Sometimes prospective web site development clients ask us: How do we train our clients to use Wild Apricot?
After their custom site is designed and released, we now go through this process:
We set up at least two training sessions with the client. These are not “in house” training events, but live online training events and can include as many people as our client feels needs to be included. We use GoToMeeting for this online training. Our sessions include at least the following:
- A session on web site, event and email content administration
- A session on membership management and finance administration
There could be more as it is customized for how the client plans to use Wild Apricot.
We record these sessions using GoToMeeting and provide our client with a link through their website, visible only to those that our client has identified as being appropriate to review for future reference. We also provide an initial “cheat sheet” of links to the Wild Apricot user guide based on specific areas that we think will be handy for our client. The Wild Apricot training guide is very useful, but is also very extensive, so the quick links reference is created with a focus on the client’s needs and can be updated by our client in the future as Wild Apricot makes changes to both the software and the user guide.
All of our design/redesign agreements cover a period of one year from start to finish of the work. This allows us to remain in the loop to help our clients as they learn new software in managing their site. It is very rare for a site release to be perfect for the purposes of the client for a year going forward… there are always tweaks and alterations. This keeps us as part of that process for the client.