eteamz - the blog

Correction to October Snapshotz Winning Photo

Kelly Schulte — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:17:04 GMT

Please excuse our mistake as we had a mixup with matching the winning photo with the person who submitted it for the October Snapshotz contest, presented by Aunt Jemima. Photos was still submitted by Traci Gerlach, only it was a different photo...this is the real "Zach Pitching" Congratulations!

Introducing the all new eteamz Albumz Center

Ericha_eteamz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:43:58 GMT

Thank you to everyone for your patience during the Albumz Center face-lift! Today marks the official launch of this feature. We’re excited to provide you with many new features such as the ability to create and post a slideshow to your site in minutes, oodles of editing and design options, quickly create albums by dragging and dropping images and so much more!

We wanted to provide you with some information on what to expect during the launch.

Some of you may notice that all of your images in your Admin Albumz and Uploads>Images folders aren’t there.

Not to worry…they’re there! We’re just in the process of migrating the tons of photos over to the new experience and it takes time to do so. Please be patient – the photo’s may not be available in your Admin view but they are available on your website (public view).

What can I do to expedite the process of my photos being migrated?

If you proceed to your Admin and click the “Albums” link, you’ll be placed at the top of the queue for migration and all your images will appear in your Admin shortly (please allow for 24 hours).

If you see most of your images in Admin but some aren’t there, there could be a few reasons.

If the name of your image had a special character in the title (ex: -, ~,&, etc), the image may have not been migrated over correctly. We are actively working to resolve this as our top priority. Please check back frequently for your images to be updated.
In certain cases, the names of images were formatted such that they pulled up broken images on the old photos system. Because these images were broken and not able to be located by our system, we did not migrate the names over. These broken images were still taking up your disk space. You will no longer have broken images on the site and they won’t take up disk space.
It is possible that images were uploaded after the site’s images were migrated. In this case, the images will need to be re-migrated. If you go into your Admin and click the “Albums” link, you will be placed at the top of the queue for migration.

If your site isn't migrated yet you will not see images, files, etc. when attempting to use the "add file" and "add image" buttons in the Welcome and News folders for example. This will be resolved when your site is migrated.

Please review all of our Albumz FAQ’s at:

http://www.eteamz.com/websites/albums-faqs

We’re excited to bring this fun experience to you and your team and can’t wait to hear feedback on what you think! Please contact support via the Contact Support folder in your Site Admin with any questions.

Don't Forget to Enter the November Snapshotz Contest

Kelly Schulte — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:22:40 GMT

Submit your snapshot by November 30th for a chance to win an efundraising magazine subscription ($50 value) and a $50 Restaurant.com gift card from efundraising! Increase your chances of winning by submitting as many photos as you like.

The winner will be selected on December 1^st and featured in the December eteamzNation newsletter and in our eteamz community.

Upon submitting your entry, you’ll receive an email informing you whether or not your photo has been approved. If approved, be sure to share with family and friends to vote – more votes will increase your chances of winning!

Good Luck!

Update on Albumz Launch

Ericha_eteamz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:28:27 GMT

We know everyone’s as excited as we are about the launch of the new eteamz Albumz Center so we want to keep you up to date on the progress.

Within the next couple of weeks, the new experience will be available to you! In preparation for the launch, we must migrate everyone’s photos to the new photos platform. It’s okay - the images on your current site won’t be affected at all in this process. The only side affect you may notice from this is the amount of space used as shown in your disk space monitor. Until we release the Albumz feature, it may appear as if your images are not counted in your amount of “disk space used”. Please know that the space used by these images will be reflected once we release the final product.

No worries – this won’t cause any problems to your site and all your photos, images, sounds, music and such will still be there at time of the final launch. Please keep this in mind as you upload any additional photos during the migration phase.

Tis the Season for a Colorful Website

Kelly Schulte — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:24:05 GMT

The holidays are upon us and you’re probably planning on adding some pizzazz to your homes during the holiday season with lights, inflatable’s and even music. Sooo, why not add pizzazz to your eteamz site this season with our preset color palettes from one of our customizable templates.

1) Make your template selection from the Customize section of the Site Appearance folder

2) Select the color options of your choice located to the right of the selected template

3) Be sure to save your changes

Interested in setting your own color options? No problem!

Use the tabs at the top of the page to set your menu, content or border colors and so on.

Pre size Your Banner or Logo for More Efficient Uploading

Kathy_eteamz_support — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:00:39 GMT

We all know the truth to “saving time” these days. A minute here, a minute there. They all rack up and before you know it – they’re gone! Save time by using this tip to help you resize your banner and/or logo images on a customizable template.

Be sure to resize your banner or logo image prior to uploading for faster results. Check the size of your banner image to ensure it’s no larger than 800 x 90 pixels and the size of your logo image to ensure it’s no larger than 200 x 90 pixels.

If the image is too large, you’ll need to resize prior to uploading. If you don’t have a standard image editing program already on your computer, the best and easiest program available is called Irfanview (Google it to find where you can download it for free).

If the original image is smaller, you can use the drag bars within the admin panel to make it larger.

October Snapshotz Winner is Zack Pitching posted by Traci Gerlach

Kelly Schulte — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:11:24 GMT

Congratulations, Zack! You'll receive a complimentary Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast for you and your team!

10 Tips for Better Team Communication using your SmartMessage Center

Kelly Schulte — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:59:01 GMT

Can a single email make or break a sports team? What if your star player misses a game due to not receiving an email about a change in the game time and location? What if a “reply to all” email thread turns into a heated discussion and hurt feelings? What if an inspiring message from the coach at the end of the season encourages all the players to come back to play again next season?

Communication is critical to the cohesiveness, efficiency and spirit of a team. It can be a competitive advantage that helps teams win games. Or it can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for teams that aren’t working well together.

So why do coaches and parents dread it so much? And why do so many teams do it so poorly?

First, with too much to do and too few people to do it, it’s often not a priority. Practice planning, games, celebrations and picture day are all high priorities (rightfully so). However, the communication about these things is usually an afterthought or a necessary evil.

Second, up until now, there has been no good training, resources or tools. Search the web for resources on coaching youth sports and you’ll find dozens, maybe hundreds of practice drills, videos and books. But search for resources to help teams communicate with each other and you’ll come up empty.

Based on first-hand experience and dozens of interviews with coaches and team parents, we’ve come up with 10 tips to help your teams communicate better and to help you turn communication from a burden into a competitive advantage:

1. Make communication a team priority.

At the first team meeting or practice, use any real examples of how good communication can be a competitive advantage can make the season more productive and more fun. Use examples of how poor communication can do the reverse. Let the team know that you’ll be using your website and SmartMessage Center for all team communication throughout the season and to be on the lookout for the first team messages. Let them know that communication is not optional and each player or parent should designate someone from the family who will respond on behalf of the player or parent to each and every SmartMessage.

2. Help your team to be “SmartMessage ready.”

Also at the first meeting, tell them to be on the lookout for a message from you providing them with some instructions on how to make sure they receive their team SmartMessages. Then send the team a regular email instructing them to add do-not-reply@circleup.com to their address book or “safe senders” list in their email service or email program. CircleUp is our partner providing the SmartMessage service and doing this step will help ensure that the SmartMessages you send will be received by everyone.

3. Set your SmartMessage schedule.

If you plan ahead for your messages, things will be less rushed and more organized, giving the team plenty of notice and plenty of time to respond. Setting a regular message schedule also puts in place a weekly rhythm for the team and you’ll get better responses. On your team calendar or schedule, be sure to add every key event and every game and then go back about 3-7 days and write “send SmartMessage about ____” where the “____” is “game attendance” or “picture day” or “team party.” Or keep it simple and designate one or two days every week (Mondays and Wednesdays work well), and set a weekly reminder in your calendar to “send SmartMessages to the team.”

4. Ask, don’t tell. Turn EVERY SmartMessage into a question or request.

Of the 10 tips, this is probably the easiest to do and also the most effective in getting your team to respond. Rather than having something like “Picture day this Saturday” in the subject line of your SmartMessage, change it “Will you be at picture day?”. Then use the Multiple Choice or other SmartMessage formats to collect appropriate responses, rather than the Announcement format which leaves little room for response. Change “Tournament info” into “Who can volunteer to help with the tournament?” Turn “Team Dinner” into “What will you bring to the team dinner?” Turn “League safety manual and rules” into “Please acknowledge receipt of league rules.” Yes, it’s possible to turn EVERY message into the form of a question or request and you should do it once in the subject line and then again within the message body.

5. KISS: Keep it Short & Simple. Focus on ONE key question or request per SmartMessage.

Yes, there is a LOT of information that needs to be communicated and a lot of responses you need from players and parents throughout the season. But if you try to pack too much into one message, everyone who receives it will go into a brain freeze and say to themselves “I don’t have time for this, I’ll look at it later.” They rarely will come back to look at it later, and they’ll be less likely to pay attention to any of your messages. So chunk things up and make the question or request so easy and simple that the person receiving it can read it and respond quickly and easily. Send “softballs” with “yes/no” answers once and a while that are so simple that anyone could respond, i.e., “Will you be at the game this Saturday?” When responding to your messages becomes a habit, you’ve got it made.

6. Provide deadlines to respond for every message.

Make sure every message also has a deadline to respond and give yourself and the team enough buffer time for those responses which may come in a little late. Add the deadline to the subject line and in the message body, “Who can volunteer for picture day? Pls. reply by Thursday!” Not everything can or should be urgent, but make sure it’s clear which messages absolutely must be responded to and by when.

7. Thank those who have responded, remind those who haven’t.

Using your SmartMessage Center, it’s easy to add or send comments or to remind those who have not yet responded. Just go to your “Sent” folder and open the message. At the bottom of your message results page, there are some tabs. Click on the one that says “Not Replied” and check boxes next to each team member or just click the box at the top to select all on that page. Then click on “resend” and each member selected on that page will receive the message again. Also, on that same results page, you can click on the “Post Comment” blue button in the middle of the page and click on the “Email everyone this comment?” checkbox to send a reminder. Your comment will go to everyone and this allows you to customize your reminder message to something like “Thanks to all who’ve have responded! Just a reminder to those who haven’t, I need your response by Thursday!” It’s also pretty effective to do this in person or at practice in front of the team every once in a while, “I really appreciate that you respond so quickly to our messages, Mrs. Jones.” Or create a “SmartMessage Award” for the parents/players who respond the most to your SmartMessages.

8. Use SmartPay and the Order Form format to collect orders and team payments.

When the team gets into a regular rhythm responding to SmartMessages, it makes it very easy and seamless to collect orders and money for things like team T-shirts, dinner tickets and coach or team parent gifts. It’s free and easy for you to use the order form and SmartPay, just watch the Order Form video for more information.

9. Don’t regress back to regular email.

It’s easy to send an email to the team. It’s harder to make the email useful or to deal with the aftermath of any responses. If you set the expectation from the start that the team will be using SmartMessage Center and then you use it regularly and exclusively, regular emails to the team should become rare or non-existent.

10. Have fun! Use ranking or rating options and collect stories or photos.

Be sure to plan for and send SmartMessages that use the “Rating” or “Ranking” formats or ask for photos using the “Suggestions” format. These are fun tools that can be used to vote for team MVP’s, to rank restaurants to have the team dinner, to vote on team names, to collect the best photos from a game or season, etc. Ask for suggestions for the best play of the season or the funniest moments. Look for easy ways to encourage responses and take some of the “edge” off your messages.

Watch these videos for more information:

- Learn about using the SmartMessage Center

- Use the Order Form and SmartPay to collect orders and payments

Give Thanks To Your Org or Sponsors This Season

Ericha_eteamz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:33:54 GMT

If you’re like most teams, you not only want to showcase your team but also the League or Organization you’re a part of. Now you can with our customizable templates and it’s as easy as the click of a mouse.

1) Navigate to the Customize section of your Site Appearance folder in Admin

2) Select the Logo tab at the top of the page

3) Choose a previously uploaded image or upload a new one (you can even make the image clickable to an external website if you want!)

4) Be sure to save your changes and the image will display under your Site Menu for those that select the "side" Menu Style

Already displaying your league logo elsewhere on your site? Here are some other useful ideas on how to best use this space:
Upload an image of one of your sponsors

Upload an image of the Player of the Week

Create an image with your team/league's contact information (You can easily do an online search for free image creators)

8th Annual Spooky Site Winners

Ericha_eteamz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:05:15 GMT

Thank you to all sites that participated in the 8th Annual Spooky Site Contest! We're giving all who participated one free year of the 5GB space upgrade (keep an eye out for an email from me in the next few weeks when the new space upgrade goes live).

Congratulations to our winners who won a free year of PLUS!

http://www.eteamz.com/lyfa2000

http://www.eteamz.com/MuskegoStormFastpitch

http://www.eteamz.com/MADistrict12

Honorable mention goes to:

http://www.eteamz.com/NJSCORPIONS

Temporary Downtime October 7th starting at 11pm

Ericha_eteamz — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:26:02 GMT

The site will be down for maintenance starting October 7th from 11:30pm - 4:00am PDT. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The September Snapshotz winner is Steven Stanaland

Ericha_eteamz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:42:59 GMT

Congratulations to Steven Stanaland, the September Snapshotz winner. He is the recipient of a $100 Restaurant.com gift card courtesy of our sponsor, ActiveSports.

8th Annual Spooky Site Contest

Ericha_eteamz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:33:46 GMT

Ghosts, Gravestones, Haunted Houses and Goblins

what do all of these things have in common?

They're in the Halloween spirit that's right

now spooktify us and dress up your site.

First, second and third place sites win a prize

a free year of PLUS that will surely be nice.

How do I enter? What do I do?!

Will I have to learn anything new?

add images, sounds, whatever you think will help you win.

Submit your spooky site via the Contact Support folder in your Site Admin no later than October 26th. Winners will be posted here on the blog on October 30th.

Are you on a new template and unable to get the counter to update correctly? We have the answer.

Kelly Schulte — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:59:16 GMT

You've finally got yourself a new template and are excited to show it off to the team but your counter isn't updating and you see how many people have been visiting your site! It's annoying...we know. Here's what you can do to ensure it tracks your visitors!

We believe the handy-dandy "pop-up blocker" is at fault for this. Simply disable this on your end and you'll find it's working again.

Another way to tell if this is the problem is if you can't see your "pop up announcement" displaying and you've enabled it in your "PLUS/preference" folder.

Here is a tip to keep your text from occasionally disappearing from your calendar or the games and events section of your home page

Kathy_eteamz_support — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:41:55 GMT

While we are in the process of resolving this for you, here is a tip to workaround it in the mean time. It’s easy and only takes a few clicks of the mouse.

From one of our new, customizable templates,

1) Go to the Customize section within your Site Appearance folder

2) Select the “Content” tab at the top of the page

3) Select any color for the Title Color other than white or black. This also changes your sponsor and location title colors to the selected color but it forces the calendar upcoming/past games and events on home page text back to white so that it remains viewable.

4) Save your changes!