Online Soccer Registration Blog

Anyone who has ever taken over someone else’s job – as staff or as a volunteer – knows that transferring instutional knowlege is huge. If someone explains what you need to do and how you do it the work is easier and everyone is happier. If you have to invent everything from scratch then your learning curve will be the proverbial “drinking from a firehose”.

There are a number of steps your organization can take to develop, transfer and safeguard institutional knowlege. Here are several of the topics we’ll discuss:
-safeguarding key documents and records
-ensuring easy transitions from year to year
-protecting your organization from the loss of key people

This new webinar series focuses on the best practices “how to’s” that are more about process than features. Please join us for a discussion and demonstration of some best practices that we’ve learned from helping thousands of different organizations over the past 10 years. We know these can benefit your organization today.

The format is about 45 minutes reviewing the items then about 15 minutes answetring questions. We promise it will be a good use of one hour of your time!

I gave this webinar for Rainier Software on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 from 1:30PM – 2:30 PM PST
and recorded it so anyone could view it later. Click on this link to view it: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/168859720

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

Would you like to know what your participants are thinking? Tips for what you could improve? Tips for what services are really important and which ones aren’t? Are you curious how people actually find out about your organization? What search terms they used?

Learn some tips from some of the masters. Learn how you can use online surveys, Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools to easily find out. Here are several of the topics we’ll discuss:
-online surveys
-what Google Analytics can show you
-what Google Webmaster Tools can tell you

This new webinar series focuses on the best practices “how to’s” that are more about process than features. Please join us for a discussion and demonstration of some best practices that we’ve learned from helping thousands of different organizations over the past 10 years. We know these can benefit your organization today.

I gave this webinar for Rainier Software on Wednesday September 22, 2010 and recorded it so anyone who was interested could view it later. Please share it with friends and colleagues. Here is the link to view it: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/196641080.

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

Where did the summer go? The kids are headed back to school and we’ll soon be heads down and working hard until the holidays. Fall is a wonderful time of the year and for many will be a welcome break from the HOT weather. In this third issue of our monthly Rainier client newsletter we’ll be talking about:

• September’s Special Offer
• Client “Tip of the Month”
• Upcoming Webinars
• New Software Releases
• New “Pay As You Go” option
• New Transactions Tab and 50 Transaction Bundle added

September Special Offer! September is a great time to get ready for holiday shopping! Branded merchandise is a great holiday gift so get your webstore up and running today. Existing clients adding the recommended merchandise already receive 50 free transactions (worth $237.50) which will cover your first 100 merchandise purchases, as merchandise sales use just half of a transaction. All you need to do to get started is send us the logo you’d like to see on your merchandise. Existing clients who sign-up for the recommended merchandise in September also get three free months added to their annual service agreement ($248.75). Please click here to sign-up for the recommended merchandise offering or contact your relationship manager at 1-800-576-7966.

Client Tip of the Month! Check out the new “Productivity Tips” section in the latest version of the online help for the Desktop. Some of the great time saving ideas include adding a Rainier icon on your start menu,  adding a Rainier shortcut, customizing the desktop navigation, customizing grids, adding cc emails and using the new dashboards to share results with your team. Online help for the Desktop is easily accessed by clicking on the help link or on any of the top 3 questions that are displayed under “Help and Resources”. 

Wednesday Webinars! Please join us for informative webinars. Our focus this month is on best practices with two sessions. Wednesday Webinars are a great way to learn from the experiences of similar people. 

Topic: Best Practices Series – How to Fundraise!
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
Reserve your FREE webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/160177953  

Topic: Best Practices Series – How to Find Out What People Think!
Date: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PDT
Reserve your FREE webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/196641080 

New Software Releases We appreciate the positive comments on the v2.1.4 platform release on August 17^th. The new photos and dramatic Team Builder improvements received the most comments. We are very excited to let you know that we did a new “website only” release on August 30^th that included publishing the new online help for your websites, adding a new built-in search box for your websites, adding more places where the map link and driving directions are displayed and enhancing the calendar on the program standings page to include all game events and program events. Here are details:

• A Help link has been added to the navigation on all websites. The online help for your website includes most major topics such as registration, volunteering, membership, donations, my account and team pages. We’ll continue to update and improve this and appreciate any feedback you have in that regard. Our objective is to make it easier for your participants to use the great features we provide and to reduce any support you need to provide them.
• A Search box has been added to the navigation on all websites. This allows an easy search to find programs and locations. In future releases we’ll be increasing the search terms to find more results. Again our objective is to make it easier for you and your participants.
• The Map button, that also provides driving directions, has been added to a number of locations including all calendars and event listings. This adds it to the program standings calendar on the Teams navigation and to Events on the Team Pages. This will make it much easier for your participants to get to their event locations and without having to call you.
• The calendar on the Program Standings page in the Teams navigation has been enhanced to include all game events for all teams plus all program events. This information is provided without the need to login making it a quick and easy. 

We’ve had quite a bit of excellent feedback asking us to enhance a number of highly used features on the Desktop like modifying web content and newsletters and “tweak” a few things on the website like My Account and Team Pages. As we’re heading into the busy fall season and all of these features will provide immediate benefits we’ll be doing another desktop release v2.1.5 on September 15^th. Here is a list of some of the improvements: 

1. New Web Content Editor – You asked for a faster and easier way to modify website content using the Desktop and we’ve found a way to do that. A new button will be added on all website pages called “Modify Web Content”. This will bring up a new editor that’s faster and easier to use. The new editor will also be used for modifying web content in other areas like programs (using the same Modify Web Content button) and in creating content for all emails. It will also no longer be necessary to create a separate text version of emails as that will now be done automatically for you. Note that the existing website page editor will be renamed “Web Page Layout” and will still be available and used to change the layout, hide content blocks or add additional content blocks to any website page.
2. New Newsletter Functionality – The newsletter capability has been extensively enhanced. This includes using the new web content editor referred to above. Using the Desktop clients will be able to choose from several different templates or use HTML generated from other software programs like Dreamweaver or Publisher. Newsletters will be able to be saved and worked on before sending them out. A new website page will be created for newsletters that will allow them to be displayed directly from the website. Previous newsletters will be automatically listed on this website page and similarly accessible.
3. New RSS Feeds – The two existing RSS feeds allow team members to follow recent activity (typically game scores) and upcoming events for their team. These can be subscribed only by team members when they are logged in to their Team Page. You asked for a way to subscribe to RSS feeds for all teams in a program, for all teams in the organization and for a way for non-team members to be able to subscribe to both. New RSS feeds have been added at the organization level (ie, all teams in all programs) and at the program level (all teams in one program). Recent activity and upcoming events can now be subscribed to from the Teams navigation for all programs or for one program on the Program Standings page.
4. Tweaks to My Account – Clearer and consistent wording explaining how to use the features has been added throughout.
5. Tweaks to Team Pages – Clearer and consistent wording has been added throughout.

As with all releases, Rainier will be down for maintenance on Tuesday September 21st from 10-12pm PDT. Desktop users will automatically be logged off and the newest version will be automatically installed. A webinar demonstrating the new features will be held on Tuesday September 21st from 11am-12 noon PDT.  Click here to register.

New “Pay As You Go” Option All Rainier clients currently have an Annual Service Agreement that provides a number of included services (eg, 100 free transactions, waiver of the upfront credit card set-up fee, four hours of free additional support, transactions that never expire) and a volume base pricing schedule. A number of prospective clients, including several recent referrals, signed-up with alternative providers even though they were considerably more expensive and had far fewer features. This was confusing, especially to the clients who referred them, so we dug deeper and learned that many organizations just don’t like contracts and are willing to pay more for less to get that flexibility. The consistent analogy provided was contract free cell phones which is the fastest growing segment of the market.

Accordingly Rainier has introduced a new Pay As You Go option. Clients selecting this option can cancel at any time. They do not receive any free transactions, pay $100 for the upfront credit card set-up fee, do not receive any free additional support and their transactions expire after one year or if they move to an alternative provider. The biggest difference is that they pay $2 per transaction more for all Transaction Bundle purchases. This pricing is competitive and still less than our major competitors Active and Cvent who also provide significantly fewer features. Please note that pricing is unchanged for Annual Service Agreement clients. You will notice a number of wording changes on the transaction bundle purchases and prices. As this option costs more we don’t expect existing clients to choose it but that option is available. You can learn more about this new option by clicking here.

Transactions Tab and 50 Transaction Bundle Added To make it easier for clients to purchase additional transaction bundles we added a new Transactions tab to the navigation. This saves clients three clicks and a scroll. We’ve also added a new 50 Transaction Bundle priced at $4.75 per transaction or $237.50 for clients with an Annual Service Agreement.

Recommended Merchandise Consider signing up for this month’s special offer for existing clients. Selling branded merchandise is a great fundraiser! You’ll make 33.3% profit or an average of over $10 on each item sold and you don’t have to do anything! Just send us a logo and we’ll do all the rest. All items are shipped directly to the purchaser so you don’t even have to handle it.

It seems like volunteers and staff of most organizations spend more time fundraising than doing anything else. Unrelenting budget pressure to do more with less is just part of the new economic reality.

Learn tips from some of the masters. Learn how to spend less time fundraising and generate more money. Here are several of the topics we’ll discuss:
-selling merchandise
-team sponsorship
-website advertising
-donations to fund acivities for those unable to pay

This new webinar series focuses on the best practices “how to’s” that are more about process than features. Please join us for a discussion and demonstration of some best practices that we’ve learned from helping thousands of different organizations over the past 10 years. We know these can benefit your organization today.

I gave this webinar for Rainier Software on Wednesday September 8, 2010 from 11am to noon PDT. It’s recorded so you can click on the link to view it: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/160177953.

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

For all recreational programs ensuring that each team has a similar level of talent is key. Just as it’s not fun for an individual to be way better or way worse than their team mates it’s not good for a team to win or lose by big margins. Learning and fun are generally most important. That’s where building balanced teams comes in.

There are two parts to this. First, accessing the skills of the participants. This is usually done via asking questions about skills and experience, holding tryouts or using coach assessments from prior activities. The typical result is a rating of all players usually a number. Second, assigning participants to teams. This is usually done by staff or volunteers manually or automatically assigning participants or by holding a draft. In our webinar we’ll talk about each of these options and show you exactly how to do it.

This new webinar series focuses on the best practices “how to’s” that are more about process than features. Please join us for a discussion and demonstration of some best practices that we’ve learned from helping thousands of different organizations over the past 10 years. This will include a demonstration of the tools that Rainier provides including forms with unpublished questions, exporting registration data into Excel for skills assessment, importing the skills assessment data via Excel import and using Team Builder in both automatic and manual modes to build balanced teams. We know these can benefit your organization today.

I gave this webinar on August 18, 2010 and recorded it so you could view or share it with others. Click on this link https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/975998608.

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

In any environment filling up your programs or classes is important but in todays tough economy it’s essential! For most organizations a lot of costs are fixed so a 20% difference imakes a huge financial change.

A starting point is to set your expectations in terms of attendance and track where you are. That allows you to take corrective actions. What you really want to know is: what do I do if my numbers are coming in low? There are a number of tried and true ways to increase participation either by contacting more people or making it easier for interested people to find you.

Some of the practical tips to maximize your registrations include:

-setting expected attendance levels and monitoring your registration dashboard
-importing email addresses of prior registrants, members or attendees and sending them invitations to participate
-sending out a regular newsletter, usually monthly, to stay in touch
-using Tell-a-Friend to get a viral 20% increase in participation
-including SEO and relevant content on your website and registration pages
-using SEM to purchase website visitors
-using website analytics to see where you need improvement
-using Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in to generate followers
-if you are a Rainier client, leveraging the numerous free features included in the Rainier Community to get a 20% increase in participation.

Most of these activities take a modest amount of time and little money but have been consistently shown to increase overall registrations by 40-50%. Rainier includes or supports most of these features for no extra charge.

I gave this webinar on July 7, 2010 and recorded it so you can replay or share it with others. Here is the link https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/583419736. Please post your comments!

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

Game and practice scheduling is a difficult job. Get it right and someone else might volunteer to do it next year. Get it wrong and 237 unhappy people will call, text, email and facebook you. As the scheduler you know that mother nature is not your friend so when she decides to rain out your weekend you need tools to help. Scheduling is also getting more complicated with many sports competing for limited fields so maximizing the use of every available slot is key. And fields get more expensive every year so only renting what you need is super important.

There are many ways that Rainier helps schedulers. First, we have a Schedule Builder that allows you to quickly and easily schedule practices, games and other events. Set the season, the number of games per week you want to play, the order of your preferred fields and push a button. You can keep tweaking the settings iuntil you get what you need. Second, you can import schedules using Excel. For inter-club play this is the typical way schedules are received. And of course it’s easy for you to export your own schedules to others using Excel. Both ways will ensure fields and coaches are not double booked. Third, we provide a number of tools such as field use reports, drag and drop rescheduling including notification and settings to conduct more than one practice on the same field.

Once schedules are completed one mouse click sends them out to all coaches and players and another publishes them to the appropriate Team Pages. Schedules can be reprinted from the Team Pages so you don’t have to resend them constantly. And the schedules include maps with driving directions.

I gave this webinar on June 9, 2010 and recorded it so you can replay and share it with others. Here is the link to the recording https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/213833553. Please post your comments!

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

Being a coach or team parent is hard work! Managing your teams practices, games, snack schedules, supplies, volunteers and players is a daunting task. And parents are really understanding when something goes wrong. Some weeks just making sure enough players show up at the right field to play is a herculean accomplishment.

It takes a tremendous amount of time that stresses even the most understanding spouse. Well it doesn’t have to be that way! Rainier Team Pages are great as they do most of the administrative and communications work for you. That frees you up to actually spend time coaching! Team Pages are another first, best or only (“FBO”) feature or service from Rainier.

Team Pages include the following features:
-reprintable rosters (including ability to email individual or all)
-reprintable schedules (including maps and driving directions)
-a team message board
-a listing of all the coaches, etc.for all the other teams (with contact info)
-team photo and video upload and display
-team document upload and reprinting (eg, snack schedule)
-team scoreboard

There are also automatic Team Page notifications that are sent out each week to all your team members (volunteers, players and parents). These include any games, practices or other events scheduled for the upcoming week. They include locations with maps and driving directions available.

So instead of answering 20 calls and emails each day, printing rosters and schedules for re-distribution each week your team can do it all themselves. And then your spouse will stop cheering the other team on to win the end-of-season tournament – so you’ll be DONE and can come home!

I gave this webinar on June 23, 2010 and recorded it so you can replay or share it with others. Here is the link
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/117968056 

Please post your comments so we can improve the team pages.

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)

Building teams has always been a challenging undertaking. It’s great news that 822 people signed up for fall ball but now you need to get them all on teams with coaches and sponsors. How many times have you had to juggle rosters after a parent volunteer got assigned to a different team than their child? Or explain why only three teams had sponsors and nine didn’t? The solution to these problems is Rainier’s amazing team builder! Team Builder is another first, best or only (“FBO”) feature or service from Rainier. Team Builder includes registrant, volunteer and sponsorship data. You need to be able to you to easily build teams using any criteria you want including tryout data or draft results. There is also an auto build option. One option allows friends to request another friend which is automatically tracked making it easy to satisfy. Volunteer assignment also occurs in the Team Builder with parents automatically linked to children. Ditto for team sponsorship. Once rosters are completed one mouse click publishes the Team Pages and another sends all the rosters out by email.

I recorded this webinar on May 12, 2010 so you can replay and share it with others. It’s about 45 minutes plus 15 minutes of great questions. Please go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/135153640. Based on the feedback we’re added a number of new features to our August 17, 2010 software release.

Your thoughts and feedback are much appreciated so please post comments!

Terry Drayton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrydrayton)