Publishing your group’s content on the internet

Group leaders may like to post information from group meetings on the internet.  Tomy and I have found two sites that you might want to try out for this.  They are both free and we are happy that they satisfy data protection rules.

Padlet allows you free postings for up to three groups.  It is straightforward to use.  You will need to create an account. You can then upload documents, pictures and add comments, up to 20 MB in size. Members can be sent a link which allows them to view the content without having to sign up.  You can also invite them to join and give them permission to add content themselves.

Proboards allow free forum and free message board hosting. Similarly to Padlet, the membership is by invitation only. You will need to create a free account, create your forum and then invite members of your group. Its functionality is similar to that of Padlet but more complicated and sophisticated. Maximum file size to upload is 1 MB.

Even though the sites are not normally visible to the public, you must ensure that the content is not subject to any copyright restrictions.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or would like a demo.

If you use an IGO account, and you send me an email with a query about the booking, it would be very helpful if you could include the name of the group, and the day(s) and time of the meetings - e.g. 1st and 3rd Monday at 3pm.

Thanks.

It is possible for a group leader to send an email to all group leaders from Beacon, but there is no reason why a group leader should need to do this and we have asked for this to be removed from Beacon. One group leader did this recently this by accident, and caused some concern and confusion about what was happening.  So please avoid using the facility while it is still in place.  If there is something you would like to share with other group leaders, you can bring it up at the group leaders’ meeting or join the “Group Leaders Informal Meet” –  you join this from the Members Portal, not the Group Leader Beacon.

At the last count, there were only two groups with more than two people waiting where there were vacancies – one of these had someone who had been waiting since September.  So a big thank you to you all for nearly eradicating this problem.

A reminder that when someone joins a group on Beacon, they are not automatically admitted to the group even when the group has vacancies.  You will get an email telling you they have joined, and you should admit them to the group on Beacon, and send them a welcome email.  New members, in particular, get anxious if they do not hear anything soon after they join.  I do point out to them that group leaders are volunteers.

If you need help in using Beacon as a group leader, you should join the  “Beacon Familiarisation” group – you will need to do this from the Members Portal.  Jim will then set up a Zoom meeting with you.

The Beacon group meeting calendar for May and the generic IGO Zoom calendar are attached.

You may notice that the Beacon calendar is a lot shorter than previous ones.  At the start of the year, I added calendar entries up to the end of June for all the groups where the group leader had not entered them.  If you would like me to do this again up to December, please let me know.  Alternatively, you can do it yourself - it is straightforward – instructions here.

The IGO Zoom calendar shows the times when Zoom meetings are booked on one or other of our Zoom accounts – please check this if you use an IGO Zoom account and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if there are any errors.  Note that all the meetings are labelled INT or LRN – this indicates which account is used for that group, and is there only for my convenience.

You can also use this to check if there are spaces if you want to change the day and/or time of your meeting or change to an IGO account.

This section of the website is intended to cover all aspects of how IGO works.  If there is something you think should be discussed there, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

It was proposed at the Group Leaders get together, that inexperienced new group leaders could be supported by a “buddy”.  We did not have any volunteers for this, but will pick it up if anyone comes forward.

Previous versions of the GL bulletin can be found here.

As always, a big thank you to all group leaders, new and old, for running our IGO groups – we would not exist without you.

From Catherine, on behalf of the IGO team, iThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Attachments

• beacon calendar.pdf
• IGO Zoom generic calendar.pdf