Marketing and meetings

Manjusri, Adhisthana, April 2024

Another role I have in the volunteer job is to send out marketing emails using a system called Email Octopus, which is an evocative name but brings to mind anything but mailing lists. The messages contain images and videos and carefully designed logos and layout, and a number of them are pre-prepared and scheduled to go out automatically. 

I have had to create a new marketing email within this system, and to do that I've obviously copied an existing message and edited the content. It's one of those platforms that perhaps isn't all that robust, and a stray keystroke can destroy the appearance of the whole thing. Then there's the public nature of sending messages out to large mailing lists and the potential for sending to the wrong people, or to the whole world. Just knowing this makes me especially cautious, although making a mistake isn't a disaster. I'm only a volunteer after all.

I had a series of different sorts of meeting waiting for me at home in between stints of volunteering. First there was a Buddhist team meeting, then one about the upcoming Warwick Folk Festival, a couple of walks with friends, coffee with someone else to plan a possible film festival event within the franchise established by Lola II and Mr M, my board games group which this time ended up being just two of us, and the usual badminton. And I cleaned the car, inside and out, which is a tough job but makes me happy afterwards when I drive.

The Folk Festival meeting was quite interesting, in that the Communications team leader and deputy team leader are both retiring. Another volunteer and I would be happy to carry on volunteering for the Comms team, but neither of us wants to take on the team leader role. It looks as though someone else has been found, and what's more he looks younger than me (most of the people in the meeting looked significantly older) which is a Very Good Thing. They are a nice bunch of people on the whole.