Communications Committee

ANNUAL COMMITTEE REPORT 2022

January 2022

Submitted By Joseph K Tew P.L.S. Chair

Members: Jeanette Harley, Robert O’Neill, Francis Thousand, Jeff Austin, Eric Hague, Jerry Mahun, 

Introduction and annual report information

The communications committee chair would like to recognize and thank the members of the committee

for their time and efforts this year with the work on the website update .

Existing budget: $14,000 this year (decreased to $6,500 for 2022 budget year)

Current expenses:

2021 expenses

Wild apricot hosting website $1,728

Joy of membership, development vendor $2,625

Google Drive $259.20

Formsite Forms $399.95

Cloudflaire $240

Total $5,252.15

Anticipated 2022 expenses

Wild apricot hosting website $2,052

Joy of membership, development vendor $1,500

Google Drive $259.20

Formsite Forms $399.95

Cloudflaire $240

Total $4,451.15

Notes:

Wild apricot hosting website Includes up to 2,000 contacts - currently 1,400 contacts

Domain name hosting with ENOM Inc hosts the WSLS.org domain

Joy of membership is the vendor and includes retainer and hours for technical support and projects

Cloudflaire provides security and protection for the domain address

When using credit transactions through the site a 2.9% is added to transactions and will be noted in the treasurer's report

Membership and usage

Membership to the WSLS is now managed through the website, including application, payment. preferences, and invoicing and tracking.

Review of the website user breakdown (only includes those that registered on the website) is as follows

for the site current as of Jan 2022:

Finances and store information

The website was utilized this year to collect membership fees, track membership renewals, new members, events and store orders. The following contains the breakdowns reports:

Total invoicing and payments revenue (Jan 1 2021 - Dec 31 2021)

Website Shop

Many items have been added to the online store. There were two items of note that were added: the Bernsten monuments and some local chapter memberships. You can request and have your local membership chapter added to the store online and membership can then be paid for with credit or invoiced. Currently Madison, Northern Lakes, SOSEWLS, Central, and Northeast Chapters have their dues available to pay online.

Employment and classified ads

Anyone may contact the website admins to post the employment and classified ads with no charge. They are typically up within a few days.

● The website was utilized this year posted 46 ads for employment between June and December

● There were 4 ads for equipment posted this year

Events

The northeastern chapter held an event through the website that was hosted and let users pay through the website store for the event. Contact a website admin or Frank Thousand to request an event be added to the website.

Existing committee items

1. Website, store, and users are managed by WSLS admins, Joe Tew, Jeff Austin, Frank Thousand.

Content updates are provided by membership and posted directly by article managers that are committee chairs and directors or added by admins by request.

2. The committee will meet this year to review the website and and prepare a memo to the board reviewing the website initiative and what was learned and incorporated into the development of the site

3. Continuing moderation of users permission, forums, and content will be completed on a weekly and monthly basis by the website admins and partial admins for chapters and committees.

4. The Society’s Social Media platforms are moderated by Joe Tew for Facebook and LinkedIn. Please consider sharing more media as individuals to these platforms.

Future items

1. The Communications Committee shall review the needs of the digital future along with guidance from the Strategic Planning Committee on new directions or requirements for

modifications to its charges.

2. The Communications Committee will review with the Outreach Committee for posting content and working on public engagement and new surveyor recruitment with digital footprints.

3. The Communications Committee will renew its focus on social media platforms in context with the strategic plan and increasing membership and interest in survey.

Please consider becoming an active participant on the Communication Committee. You will help create the digital footprints for future surveyors to follow.

My digital door is always open - please email me for any questions, comments, requests or feedback.

Respectfully Submitted on January 17, 2022

Joseph K. Tew

(262) 365-4636

tewjoe@gmail.com

334 Lemira Ave

Waukesha WI 53188

Charges

• This committee is responsible for maintaining the WSLS website.
• This committee provides access to chapters, committees, and special members so that those members have the ability to post information regarding their respective groups and/or intentions.
•  This committee makes recommendations to the WSLS Board on future needs regarding major changes in content, website design, layout, etc.
• This committee provides training available in a “members only” area of the website that has instructions to those that have access to post items to the website and updates this information when needed
•  In 2021, this Committee will complete the migration to the new “Wild Apricot” platform.

Chair

Joseph Tew PLS

262-365-4636

tewjoe@gmail.com