I Went to Boot Camp, Trello Style

This morning Thomas MacEntee and Lisa Alzo 
presented a class about using the web site Trello that they called "Getting Started with Trello Mini Boot Camp". I eagerly attended the online class as I know from experience that they deliver excellent lessons that are well worth watching. This class was hosted by Thomas and presented by Lisa. 

 As soon as the class was over I got an idea for an application of all I had learned. I serve as a Consultant in our local Family History Center and help with Training of the staff. A tremendous amount of resources are available to us from the wonderful folks at FamilySearch, but it's scattered across many web sites. It's challenging for new staff members to find what they need. 

I created a Trello board for the Consultants that will be a centralized place for them to find access to training materials. I can share the Board with anyone, so I'll be inviting the other Consultants and Directors of our local and regional Family History Centers to have access to this Board.

I've created cards for such things as Blogs, Videos, Lessons, Training, staff roster, etc. Each card has information "inside" that contains such things as attachments, photos, links, email address, comments, checklists. And each "Card" has several lists on it ....as many as we want. The lists and the cards can all be moved around. I've added color-coding via "Labels", as you see the green, blue, orange bars, etc. 

A few weeks ago when I opened my Trello account, I told my second cousin Kate Keller about it. She immediately started using it to create Boards for her ancestral families and is sharing those Boards with the family names we have in common. We're able to choose the color of the Board background, so she has chosen green for the families we have in common. She's created cards with such headings as To Do, Researching, Documents, Photos, Items Needed, Contacts, etc. We can each contribute to the cards, modify them, and basically manage them. It's a good way to work together on our family history research. 

The first board I set up when I opened my account last January was for planning purposes for our trip to RootsTech, the genealogy conference we attended in Salt Lake City in February. I made cards with lists for Registration, Packing, Flights, Schedules, Syllabus, People to See, etc. It was quite handy and actually well used. Trello is available for smartphones and tablets, so I had everything with me. 

While starting my free Saturday off in "Boot Camp", I'm happy to tell you I've had a really fun and interesting adventure with Thomas, Lisa and my new Board creation. I can't wait to invite my fellow Consultants and Directors to share my new resource. This might be a good subject to offer at our April training meeting.