Greetings Student Org Leaders,

It is our first official week back from spring break. Many of you are adjusting to a new online learning environment for classes. But what about your student orgs? Below are some resources for you to help manage your org in an online environment.

Also know, the Involvement Center is here to support you. Please continue to reach out as needed to our staff. Any general questions can continue to be sent to involvement@uwstout.edu. You can also call 715.232.1172 and your call will be forwarded.

We've also posted all of the resources within this email on our CONNECT Website for you to access at any time.

Resources for Finishing out the Semester

Hosting Virtual Meetings

We encourage you to continue meeting this semester with your student org! It will help you maintain some normalcy and connect you with your peers during a difficult period of social distancing. There are a variety of platforms to explore for hosting a virtual meeting and the Involvement Center has two to share with you:

Zoom

Zoom offers video conferencing and has a basic free plan, which includes the ability to host up to 100 participants, unlimited 1-1 meetings and 40 minutes for group meetings.

Explore and sign up for an account
 

Microsoft Teams
As an Office 365 campus, you can sign in and use all of the features available to you for Microsoft Teams. Our Learning Technology Resources links to a number of short and easy tutorials to get you acclimated to Teams.

Below are a few of the tutorials you may want to start with.
 

Quick Start
Set up and customize your team
Start chats and calls
Manage a meeting
Set up and attend live events

Once you have your virtual meetings and events set-up, don’t forget to use CONNECT to advertise them and pay attention to some of the best practices below!

Tools in CONNECT

There are a variety of CONNECT tools to help you maintain strong communication with your org members and fellow officers.

Best Practices for Hosting Virtual Events

• Continue to create or edit existing events in your CONNECT page

• Add the word “Virtual” in every event title

• Add the “Virtual” event tag to every event (in the event creation form)

• Add links to virtual meetings (on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) instead of room locations in the event creation form. Also, add these links to the front and center of the event description

• Encourage members to continue to register on CONNECT as normal and maintain accurate attendance tracking for your org

Email Builder
If you weren’t already using CONNECT’s email builder, now is the time to start! Send user-friendly emails, design using easy drag and drop tools, track who’s reading and more. Learn more

Forum
Create online discussions using the Forum. Allow your officers and members to weigh in on important topics. You can create specific discussions by topic and get your members posting and joining in on the conversation.

Access the forum by:

1. Got to your left side navigation of your Group Page
2. Scroll down to More Tools
3. Click Forum

Surveys + Forms | Let CONNECT Help Run Easy Elections

If your org is transitioning officers this semester, let CONNECT help with an easy election process. Org leaders can simply create an online election form that allows you to share information about each candidate and let each member vote anonymously.

Learn how to create an election form in your group pageÔÇïÔÇïÔÇïÔÇïÔÇïÔÇïÔÇï

Officer Transition

Speaking of  officer elections, that means you need to start thinking about properly transitioning the responsibilities between outgoing and incoming officers. Not only is it important to share the nuts and bolts of managing an organization, but it's important to collaborate on a shared vision and long-term plan for the organization.

Check out out a number of resources to help you successfully pass the torch this semester.

The Involvement Center will also be offering some virtual or pre-recorded options of our traditional officer transition workshop. Stay tuned for these to be announced in the coming days!