Hello,
Winter has come quickly in Boston! I have a few updates to share with you:
Off to Ecuador on December 4
I’m going to Ecuador on Wednesday, December 4, with a return flight planned for April 21 next year - 9 days after Easter. I’m currently working out plans for where I will be, and that planning will likely continue after I arrive there. I’m looking forward to it, as I’m refining my activities and collaborations! I’ll share more as it all develops.
Updated Website and Emails
Website Update
The front page of the website has been slightly updated to make it a little easier for you and to keep the more dynamic content up top. Come and see: www.barriers2bridges.org. Let me know what you think, and any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed.
On the homepage, you’ll also notice …
… A New Calendar
I’ve added a calendar to the home page to post events and plans for you to see. I hope to regularly update this as my plans and path unfold in Ecuador. For example, I hope to include things like my travel and ministry/project plans, the events that are happening in the parish, like meetings, retreats, services, etc., and relevant local events and happenings. The goal, as always, is to invite you along as much as possible using whatever tools I can.
Updated emails
I noticed that the emails that are sent out were a little awkward and not so user friendly. The formatting (free Mailchimp) wasn’t the best, and the emails weren’t introducing people to the website (where commenting is enabled), which was my original plan. In the website, there’s an atmosphere to explore and ways to reply and open discussion on the posts. So, basically, it seemed to me that the emails were not doing so good a job at bringing people together. I wasn’t fully aware of this until recently.
For ideas, I compared these B2B emails to those of some other newsletters that I myself receive, and the result was a few changes to make it easier to engage in the website and with me and each other. Firstly, as with this post, only excerpts will be shared in the email, with a clear link to come to the site where the website post in all its glory - including comments - can be found. Secondly, I’ve included in the emails more short-cut buttons to some principal pages in the website to make it easier to come in and explore. A third change that I’m considering but haven’t done yet is sending out emails on a fixed schedule once or twice a week, instead of the morning after each post is published. I’d like to minimize the number of emails you receive, and yet there are some emails that are best sent when they’re published (e.g., corrections ).
Let me know what you think of the changes, and if there are any problems with how the emails are working. I’m open to thoughts, feedback, and suggestions.
Meet? A Question for You:
Just as I’m about to fly, time also has flown. I would always like to share presentations each time I come back from South America, though this year (and a half) has been a challenging one. Time (and local space) is now short, but I just received word that I could very likely have a space available at St. Leonard’s in the North End to share a presentation on Barriers to Bridges before I leave.
I’d like to ask you what you think. The meeting would be a presentation and discussion about what happened the last year, and a vision for going forward.
Do you have thoughts about meeting on Saturday Nov 30 or Sunday Dec 1 in the early evening at St. Leonard’s in the North End? You’re welcome to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.