Member Register, for every member (past, present and prospective), containing their contact details, section, riser position, chorus particulars, important dates (joining, passing audition, etc), a photograph, and so on.
- Member details are thus stored in one central location, rather than various dispersed copies of Excel spreadsheets, etc.
- Members update their own details! If a member moves house, or changes their voice part/quartet/etc, they can update their own details on the website, saving time for the chorus secretary and the membership team.
- This member register is fully searchable. For example, it is possible to “search for all current members who sing Bass, who are in the front row and not in a quartet”, or any other combination of criteria.
- With a single click an email can be addressed to all the members in the search results, or to the entire chorus.
- The full member database may be printed, or exported to Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Excel (or any other database program) by any member at any time.
- The member register is used to automatically create the “Office Holders” page – a page containing the list of members who have an official position within the chorus, complete with contact information (where appropriate) and photographs. As soon as the member register is updated, the Who’s Who page automatically reflects this change.
Learning Songs – a database of every song the chorus sings, containing:
- MP3 and/or MIDI files for each voice part
- Sheet music (in PDF and other formats, such as NoteWorthy or Finale)
- The key they’re written and sung in
- Sample recordings of the chorus singing that song (for public access)
- Song notes for each part.
- The list of songs can be separated into Polecats and Chorus songs.
Event Calendar, containing rehearsal dates, performances, competitions, workshops, Executive meetings, social events, public holidays, etc.
- The birthdays of all chorus members can also be displayed on the calendar (assuming this information is in the member register).
- Event items can include attachments and links to other websites.
- The calendar can display different sets of events depending upon who’s viewing it (members or the general public).
- The events can be presented in calendar format or list format.
- The list of events may be printed, or exported to Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Excel (or any other database program) by any member at any time.
- A synopsis of upcoming events can be displayed on the main home page.
- Every time an event is added or updated, an email can be automatically sent to every chorus member informing them of the change.
Bulletin Board – this is where any member (if you choose) can post informative messages about things the chorus as a whole (or the general public) needs to know.
- Messages can include attachments and links to other websites.
- The Bulletin Board can display different sets of messages depending upon who’s viewing it (members or the general public).
- A synopsis of recent messages can be displayed on the main home page.
- Every time an message is added or updated, an email can be automatically sent to every chorus member informing them of the change.
Guestbook – Visitors to the website can add their comments for all to see.
Suggestion Box – Chorus members can make suggestions to the Executive/Music Team, which are displayed in the members-only area of the website, along with the response from the appropriate person.
Quartet database – Allows a page to exist on the website that contains all the quartets in the chorus, each with photographs, promotional text, links to sample recordings and external websites.
An Attendance Register – Records can be kept on the website of the attendance of every chorus member at every event (rehearsal, performance, workshop, etc).
- Any member can view graphs on the website showing which events were the best attended, and which members had the most consistent attendance over all events.
- An attendance sheet, showing the names of all current members, to be ticked off at every event, can be automatically printed from the website
- If a member knows they will be absent from a rehearsal, they can visit the website ahead of time and mark their absence on the attendance register, so the rest of the chorus knows they will be absent.
A public (and/or members-only) Photo Album, where collections of photos can be displayed, in “thumbnail” and full-sized format.
A database of Links to other websites: Other choruses, associations, quartets, arrangers, and any other relevant websites.
Minutes of all committee meetings, accessible to all members
Merchandise the chorus is marketing (CDs, clothes, etc), complete with photographs.
The current Sponsors of the chorus, complete with logos and promotional text.
- You can offer your potential sponsors advertising space on your home page, and their own page on the site.
Finally, the text on any page on the site can be updated by anyone with appropriate privileges.
Important Points to Note
- Every chorus member has their own username and password for logging in to the Members-Only area.
- Each login is assigned certain privileges, such as:
- Prospective Member (restricted access to the Members-Only area)
- Full Member
- Administrator (of certain components of the system)
- Webmaster (someone who can access everything)
- It is possible, of course, to have certain members (such as the President or Music Director) have permission to modify anything on the site.
- Having individual usernames and passwords makes members much less inclined to share their Members-Only access details with their friends and family.
