Information Technologies
Information Technologies are important for the sustainability and professionalism of the Association. Thus, we can use IT tools to improve the experience of our officers, members, partners and any other stakeholders.
Gsuite
Gmail Account
Every ELSA Officer has access to an email account for the execution of official ELSA work. These email accounts are provided to ELSA by Google for free due to ELSA's status as a non-profit organisation focusing on education. These accounts have been established in 2016 and all current National Groups should be using these official accounts. Generally, it is the Secretary General of the International Board who can create new accounts, reset passwords or activate users. National Secretary Generals are able to do this for their own National Network without the help of the International Board. If this is the case for your group, go to Google Admin, log in with your ELSA Sec Gen account, and go to Users.
Google Drive
Google Workspace also offers you fantastic collaboration tools like Google Drive where you can easily store and share materials with other ELSA Officers. It is important to keep your drive clean and have a good structure for it. Make sure to store all relevant information on the drive so future officers will have easy access to handbooks and other materials. Ideally, you should also be part of the 'Internal Management across ELSA' shared drive created by the International Board of ELSA where you can access useful templates and share materials with officers from other countries. If you are not part of the shared drive at this point, email secgen@elsa.org from your ELSA account to be added.
Google Calendar
Google calendar allows you to plan your days perfectly. You can share your calendar with the rest of your Board so they get an idea of when you are busy and when you are available. You should also have access to the IM calendar created by the International Board of ELSA. On there, you are encouraged to share the dates of your events and internal meetings with other officers from the Network to attract some international guests. You will also be able to see important deadlines on the international level. If you do not have access to the shared IM calendar yet, email secgen@elsa.org from your ELSA account to be added.
Slack
Slack is another fabulous collaboration tool that you can use to create channels of communication with other officers on your board or your Network. Simply go to https://slack.com/ and create an account using your ELSA Email account. You can then create workspaces depending on the group of people you want to communicate with. You might want to create one workspace for your Board, one workspace to communicate with Team Members (e.g. Directors or Assistants) and one workspace for your Area officers in the National Network.
Officers' Portal
The Officers' Portal provided officers with access to all relevant materials. You will find the regulations, handbooks, Working Materials and minutes there.
Each Area has their own space on the Officers' Portal with different useful materials so do check it out.
Website
According to the International Council Meeting Decision Book, every National Group shall maintain an up to date website with some information to be displayed in English.
The International Board uses WordPress for all their websites. WordPress provides their customer with templates thus making it easier to create the website without having to do any web designing. WordPress is by no means the only, or the most intuitive, option. There are of course other website builders such as Wix, which is said to be very easy and intuitive to navigate, and many others. The IT team of the International Board is always happy to support you during the preparation, creation or maintenance of your website. Please get in touch at it@elsa.org.
Online Meeting Tools
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting is a technical supporter of ELSA providing us with accounts to their webinar platform. As an ELSA Group, you can request access to ClickMeeting by submitting this form. You will then be contacted ClickMeeting is very useful for your Council Meeting plenaries, ELSA Webinars or ELSA Webinars Academies and is very easy to navigate. You can find many video tutorials on how to use the platform.
Google Meet
Google Meet is an alternative to Zoom, Microsoft Team and other online meeting platforms. You can organise calls for up to 100 people when using the official ELSA Gmail account provided by ELSA International.
NemoVote
Ever since the 77th International Council Meeting, the first-ever ICM held online, the International Board of ELSA has been using Nemovote as our e-voting platform for our votings and elections. Thanks to the partnership with Nemovote, ELSA Groups can book access to the e-voting platform at a reduced price.
To request access to Nemovote:
Go to the Nemovote website;
Scroll down and choose Non-profit One-time event by clicking on 'Book Now';
Choose the number of voters (i.e. at an ICM, we have a maximum of 44 voting countries hence we choose 50) and the length of your event, then add to cart;
Use the relevant discount code, apply coupon and proceed to checkout:
Once a year during the pandemic, you can use Nemovote for free with the code 'NEMOVOTE-YOUTH-FREE'
Currently, there is also an offer for Non-profit organisations with a 25% discount when using the code 'NEMOVOTE-NON-PROFIT'
Currently, there is also an offer for Youth Organisations with a 20% discount when using the code 'NEMOVOTE-YOUTH-20 '
Once these codes are no longer available, ELSA Groups can get a 15% discount by using the code 'ELSA-EU3129'
Fill in the information and book.
You will receive a confirmation email almost immediately. Access to the cloud will be provided at least 5 days before the first day of your event. You can find a short webinar on how to use Nemovote below.