Harnessing the Robocall

2008-11-04T14:55:00.007-05:00

OK, it's election day and I know everyone is as fed up as I am with political "robocalls." But you can harness this communications technology for your church. It's surprisingly easy and very inexpensive.

What has come to be known as the "robocall" is a technology that has been around since the early 1990's, but which has really come to the communications forefront in the last few years. I first awoke to this reality when our county school system began using automated, recorded calls to announce school closings, and my physician began using it to send out appointment reminders. As the fall election cycle heated up, more and more candidates began using the robocall to get their message out (Some of those calls were frankly offensive, but I encourage you to separate the technology from the message for the purposes of this reflection). The reason it has become so popular is that it is fast, efficient, reliable, and inexpensive.

The purpose of a robocall is to pass along some bit of important informtion to a targeted group of people. The technology is essentially the reverse of a basic telephone answering machine. You record a message, which then goes out to a list of persons via telephone. It's that simple.

There are two options for making use of this technology: Hardware-based and Service-based. Hardware based systems (e.g. "Phonetree") require the purchase or lease of a small device that connects to your computer and your telephone system. Messages are recorded on the device and go out over your own phone line(s). The drawback for hardware based systems is that the calls go out one at a time (per line) and can take a while if your calling list is long--tying up your phones in the process. There is also the cost of the hardware--which may be offset somewhat by the fact that the calls themselves are free.

The second option is a service-based system (e.g. phonevite.com). Service-based systems have become much more widely accessible and have the advantage of a minimal (often free) initial cost, low cost per call (sometimes free), and the ability to make many--even hundreds--of calls simultaneously. Some services, such as Phonevite.com, even allow you to set your own number in recipient's caller-id systems. You must have an internet connection to access your account, upload your recipient phone lists, and initiate a call. However you may record your message either via the internet or with a standard telephone. Phonevite also allows you to send a duplicate message to your list recipients via email. There are two levels of service for Phonevite. A free service allows you to make calls of up to 25 recipients each (a church committee for example). Free calls include a brief "powered by phonevite" message at the end of the call and do not use your own caller-id. A paid service allows you to make calls to larger lists without the "ad" at the end. Calls cost $0.05 each...less if you buy a volume package (Note that this is less than 1/4 the cost of a postcard).

Calls automatically adjust for answering machines and voicemail systems. More advanced features allow recipients to RSVP, express an opinion (press 1 for yes, 2 for no, etc), or even respond with a verbal response.

After we first used a robocall to remind the congregation of an upcoming church barbecue, I polled folks the next week at Family Night Supper to see what they thought. Everyone there had gotten a call, no one was offended, and folks generally thought it was a good use of the church's resources. Can your church, committee, youth group or UMW use a "robocall" system? It's working for us...

Blogging the Youth Along...

2008-08-20T21:21:00.004-04:00

Here's an idea to help connect those who go off on a church trip with those who stay home. This works especially well with youth.

In June, Mt. Zion UMC and Pilmoor Memorial UMC took our respective youth groups on a joint mission experience in downtown Charlotte, NC. In preparation for the trip, we established a blog (much like this one) on blogger.com. We regularly reminded the youth and their families that we would be posting updated information about the trip, itineraries, packing lists, etc., in the days leading up to our departure. Then, while on the mission trip, we continually posted photos and updates--mostly from cell phone photos posted DIRECTLY to the blog without additional human intervention. In the evenings, we would set up an internet connected laptop with an open editor (Microsoft Word in our case), and allowed the youth to sit down and write their reflections on the day. It started slow, but as the week progressed, you could see 3 and 4 youth at a time huddled around the computer waiting for their turn to blog.

Parents and others were able to see (and even to comment on) what was going on as it happened.

And once we arrived back home, we posted photos in a slide-show and even a short video.

Please check it out at http://pilmoor.blogspot.com/. Note that you may have to click on the "archive" options on the side to select June and July, 2008.

It Worked For Us...

Harnessing the Robocall

Blogging the Youth Along...