Testimonials For the Andwa Calendar/Member System

Calgary Outdoor Club Members

What members are saying about the Calgary Outdoor Club web site. Please note that the Communications Manager for that club, Lana Tanney, is the one receiving these testimonials so if you have any questions about their validity or would like to follow up on them for any other reason, feel free to contact her at info@calgaryoutdoorclub.com.

• The web site is excellent for ease of sign up, as well as for the notices indicating you have been moved from the waiting list and for updates on event changes.
  
  
• I wish my office intranet was as functional.
  
  
• The website is by far the most functional and informative one I have seen for similar clubs. I like the menu layout and it is very easy to navigate around in...great job!!
  
  
• The first and most impressive thing I noticed with the club was the website. It is about the most efficient, useful site I've seen.
  
  
• I liked the fact that all the information (meeting spot, coordinator's name, other participants) was given on the web-site / available when I signed up, so that I did not have to phone anybody or chase anybody down to register for the event.
  
  
• The web site is outstanding - It is so easy to plan trips and also to have the possibility to cancel on-line if something is coming up.
  
  
• I especially like the email notifications of new events.
  
  
• I want to mention how impressive the website and email announcements are. The e organization is one of the best I've seen. Even the follow up - such as this email from you - are extraordinary.
  
  
• The website is one of the best I've ever come across for any organization (or company) - it's extremely user friendly and tells you everything you could possibly want to know.

Volunteers/Team Members

What the volunteers/team members have to say about the web site. Note that many of these people have provided contact information, but we do not want to put that on a public web site so please contact us if you would like to follow up with any of these people directly for clarification or more information.

• The Elbow Valley Cycle Club implemented Andwa’s web-based management system in early 2008, to provide the backbone for our membership and events management. Responses from our members have been overwhelmingly positive. Trip coordinators love being able to post events close to the day when they can be confident of fine weather, and they appreciate the ease of how the online system works. Rhonda Scheurer provides excellent customer service to us. I am consistently surprised and impressed by the speediness of her response to our questions and our requests for modifications. Rhonda always looks for new and better ways to do things, so I know our system is in good hands and will be continually enhanced in the years to come.
  Ursula Wohlfarth, President
  Elbow Valley Cycle Club, Calgary, Canada
  
  
• New and existing members are constantly telling me how much they love the Calgary Outdoor Club website. It is easy to use and navigate without training. At a glance, people can quickly see what events are happening and when. When they click on an event, they then get the more detailed information such as carpool location, event duration, required equipment, and can even see who else is attending (if logged in). The success of the site can be seen in its usage! The number of events posted on the calendar by the volunteers again speaks to the website's ease of use: approximately 150 events are posted on the calendar per month with an average 250 new members signing up per month.
  Karen Herrington, President, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• I have been a volunteer with the Toronto Outdoor Club for nearly two years and in that time have seen the member base grow from 20 to well over 1200. The TOC web-site is one of the main reasons for our success - easy to use, pertinent information right up front, features galore. The fact that our club's webmaster can add custom features that are relevant to our club only adds to the benefits of using Andwa Consulting's code-base. We would not be here today did we not have the use of this fabulous information management tool.
  Alison Munro, Web Analyst and Operations Team Lead, Toronto Outdoor Club
  
  
• As the Vice President of the Atlanta Outdoor Club and also a web programmer myself, I was faced with the daunting task last year of trying to add features and functionality to the software as Rhonda left it years ago when she left us for Calgary (and to start the COC). Fortunately, we were able to convince her to upgrade our old version with what she was using in the COC. WOW. What a difference. It's made the workload of every volunteer so much easier. You can tell she's put a lot of thought and work into it. And the best part? Now I don't have to spends months trying to do it myself. :-)
  Tom Collins, Vice President, Atlanta Outdoor Club
  
  
• The Calgary Culture Club website is the most user-friendly I have ever encountered. From the first time I logged on as a new member, to using the site to set up events as an Event Coordinator, to using all of its bells and whistles as Vice-President and Volunteer Coordinator, this site makes posting and managing events and people easy and fun. The CCC would not be the thriving club it is today if not for its fantastic website. I am proud to be associated with it.
  Jorinda Rankin, Vice President and Volunteer Coordinator, Calgary Culture Club
  
  
• I just very much respect what you have built here and the many, many hours and deep thought you have put into this. I have created many websites in my time, some serious industrial sites, etc and can truly appreciate how you have everything so well thought out and so well laid out. Further, your use of VBScript to enhance the re-usability of your code is admirable. You have gone about as far as I've ever seen with making the site object-oriented in nature, using a language that barely supports that. I'm very glad that I recommended you to the EVCC.
  Andre Goulet, Webmaster, Elbow Valley Cycle Club
  
  
• As a volunteer event organizer I have gradually come to take for granted the smooth and thorough workings of the COC and CCC websites; this is because the site works so well I never think about it. I have worked for General Motors for over 30 years and would very favorably compare the COC and CCC website software with any of the other commercial software packages I have used over those years. I am regularly in silent praise of the software when I receive the automated reminders both as an organizer and as a participant for upcoming events, as well as when I receive automated notifications for follow up tasks following events. Anyone would appreciate what a gift this automated reminder/follow up notification feature can make to one's task list and most would consider it indispensable. The reminders are a great time saving mechanism and ensure the right actions are taken on time for efficient executions. I also love that I save time because I can click to download events to my Microsoft Outlook calendar.
  Marc Rachiele, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club and Calgary Culture Club
  
  
• Many of the events I lead are weather dependent. In the past, I would update a standard form, email the form to an individual with some web familiarity, they would post the new event and then I'd review it yet again. All of the abovementioned steps have been eliminated with our newly upgraded web site. Andwa's web site is user friendly for everyone. Event leaders have options to post events instantly, delay enrollment and even keep an event in draft mode as you gather more information. It is a breeze for members and non-members to sign-up for events too. You will not find a quicker turnaround for web site modification requests. Andwa Consulting has made modifications within a day and often the same hour!
  Patrick Barry, Event Coordinator, Atlanta Outdoor Club
  
  
• The COC website is by far the best one I have ever seen and used for a sports club. It is exceptionally practical and user friendly. As a coordinator, I really like how I have the flexibility to post an event long in advance or at the last minute. The coordinator bios are very informative and it is great to be able to see what our friends are signed up for.
  Martine Parent, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• The first striking thing when you access the Calgary Outdoor Club (COC) website is its clarity thanks to its great layout. It is welcoming.... The options on the left hand-side act as guides while the calendar provides all the members and volunteers with a quick overview of the events. It only takes a few seconds to glean through it prior to selecting the event you are interested in. All the information you need including the contact details are only a click away. From a volunteer's perspective, I particularly appreciate how easy it is to send e-mails to those confirmed on an event or those on the waiting list. It is simply efficient and time saving. After each event, it is great to have the opportunity to do a write-up and share photos with other members. Once again, everything has been thought of to make it user friendly for the volunteers. I have volunteered for another hiking organization in Ontario in the past and while I always enjoy helping out on events, as volunteers we were not provided with such tools. Finally, it is worth mentioning that during the events I coordinate, members including new ones praise the website on regular basis and the club in general which is encouraging. The COC truly makes a difference in every possible way.
  Veronique Le Saux, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• As a volunteer coordinator, I appreciate the following about the website: how easy it is to plan an event, in particular to see who's signed up and adjust accordingly ahead of time. It's also great to be able to plan something relatively last minute (no need to commit to a weekend three months in advance).As a participant, it's a great way to see what's available, again without having to commit to something far ahead of time.
  Karen Gray, Vice President, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• I'm a volunteer coordinator and from the very beginning I loved the web site. I'm not a "computer person" and need everything to be user friendly. The site provides alot of information/links that is available at ones finger tips. I continually hear nothing but good things about the site from new members who have joined.It's really great to be able to coordinate an event and post it right away. Members get the opportunity to sign up, and if the event is full then they can go on the wait list. Once they move from the wait to list to the events list they are notified. For about 1 year I didn't own a computer and had to continually go to the library and post events, it was alot of work, however because the site was so "user friendly" I was able to post events and reply to member queries within the allotted time that the library gave us to be on the Internet. To be honest there isn't anything else that I could even think of too improve the site. Rhonda has done an excellent job with the site. I think that it's great that people who come upon the site by"googling" can perhaps be inspired to participate in outdoor activities with us, even if they've never done outdoor activities. It I think also inspires alot of people in Calgary who have no family or friends that they don't have to stay home alone anymore, they can join other people in activites.
  Sylvia Angelini, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• As a long-time member and Event Coordinator with the Atlanta Outdoor Club I have found the website provided by Andwa to be great improvement over our previous website. It's features are numerous and much appreciated by both members and club management. Many functions that were handled offline before such as wait lists and event payment, are now handled on the website. The many levels of access available allow club management to split up duties while maintaining adequate security. After using the site for seven months I can't imagine ever going back.
  Steven Koonce, Volunteer Coordinator, Atlanta Outdoor Club
  
  
• This website makes it so easy to plan events. Once you put in the details it does almost all of the work for you. It lets you know when people register or drop out, it creates a waitlist, it sends you reminders of the event, it sends out reminders to the attendees and it tracks payments. Viewing the information on a calendar is also extremely useful as you immediately see which day of the week the event is on and how far away it is.Having everything online is also great because you know everyone receives the same information. It also gives the organizers much more freedom to do other work as they are not answering phone calls or processing paper requests. Most communication is done by e-mail and organizers can decide when it's a good time for them to answer requests.
  Stephanie Billenko, President, Edmonton Outdoor Club
  
  
• As a volunteer, I would like to say that I have found the COC website to be a fast and easy website to post trips on. Comparing the COC website to other ways I have run outdoor events with other clubs, It is far easier to organize events with the ability to copy previous events and to look up members past trips to see if they have the experience to make my event fun and safe. Due to weather and other elements, I like to organize events close to the trip time and the COC website makes this easy to post to the calender and it sends out notices automatically which allows members to sign up easily,
  Philip Walters, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• To get an event posted, it's so easy to use that it promotes having events. I don't have to dread posting an event. It's easy to organize with tools like carpool lists, automatic emails, waiting list management, etc. It takes a lot of the headache out of being a volunteer event organizer and gets things done.
  Melissa Tan, Event Coordinator, Toronto Outdoor Club
  
  
• The COC website allows me to post my events with a few days notice. This works well because I can post events as my time is freed up and I can also take the weather into account. <MY PREVIOUS CLUB> used the phone as a method of communication which was very time consuming. I would have to tell people the carpool time, location and event meeting place and in a lot of cases play phone tag. The use of the Internet and e-mail with COC allows me to easily communicate all details with little or no follow up. <MY PREVIOUS CLUB> didn't have any archived records of past events. Setting up events with COC is easily done with old events that are in the database, it just takes a few moments to copy it and change the dates. New events take a bit of research up front but after it is completed it is easy to create and datafill the event using the COC website.
  Marty Stanvick, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club
  
  
• I have been a volunteer trip organizer with the Toronto Outdoor Club for close to two years. I found the web site easy to learn and use, so that trip planning was very easy compared to other clubs in which I have done the same thing. The web site facilitates easy trip set up, participant communications and management, and post trip wrap up. The Toronto Outdoor Club is fabulous. It is so for two reasons great people and a great Web site!
  David Block, Event Coordinator, Toronto Outdoor Club
  
  
• I've been a volunteer coordinator in various capacities for over 20 years, since my children were young. One of the biggest deterrents to getting people to volunteer is the concern over time required on the phone. The COC/CCC website makes it quick and easy for volunteers to set up and manage their events and activities. Previous to becoming a COC volunteer I had little experience using a website. The way the COC/CCC is set up makes it easy for volunteers to learn and use. Through my involvement in the COC as a volunteer, I appreciate the opportunity to post more of the types of activities that I prefer, at the times that are best for me, and find others who share similar interests at those times. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn and develop skills, and my experience has boosted my confidence in using a website which would have otherwise been intimidating to me.
  Margaret Meisner, Event Coordinator, Calgary Outdoor Club and Calgary Culture Club
  
  
• The Andwa system has significantly reduced the cost of volunteering for the Waskahegan Trail Association. Through a centralized list of our events, members and the public have only one place to go look to see what will and has happened. The archive function and integration to a photoshare site allows members, the board and the public to experience our hikes - even if they did not attend. The user interface is generally simple to use for the 'facebook generation' although its uptake from the older generation of members was slower than expected. In addition, the membership database has greatly improved the management of our members. As a result, for the first time, we have a clear picture of who is a current member. Rhonda is simply amazing and is always enthusiastically willing to help out. Often her suggestions to problems are the most elegant and low cost for the organization.
  Frank Potter, Webmaster 2009-2012, Waskahegan Trail Association
  
  
• Andwa has helped our club successfully move our processes into the 21st century. Prior to that, we just called one another to organize outings – sounds so primitive now! Rhonda Scheurer is an intelligent resource of all things related to the Andwa product, and on top of that she is incredibly responsive, replying to emails often in the same day - unless of course, she is on an outing herself. Our club started out with an Access database, and because of our internal needs, we recently switched to a SQL Server platform. Once again, Andwa provided excellent customer service with this transition and worked with us on trimming the scope so that we could complete it within our budget constraints. Expecting start-up issues after the switchover, I was pleased to see there were none because of Rhonda’s diligence in meeting the expectations we outlined on the front end. Because of our positive experience with Andwa, I look forward to a continued partnership as we work to improve the services to our members.
  Stephen B. Smith, Website Committee Chairman Glacier Mountaineering Society
  
  
• Compared to our old system, members feel that the Andwa system is more fair and much more accessible and it has introduced a great deal of flexibility, organization and structure into our trip/event posting and accessibility. Rhonda has been very, very good about responding to requests and much of the website is very accessible/malleable so customizations generally have a quick turn-around. I do know how we managed without it, and what we used to be was extremely primitive and onerous in comparison. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions.
  David Roe, Webmaster Alpine Club of Canada, Calgary Section
  
  
• I have been a guest and a coordinator on the Edmonton Culture Club for about a year now and also the Photo Historian for the Edmonton outdoor club for 4 years. I am continually amazed by the ease of use of the Andwa designed sites. I keep wishing that the sites that I frequent for my business practices would be as simple yet in-depth as the ECC or EOC sites. I am most pleased with the at-a-glance menu along the side as opposed to the Microsoft typical drop down menus along the top that are cumbersome and time consuming to peruse through to find what you need. The simple menu headings make it so easy to find what you want to do. The Calendar links are equally simple and effective. Being a coordinator means that you delve more into the depths of the website more than the average user, even so, it is logical and easy to use. I relate it to an onion with a simple outer skin but each layer you delve into it means that the info it processes and organizes keep you from getting frustrated and confused as so often happens with other software. I often teach our business software to customers and clients and I wish that it was more intuitive and user friendly like the Andwa sites.
  Larry Leitch, Coordinator Edmonton Culture Club. Coordinator and Photo-Historian Edmonton Outdoor Club.
  
  
• I have been using the Andwa designed site for the Edmonton Outdoor Club since spring 2009 as a member of the club, and since summer 2010 as an event organizer. I have also been using the website for the Edmonton Culture Club since spring 2011 - both as a member and event organizer. Both websites are a great resource to members and organizers alike. From the members point of view, the homepage has all the upcoming events shown in a calendar form, making it easy to plan ahead. Registration for events is straightforward, as is accessing information about the event itself. It is also easy to manage your registration, for example if you need to withdraw from an event. For organizers, the website does a lot of the "hard work" for you - it enables members to sign up for events easily, and manage their own bookings. The setting up of new events is quite intuitive, and even more easy if you just wish to copy a previous event! It is also very easy to carry out tasks such as contacting all signed-up members before events, as well as doing the "post event admin". I have organized a lot of events with the EOC / ECC, and a number of attendees have specifically mentioned how user-friendly the website is from their point of view. Very few members seem to have any difficulty with the website, and all it takes is a little bit of "walking through" the process with them, and they are good to go!
  Ian Murdoch, Coordinator Edmonton Culture Club. Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator Edmonton Outdoor Club
  
  
• Andwa is fun to use and has also stimulated my interest in HTML use.
  Geoff Chiddell, Photo Historian, Calgary Outdoor Club.
  
  
• Every time I meet any of our member, at a meeting, a hike, or at one of our all too rare social functions, I get accolades for the website. One thing that members often comment on is the speed. I tell them that's actually a benefit of the 'old' technology of ASP, because we don't have a lot of graphics going on. This translates into low impact on their data-packs, for our browser members on mobile devices. As webmaster, I like having the ability to customize the web site. I have added several features for my club which benefit our members and volunteers, and reduce the amount of time I spend answering questions. I have tweaked the pages in many places, but overall we bought a very good software package, which is the main cause of my success.
  Fritz Kiessling, Webmaster, Calgary Weekend Hikers.