September 15, 2006
YLD’s Web site designed with its members in mind
Check out the new look at www.flayld.org
By Theresa Davis
Assistant Editor
You can’t please all the people all the time, and it’s probably not a good idea to try. Unless you’re on The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Technology Committee, that is.
At the Bar’s Annual Convention in June, YLD President John Stewart placed revamping the section’s Web site near the top of the list for his term. His mission is one step closer to being accomplished.
The YLD’s Technology Committee worked with Stewart, YLD President-elect Scott Atwood, and Web designer Brent Holmes to create an improved Web site.
Mindy L. Wells, chair of the Technology Committee, wants to target all 21,000 YLD members, both in and out of state.
“We hope that there is something out there for everyone, at least one thing that our constituents can find useful,” said Wells, an out-of-state member from Ada, Ohio.
The YLD Board of Governors is on the Web site; listed both alphabetically and by their judicial circuit. Their complete contact information is listed to make it easier for members to determine who their representative is, based on their circuit, she said.
Wells wants to make one thing about the Web site clear: “It’s not for the board; it’s for the members.”
With this in mind, Wells ultimately received feedback on the desired site content from the YLD board.
“We’ve put up a lot of resources related to the CLEs,” said Wells.
They’ve added an awards list, a photo gallery, links to the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division, and an updated list of affiliates throughout the state.
Wells said the site displays information about the affiliate outreach conference and the voluntary and minority bar associations, listing their contact information and meeting schedules.
The updated content also includes information about — and how to sign up for — the YLD’s disaster relief effort.
“We also try to post an alert when one of our affiliates is in the news,” Wells said.
Various publications on the Web site include a brochure on getting started with the YLD, the section newsletter, and the quarterly “Quality of Life” article.
Law students are welcome to tour the Web site, as there are a lot of useful resources for them. Scholarship information is a big lure for students, but the Web site is most useful for the moot court competition, because the YLD posts the problem, guidelines, award winners, and pictures online.
“The Web site is a key resource for any of the law schools that are sending competitors to the moot court competition,” said Wells.
Wells shared plans for the future direction of the Web site.
“At some point, we would also like to do some online CLE training, and have maybe some videos or Podcasts that would allow people to work through those programs on their own time,” Wells said.
The pièce de résistance? It’s the president’s blog. The brainchild of Stewart, blog topics are based on feedback the president receives from board members and young lawyers from around the state.
Wells clarifies that the blog is not quite an FAQ, but that it does deal with issues that are of interest to members.
“Stewart responds via the blog to topics they may be interested in,” Wells said. “He tailors his blog to their interests and needs.”
Adding content and graphics to a Web site is not the stuff of quantum physics, but the YLD just makes it look easy.
“We spent a good part of May, June, July, and half of August really pulling together what it should look like, what resources needed to be on there, proofing as we went along,” Wells said.
[Revised:
08-01-2010
]