Know anyone who likes attending committee meetings?
We didn't think so.

While committees and teams do need to meet periodically, wouldn't it be great if most of their discussion, planning and work could be done outside of meetings?

Imagine how much easier it would be to find volunteers for committees and workgroups if they knew they could contribute during the week as their schedule allowed?

Check out this sample scenario of how a committee could benefit from a Caleb's Cafe group.



Dan knew that the church's 50th anniversary was only 12 months away, and yet there was so much to prepare. As chair of the Anniversary Planning Team, he needed a diverse team of people that would help plan, promote and coordinate the celebration of the milestone.

Dan developed a list of the people he wanted to involve on the team, and began calling them. He explained that their work would largely be done online using an easy-to-use website that would allow them to work at their convenience. The team would meet every other month to review progress and handle decisions that needed a vote. He was pleased to find many people saying that they would help, even though they were already busy with jobs, busy families, and other church roles. He made sure to get an email address from each person that agreed to be on the team.

With his list of names and emails, Dan went to calebscafe.com, logged on, and created a new group called "Beechwood Anniversary Planning Team." He made it an invitation-only team, which would allow only team members to use the site. In less than a minute, he had the new group setup. Next, he sent email invitations to the team members. Each would receive an email that included a link that would help them join the group.

After a few days, the team members had all responded to their invitations to join the group, so Dan got them started. He posted a new message to the site asking team members to brainstorm the kinds of events that should be included in the celebration. At the end of the message, Dan reminded members, "remember, you can reply to this email with your ideas, and they will automatically be emailed to other group members, and posted in the correct area on our site." When he posted the message, an email was automatically sent to all 15 of the team members. Dan went to dinner.

After dinner, Dan checked his email and noticed that two team members had posted responses (their comments were automatically emailed to every team member). Kali suggested a reunion banquet be held, and Trent recommended that a special video be commissioned that would include interviews with charter members of the church as well as young families looking to the future.

Later that week, Dan had to be out of town on a business trip. For breakfast, Dan stopped by a coffee shop that offered internet access, and checked his email. He saw that five more team members had posted comments. Some had offered additional ideas, while others chimed in to echo what Trent and Kali had suggested. One team member, Bruce, knew of a small video production group that he thought would do a great job, and would likely work for a reasonable fee.

This process continued for two more weeks. Dan then called a meeting to finalize the list of events and projects that would be involved in the anniversary celebration. Because the team had already shared ideas, had time to think and pray about them, and to even begin prioritizing their lists... the team's meeting went rather quickly. Dan called for votes around the plans, and the team left with a clear sense of their goals.

After the meeting, Dan uploaded a Word file containing the meeting's minutes to their Caleb's Cafe site in the files area. Next, he created two Easy Pages in their Caleb's Cafe group. The first listed a series of dates that would be important to the team's work. The dates included due dates for brochure copy, dates for video production to begin and be finished, dates for catering bids to be in, and so on. He also included dates for the next several team meetings. Because the schedule was on an Easy Page, group members could always click to view it, no matter how many messages the group had posted in the messaging area.

The second Easy Page included the full list of plans for the church's anniversary celebration. Because the team wanted the entire church to be aware of the plans, Dan made this Easy Page "public", so anyone with a web browser could view it. He provided the page's web address to the church webmaster, who promoted it on the church's website.

As the months flew by, Dan and his team continued to use their Caleb's Cafe site to communicate, share plans, work on budget, and to track their progress. They also created public and private Easy Pages as needed to keep track of plans, and to share information with the larger church.

Caleb's Cafe can act as a project manager for busy teams, helping them get more done with fewer meetings. If group members can use email and a web browser, they can use your Caleb's Cafe site.