Paul Spencer
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 1088
Location: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
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 Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 9:02 am Post subject: IT Column October 2016 - Members Directory |
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How often do you need to contact fellow members of the club? And how often can't you find their contact details in the printed members list? Although the current issue of Members and Their Bentleys has only been out for a year, already we have 430 members who have joined since it was published. That is over 11% of our membership. With the three year printing cycle, it is likely that, at some point, over a quarter of our membership will not be listed.
This is where the club web site can help. Once you are logged in, simply go to the "Members Directory" page. Once here, you can type a name, a chassis number, registration number or location and find members. In all cases, you can just type part of the information. The image shows the result of searching for "spe". Not only does this find me, but five other members with "spe" in their name. From here, you can send the member a message (it will appear on their Noticeboard) or view their profile. The profile gives similar information to that in the printed membership list, but also allows you to click on the email address to open your own email program. At the moment, this is probably better than using Noticeboard for members that have email as they have to actively look at Noticeboard to see your message. We are going to change things so that people get email notification of Noticeboard messages.
The great thing about this is that the web site has a secure link directly to the club database, so the information is always up to date. The only members you will not find are those who have chosen not to make their contact information available.
As well as doing this on a PC, you can use a Smartphone or laptop. Mid-West members have probably seen me in the car park at events entering registration numbers of cars to remind me of their owners' names. None of us is getting any younger! |
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