The Friday Luncheon Discussion Club (FLDC) welcomes as members all who commit themselves to its Core Values set out on the Home Page of this website.
The usual means of joining FLDC is for a guest to be introduced by a member who ensures that the guest understands and respects the FLDC’s Core Values. Guests can be introduced by coming with their sponsor to a meeting at the Y. Guests are invited to fill out a Membership Application Form, and their membership is confirmed when they next come to a meeting.
The Membership Application Form asks for commitment to FLDC’s Core Values and for contact information which is accessible only to designated members of FLDC’s Executive and used only for FLDC’s administrative purposes.
Individuals who would like to join FLDC but do not know a member are invited to come to a meeting and introduce themselves to FLDC members at the desk on entry into the meeting room. A member of the FLDC Executive will then introduce them at the meeting.
The usual means of joining FLDC is for a guest to be introduced by a member who ensures that the guest understands and respects the FLDC’s Core Values. Guests can be introduced by coming with their sponsor to a meeting at the Y. Guests are invited to fill out a Membership Application Form, and their membership is confirmed when they next come to a meeting.
The Membership Application Form asks for commitment to FLDC’s Core Values and for contact information which is accessible only to designated members of FLDC’s Executive and used only for FLDC’s administrative purposes.
Individuals who would like to join FLDC but do not know a member are invited to come to a meeting and introduce themselves to FLDC members at the desk on entry into the meeting room. A member of the FLDC Executive will then introduce them at the meeting.
.
Individuals interested in becoming a member can contact the club here:
Temporary Section on Proposed Improvements to Membership Procedures and The Introduction of an Auracast Transmitter for the Hard of Hearing.
1. Introduction
The present system of members collecting their badges in the hall and then proceeding to sign in at the Treasurer's table, then paying for their lunch and parking, is not working as well as intended. It is further complicated by the arrival of guests, recording their visit and providing appropriate membership advice.
This leads to misalignment in accounting of the number of lunches between the caterer and the treasurer, as well as new or potential members not being welcomed or accounted for properly in subsequent visits.
The second topic to discuss is the introduction of an Auracast transmitter. This device will sit on the same table as the projector and other sound control equipment and broadcast the sound to members' hearing aids, or their own headsets and ear-buds that have a small personal Auracast receiver.
2. Proposed Membership Recording Solution
In an effort to modernize this procedure and speed up the overall process, we are proposing to introduce a simple bar code label, attached to each name badge to allow the Treasure to scan the code after due payment has been made. This ensures accurate totals for lunches as well as a record of attendance in a spreadsheet, likely to be kept on the website server.
This allows the Membership Secretary to be free to spend the appropriate time with any new or prospective member, without worrying whether everyone has signed in or not.
The bar codes will come in rolls, sufficiently numbered to last for quite some time, since regular members retain their number and only new members would need a new one.
In addition, since the YMCA has now radically changed the way that their car parking is handled, it is important to allow time for members using the car park to register their presence with the YMCA as well as pay our treasurer the usual dues. The final parking registration method for this will not be apparent until we start our Fall session.
To initiate this procedure, we will need to discuss with the Greeters how best to add the bar code stickers to the existing members badges before the Fall session. Perhaps to complete this task sometime over the next two or three weeks before the GALA. (It could also be used at our GALA's too!)
In the meantime, we will need to settle on the computer to use, ideally with MS Excel or similar for the treasurer to monitor the recording of the badge bar code.
3. Proposed Improvement for the Hard of Hearing
The introduction of the extended Bluetooth specification that has been developed over several years is known as Bluetooth LE. The common name adopted for this feature is called Auracast. Essentially, instead of a bluetooth device being able to transmit to only one or two people, the extended specification allows a "transmitter to the many".
In Europe, this has been adopted by churches and other public spaces like train stations and airports in delivery of announcements to one's hearing aids. Even in dental and doctor's office waiting areas, or exhibition halls or theatres, one can listen to a muted television show, or a demonstration or a play, by picking the named source on one's phone app.
Since it will take some time for adoption of this new method, we can continue with our existing system in parallel, and hopefully, more hearing aid manufacturers will offer Auracast enabled hearing pieces in the coming months.
4. Examples of Equipment Required for These Improvements
4.1 Simple bar code stickers. Some examples are given in Figure 1.
4.2 A typical bar code reader with stand for "hands free" operation by the Treasurer is shown in Figure 2.
4.3 Example of Auracast Broadcast Unit and some current hearing Aid models now available with Auracast shown in Figure 3.
Likely costs are about $150 for the Auracast transmitter, and $35 to $55 for the barcode scanner. The cost of the roll of bar codes is TBD at the moment.
The present system of members collecting their badges in the hall and then proceeding to sign in at the Treasurer's table, then paying for their lunch and parking, is not working as well as intended. It is further complicated by the arrival of guests, recording their visit and providing appropriate membership advice.
This leads to misalignment in accounting of the number of lunches between the caterer and the treasurer, as well as new or potential members not being welcomed or accounted for properly in subsequent visits.
The second topic to discuss is the introduction of an Auracast transmitter. This device will sit on the same table as the projector and other sound control equipment and broadcast the sound to members' hearing aids, or their own headsets and ear-buds that have a small personal Auracast receiver.
2. Proposed Membership Recording Solution
In an effort to modernize this procedure and speed up the overall process, we are proposing to introduce a simple bar code label, attached to each name badge to allow the Treasure to scan the code after due payment has been made. This ensures accurate totals for lunches as well as a record of attendance in a spreadsheet, likely to be kept on the website server.
This allows the Membership Secretary to be free to spend the appropriate time with any new or prospective member, without worrying whether everyone has signed in or not.
The bar codes will come in rolls, sufficiently numbered to last for quite some time, since regular members retain their number and only new members would need a new one.
In addition, since the YMCA has now radically changed the way that their car parking is handled, it is important to allow time for members using the car park to register their presence with the YMCA as well as pay our treasurer the usual dues. The final parking registration method for this will not be apparent until we start our Fall session.
To initiate this procedure, we will need to discuss with the Greeters how best to add the bar code stickers to the existing members badges before the Fall session. Perhaps to complete this task sometime over the next two or three weeks before the GALA. (It could also be used at our GALA's too!)
In the meantime, we will need to settle on the computer to use, ideally with MS Excel or similar for the treasurer to monitor the recording of the badge bar code.
3. Proposed Improvement for the Hard of Hearing
The introduction of the extended Bluetooth specification that has been developed over several years is known as Bluetooth LE. The common name adopted for this feature is called Auracast. Essentially, instead of a bluetooth device being able to transmit to only one or two people, the extended specification allows a "transmitter to the many".
In Europe, this has been adopted by churches and other public spaces like train stations and airports in delivery of announcements to one's hearing aids. Even in dental and doctor's office waiting areas, or exhibition halls or theatres, one can listen to a muted television show, or a demonstration or a play, by picking the named source on one's phone app.
Since it will take some time for adoption of this new method, we can continue with our existing system in parallel, and hopefully, more hearing aid manufacturers will offer Auracast enabled hearing pieces in the coming months.
4. Examples of Equipment Required for These Improvements
4.1 Simple bar code stickers. Some examples are given in Figure 1.
4.2 A typical bar code reader with stand for "hands free" operation by the Treasurer is shown in Figure 2.
4.3 Example of Auracast Broadcast Unit and some current hearing Aid models now available with Auracast shown in Figure 3.
Likely costs are about $150 for the Auracast transmitter, and $35 to $55 for the barcode scanner. The cost of the roll of bar codes is TBD at the moment.
Figure 1. Some typical Bar code stickers. Choice will come down to ease of scanning and perhaps cost.
Figure 2. A suggested bar code reader with stand to allow handsfree scanning.
Figure 3. Data sheet to provide initial details. A more expansive list of Auracast available hearing aids can be provided.
—00—
Speakers gift sponsored by
The Royal Canadian Mint