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

At the last count, there were 6 groups with vacancies with more than 2 people waiting – one of these had someone who had been waiting since September.

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 that there are vacancies, 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. 

You can alter the maximum number allowed in your group on Beacon to change the number waiting.

This is attached.  You will see that the format has changed.  Each day is split into two cells which have different colours.  This is to show which groups ae assigned to which of our two Zoom accounts to make it easier to check for free slots – it should not concern you unless you want to change the time or day of your group meetings, and need to check when there are free slots, or do not currently use an IGO Zoom account and want to see when you could have a slot.

Note that I compile the calendar “by hand” from the Zoom accounts so it may not always be accurate. If you notice any errors, please let me know. The calendar can also change from day to day as new groups start up or groups change their slots.

There is a new section here called  IGO Zoom accounts which has all the information you need to book and run Zoom meetings using the IGO account.

From time to time, we get emails from people who are having problems accessing Beacon.  A common reason for this is not using the right link or inputting the wrong information in the link. Sometimes, group leaders get confused between the two different methods of accessing Beacon.

If you want to join or leave a group, or see the calendar for the groups you are in, you use the Members Portal which looks like this:

If you are in a local u3a, the link to its Members Portal has a different URL but will look just like this apart from the name.

If you want to access Beacon to manage your group, you use this link and get this:

Your username is not your email address, but is allocated when you were given Beacon admin access. Your password is not necessarily the same as your Members Portal password, but may be as you have set both of them.  If you manage a group in another u3a which uses Beacon, you use the same link but will need to make sure you choose Interest Groups Online in the drop-down, not your local u3a name.

The Beacon calendar for September is attached – this is produced by Beacon on the Members Portal.

Some group leaders add meeting information to the calendar using the Schedule option on group leaders Beacon.  Many others do not, so I have started updating these to the end of March next year, as it is useful for members to able to use the calendar to see the dates of their group meetings.  I will continue to add them but it takes time.

Members of the IGO team have recently received emails from group leaders which have been aggressive, bordering on offensive.  Invariably things go wrong, whether down to system problems or human error, but we are all doing our best to keep things running smoothly - being metaphorically shouted at does not help!  So please treat everyone with courtesy, respect and kindness.

Previous versions of the GL bulletin can be found here.

From Catherine, on behalf of the IGO team

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• Beacon calendar for September 2024;
• IGO Zoom generic calendar.