitors, and webmaster training.
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