Podcast Episode 102: Episode 75: Investing in the Community

Description

In the latest episode of Rockcast, we'll introduce the regional community groups, discuss how we want to be responsive to the needs of the community, and include an important public service announcement.

Transcribed Content

This episode of Rockcast is brought to you by Rock partner Triumph Tech, a full service specialist partner. Rock partners provide crucial support for Spark Development Network and important services for the Rock community. Connect with Triumph Tech today at rockrms.com/partners. Welcome to another edition of Rockcast. I'm Emily Forman. We have Jon Edmiston and Nick Airdo, and we are going to tell you all about what's going on with Rock as of right now. So pretty exciting. This moment. Nice. And honestly, there's not much time between recording and actually putting this out there. So everything will be very close to this moment when people hear it. That's good. Sometimes it's hard to remember when this is actually going out. Right. Sometimes we have to talk about that and make little caveats in what we're saying. Yep. So let's let's get rolling. Shall we begin? We shall. Okay. Can I start? Could you? Sure. Sure. Alright. Thank you. Well, we'll talk about nine three real quick. 9.3 has been an alpha testing, actually it was an alpha testing a few weeks back. Now it's been in beta testing since the conference or after the conference. As of today, we're going to production. Fantastic. So by the time you guys hear this, it will be in production probably by a day or so. That's great. Yeah. It's good to have it out there. Yeah. And it's just largely several bug fixes. There's nothing really major in there, but of course, , it's always good that we've run it through the ringer, and we even had a church who's been running it in production for the last few weeks. So it gives us pretty good confidence in nine three. I feel we need to do a public service announcement. Please don't upgrade right before the weekend. , that's a good thing to do not going into a weekend. Unless you've tested extensively that you're No. It's never a good idea. It's never a good idea. I agree with John, by the way. I know some people out there are a little more casual with when they upgrade. Cavalier. Yeah. Dangerous. That's living on the edge. Yeah. We've all done it, but we've all regret it. We've all regretted it All regretted it too. From her lesson. So let's share our own blood, sweat, and tears and not do that. Yeah. Find a new thing to do. Future self is happy that you didn't upgrade on a Friday. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. So just FYI. So that leads us to the next release, which is 10. , we came out of the conference. We got it to alpha testing. There hasn't been a lot of alpha testing on it by the by the community. I think that's probably understood because we had nine three at the same time that they were alpha testing, and they just came from the conference. We had a lot of stuff we all have come back to, I'm sure. But I wanted to give an update that that is out there. It is being alpha tested, but we we at this point, we're waiting to move forward to beta testing until we get enough alpha testing. We don't wanna rush that process. That's a full release, lots of new stuff. There's lots of shifting of data around badges, so we wanna make sure that we get lots of environments through that. So far, that's that's gone really well, but we just wanna make sure that it's gonna work well for lots of different people. So we're not rushing 10 out the door to to beta until it gets a proper alpha testing. Okay. So what we need is more alpha testers. Yeah. And then the alpha testers who, , who have, , signed up to to jump in there, we know it's a busy time of the year, but it's a important duty as a community to to get this alpha testing all all done. Oh, for sure. We wouldn't want to take the cake out of the oven before it's fully baked. Right. Exactly. And start serving it to people. That's right. It's not a lava cake. Nope. But it is there. So we're excited about the future of that. We're excited about the future of a lot of things. And I think we kind of came up with a way to illustrate that a little bit this week. Yeah. So we've also we've always heard about we need more information on the road map. We we had that Trello board, , it's was not updated super often. I had a task on my calendar that would remind me, , once a month to go in there and look at it. But honestly, things change so fast, things are shifting so fast that it was hard to to keep up with that. But we realized as we get bigger and the more people are using it, we need to mature in that area. And so we spent some time creating a real roadmap feature. So rockrms.com/roadmap will now take you to a Rock page that will show you the the major features coming up in the in the next major releases. Now there's gonna be a lot of small things that are not on the roadmap. Those are things that maybe a client has funded or someone, , had the idea, we just implemented it real quick, but it's gonna give you the major features. Do expect though that the roadmap is that. It's a roadmap. The the the roadmaps in real life, they have detours. You might get there and there's some construction, so it's not a guarantee that those features will be in that release, but it's our intent. Got it. Well, what are some of the the ways that the roadmap helps illustrate where a feature is in development? Well, it does tell you each of the major releases. Is it still an architecture? Is it in development? Is it done? So if you go out there, , right this moment, 10 is actually on the roadmap because it's not it's not fully released. It's in alpha testing right now, and then go to beta. So we did put those features out there, and you'll notice that all those features are are green. They're done. They're just in testing. So as we go through the 11 features is where you'll start to see those start to change. I'll again have a monthly update to go update the development status of each of those features. It's great. Just having looked at it myself, it's nice to be able to add a little bit of visualization concept and so kind of see, oh, this is done. This is getting work right now and it's exciting. Yeah. And we hope it's another way that, , we're communicating what's out there. But do again, it's going to change. There's already some features coming into 11 that weren't talked about at the conference. We didn't know about it even at the conference, but some people have come to us and said, hey, we really need this. We want to fund this. And it's something that the whole community will want, need, and appreciate. So it's a flexible roadmap. Yes, is. It's one of the interesting things about our model, think, is that some of it can be set in stone, some of it can be changeable, and it's interesting because everybody's contributions make a difference. It definitely is unique and different. I mean, I think most people have very rigid roadmaps. And if anything, they're kicking things off the roadmap. I mean, we seem to be adding things to the roadmap all the time, which occasionally will kick something back, digital signatures comes to mind. But that's one of the few features that I think has really been kicked down a level. Most things go the other direction. Yeah, I mean, major releases that we put out are much larger than what we intended to put out when we started, which again, is a good thing, causes a little bit more stress on our side. But we're just trying to be responsive to what the needs of the community are, and not trying to think about what we want or Right. And we move pretty quickly. Yeah. And it it would help if churches were in organizations that didn't change and didn't have shifting priorities. I mean, you guys all know that. , working for a church is interesting because what you what was expected on Monday is totally different by Friday. Going into a weekend, there's usually requirements that are added to you Thursday or Friday that have to be done by the weekend. I mean, we've all been there. And it keeps life interesting. I mean, you're definitely never bored working for a church. No, that's true. So that's one thing we've been wanting to work on for a while, and we're finally able to commit some resources to putting together. And another one of those is really helping our regional communities. So we've had more and more areas and churches come to us and say, we'd to have a way to connect with the people who are located near us, kind of while the conference isn't in session throughout the rest of the year, to keep up to date and have some a little local group, which is great. We really that. We that because it helps facilitate the relationships that make a difference in Rock. We definitely wouldn't want that to take the place of the greater community. So we've worked very carefully with the regional communities that currently exist to help make sure we're not siloing information or creating things that would splinter the community, but rather things that support the community. And as we continue to grow and get more requests, we've decided to help the regions and the areas that currently exist and the ones that want to put something together with some best practices documents. So we've been working with some of the longer running regional communities to figure out, hey, what worked really well for you? What are some things that didn't work as well? And put that together in something that we can share with the greater community. Yeah, and that's exciting to see the community gain to be the size that you can have these regionals and it becomes another extension of community. It does. It's a great extension. It's also an interesting marker of maturity. So a lot of things inside the Rock world are young, but this is one area where the community itself is stepping up and encouraging the growth that it takes to mature and it's very exciting. And we're trying to build up our tool set too to help support those, right? So if someone's interested in that, they should What's the starting point? How would you? They should probably reach out to me directly, because we'll help get something set up that will probably start with a channel and rocket chat where you guys can connect, where you can schedule meetings or drop maybe a registration link in for a meeting. We're hearing from groups that maybe two to three meetings a year is really great. You don't want to have anyone, one church kind of carrying the burden of the agenda and a cost if there's, , if they serve refreshments or whatever that might look . So there are a lot of really great ways that we can help set everything up for success. And so if that's something that there's a group of churches in an area that doesn't currently have a Rock regional community, go ahead and reach out to me, and we'll help get you set up with all the right tools and we have kind of created the way that can work well. And we're constantly improving that. So reach out and we'll help get that set up. Yeah, because we really want to partner with those regional communities so that, , we can help support them, but also know what's going on. I don't know about you, but it's just so encouraging to see the pictures that come from those events. Oh, absolutely. And just to see that they're they're meeting and talking about something and they're all, , learning, and it's just it's just cool to see the photos of that. Definitely. So another area where we've been able to put a little bit of resourcing in that we've been wanting to do for a while, and and it's exciting to see the growth that's going on there. Yeah. Speak speaking of that, know it's not on our list, but I wanna throw it out there because I I got some good feedback on this yesterday's. Our blog, we've had one from the very beginning. We haven't done a very good job of keeping content on it. It's if you look at it, honestly, it's probably listing of all the podcasts. Sorry. Yeah. Now we have added a couple little Mhmm. Nuggets recently, again, to invest a little bit of time into that. But what I'm hearing is that, , people aren't don't know it exists. They don't know that content's there, and that's that's on us. That's not that's not we'll we'll take that. But I just wanted to just say right now, , hey, go to the blog. If you we're gonna be adding probably some tools coming up where you can subscribe to it and get it in other mediums, so you don't have to, follow it. It used to be blog aggregators was a big thing. Now I'm sensing people don't use that anymore. So we'll be providing some more tools, but we want to let that it's there. We're adding more content and we'd love ideas. So if you have ideas for that, drop me a DM, I guess, and I'll help manage that. Perfect. Yeah, that's exciting. We're definitely looking for ways that we can invest in the community. And these are all kind of areas that we're able to do that right now, which is exciting. Speaking of investing in the community, we have just barely closed down RX twenty nineteen and we are already running strong with RX twenty twenty. And I mean, we say it every year, but this is gonna be an event there hasn't been an event yet in the Rock community. And and a lot of things will be new this time and a lot of things will be really exciting. So I know our team's already pumped about it, and we're working earlier and harder on the event for next year than we ever have before. For sure. I just can't wait for people to walk into that space and realize this is where we're going to be having community for, , two and a half, almost maybe three days, depending on when you come in and when you exit. It's just an amazing space and it's all ours. we we can do, we can stay up as late as we want talking in this great lobby area. And it's just going to be amazing. We got to walk it recently and just walking through there again and visualizing, oh, this would be a great place to hang out in the evening, and this will be a great place for people to congregate in the hallways, , when they're we're we're having special sessions and and all the space opportunities and availabilities will be really incredible this year. Right. And we're really trying to work hard to map out a complete week schedule so that you guys can mean, obviously, register now, book now, don't, , don't book your travel till you see the full week, and we're gonna have that very quickly here, Yes. In a matter of a couple days. But we're trying to do a really nice pre event on the Monday evening. We're gonna have a few opportunities, I think there's gonna be a masterclass leading it into the event, and maybe even something on Thursday morning, we're trying to figure something out there too. Now, the conference is on Tuesday, Wednesday. It is. But we're trying to give you some optional stuff that, , it can build and extend the community a little bit more. Right. So what we heard from all of you who attended and filled out a survey is we love this, we love the content, but the content is sometimes at the expense of connecting with people. And it's hard to fit both in. So what we're trying to do is build some more of those connection opportunities that allow you to really build the relationships and share the things you've learned on a more personal level in addition to the content without sacrificing the content, because we know that's important to you too. So we're working really hard to adjust our schedule this year to incorporate a lot more of that for you. And I know we say every year, don't leave early, but honestly, do not leave the day the conference ends this coming time, and we'll give you more information. But we will have things going on that evening on-site at the hotel that you will not want to miss. You would feel shorted, you'd feel you had done yourself a disservice if you booked travel out that night. So more details coming on that soon. But also I feel we need to mention this hotel has a lot of meeting space, which is going to be fantastic. It does not have an unlimited number of rooms. Yep. And what we are wanting you to know right now is staying at the hotel and having access to all of that as your room and as your conference center is going to be really key to the best experience. Because there are limited rooms, we have a link on our site where you can not only register for the conference, but you can register for your room as well. And we have a special rate there. So if you were to go directly to the hotel and not mention the conference, it is going to cost quite a bit more than it would to go through our rates. So we've tried to make it as easy as possible. Sign up for your room. Sign up for the conference right now because the conference tickets are at the lowest possible price. And and you'll have both of those locked in. And and that's gonna be really the key to this experience. Yeah. And then our latest trip over there to look at the facilities and just make sure we're doing planning, the coordinator that we work with who's great, walked us through the different levels of the rooms, and all the rooms are just, I mean, they're nice. These are nice rooms for 119 is 119, yeah. Amazing. Yes. And yeah, that's a really nice place. You want to be in that place It feels a resort and it's not at resort prices. And you said, there's limited rooms. There are. And also too what we learned too, and this is interesting, maybe should pass it on, is that there's limited doubles Right. Rooms. So if you're traveling alone, please don't book a double room. , we really need that double room for someone who's gonna have multiple people in the room. And you're probably gonna get a better room too. Yeah. The king-size rooms are pretty nice. They are pretty nice. So but book now because you they're gonna run out. Right. Guarantee. It's already the room reservations have gone faster than we anticipated already, so people need to get those rooms reserved. And let's just say this, there's already more people registered for this conference than than we had for our first conference. Right. Registered for Rx twenty twenty right now than came to our first conference. Yes. Yes. That's pretty amazing. It is pretty amazing. So it's gonna be the one that you definitely don't wanna miss. Exactly. You're wrecking up those badges, The RX badges, how many times you've attended. This is not the year to have the gap. Right. Mind the gap. Yes. Thank you. And are we gonna talk about the winners? Yes. So we had a promotional package that we put out at Rx twenty nineteen, which is fun because that's the first time we've had everything pulled together enough in advance that we could open up registration. And so we had several packages that we put out there for people who registered in the first two weeks, and they could win suite upgrades, breakfast, massages, all kinds of fun stuff. And so those have all been announced and we've put those out on social media. It's been a lot of fun to do that. We will continue to keep the prices down for a little while here as much as we can. Our costs are going up on this conference. So we're doing the best we can to keep the prices as reasonable as possible. And we are holding costs down right now on the ticket price for the conference for you. So go ahead and get that registration in. We'll not be able to keep it at this early bird rate forever. Yeah. And we one of the areas we did get go see was the Presidential Suite and it is Oh, man. Amazing. Yes. It's a really nice apartment. it's huge. So who did they say stayed there? The country singer? Carth Brooks? No. No. I don't remember. But Matt Coulter will be staying there during the conference because he was the he was El Presidente. El Presidente, Matt. Congratulations. Good. I didn't know you're gonna go through with that. Yes. I'm glad you did. I'm still working on my trilling r's a little bit. Okay. El Presidente. Is that good? So I'm still working on Well, at any rate, Matt was very excited to learn that he won that and he was planning to bring his family with him on this trip. Oh, nice. So he has plenty of room for his wife and kids to join him. Oh, my gosh. They're gonna love it. They are gonna love it. Those kids are gonna love that suite. Yep. They're gonna have so much fun. I felt the the drawing that brought him to the top for the the Presidential Suite was probably just right. So that was exciting. Yeah. Alright. I think that's it. That was a lot. That was a lot. I feel we ran through it. There is a lot more coming. We've been very busy. Yes. But this is exciting things. Just I I'm super excited for 2020, Rx 2020. It's gonna be amazing. I know I kind of only want to work on that now. Yeah. Can I only do that? No. Dang it. Alright. Well, I'll do it anyway. I'll just do some other stuff too. Good. Alright. Well, thanks for joining us for another Rockcast. We're excited to share the things that are going on here with you. And even more than that, we're really excited to hear back from you about the things that you're doing inside the community. And I'm telling you what guys, you are really contributing this this year in new ways and in big ways. So thank you so much for your support in many ways. And we will have another update Kerry Underwood. That's who stayed in the tour. Kerry Underwood. That's the Presidential Suite. That's right. Sorry. It just came to me. Been dying trying to frame my rhythm. El Presidente Kerry and El Presidente Matt. Yeah. So Chuck under the table, maybe she autographed it. I don't know. Oh. Maybe so. I do remember one unique thing about that table. It cannot be moved. Right. So Matt, do not try and move the table. They made a big deal out of that. Yeah. I guess it's been requested that someone move the table because they wanted to do yoga there. Yes. These are the type of people who get the Presidential Suite. Special people. Alright. So that's it for today. Join us next time, and we'll have another update of all the exciting things we're working on. Do a church that loves the idea of using Rock but hasn't taken that leap yet? With managed hosting, churches of any size can get access to Rock's amazing technology, hassle free. With just one click, Rock's managed hosting removes the roadblocks that might stop a church from switching to Rock by making the process simple. Churches get the ease of a SaaS church management system without losing any of Rock's powerful features. 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