Jon's Corner

It’s now December and the days keep getting shorter. This past year we have acquired about 60 chickens that my son Ethan and I watch over. They lay about three dozen eggs a day. Ethan cleans the eggs and puts them out for sale. So many great lessons to learn at such a young age!

One thing we have learned as the days get shorter: free-range chickens lay fewer eggs. With a little research we realized that they need more light. Being someone that looks for ways to be efficient in any situation, I went to Amazon.com and purchased a solar-powered light for the chicken coop. Hopefully the chickens will become happier and lay more eggs.

What’s the connection with finalsite? On the farm and in our company, we look for solutions that work and benefit all parties involved. Currently finalsite has around a 95%% employee retention rate, something that is very important to me.

 We also have around a 95%% international and independent school retention rate. We take one simple saying into account when we think of our customers, “We treat others the way we want to be treated.” We continue to look at ways to better serve our customers and employees.

I have found the book Integrity: The Courage To Meet The Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud to be incredibly helpful as finalsite has grown over the years. This book has so many great ways to look at situations around dealing with people and growing a company. It’s one of those books I highly recommend.

As yet one more way to let our clients know we appreciate their partnership, we are giving several gifts this year. First, to our U.S. clients we have sent a bar of chocolate to be enjoyed. Like last year, we are holding our famous “Break the Brick” contest where a lucky school who has videotaped the most creative way of breaking the bar will win an iPad. Other prizes are also available; for more information, go to finalsite.com/chocolate for rules and information on entering the contest.

In the spirit of the season and giving we also plan to give every customer – U.S. and international - another 500 MB this year. Right around the end of the year you will see your disk space jump again.

Thanks for another wonderful year and giving us the opportunity to serve you.

In This Issue:

News You Can Use

Best Practices

Teacher's Corner

News:

	11-30 NEW: American School of Brasilia Brasilia, Brazil
	11-30 St. LAUNCH: The Fay School Houston, TX
	11-24 NEW: Walworth Barbour American International School Even Yehuda, Israel
	read more >

News You Can Use

We Thank You

Break the Brick...
Win an iPad!

Three pounds of chocolate…how are you going to share that bounty with your team this year? finalsite is again sending its U.S. clients a gift of chocolate in appreciation of their partnership and loyalty over the year. Why not get creative and join in the Break the Brick contest while you’re dividing up the confection? Videotape how you’ll break the brick and, if your video is chosen as the winning clip, you’ll win an iPad. For more, go to finalsite.com/chocolate. (Due to shipping issues, we are unable to ship overseas this year, but our international clients are welcome to participate by purchasing a chocolate bar and videotaping their creative efforts!)

Web Tech Events in Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago and More...

Free professional development is just around the corner from you at this year’s finalsite Web Tech Events. These free half to full day workshops are filled with the latest web trends and networking opportunities and include a free lunch. See finalsite.com/webtech for a complete listing of upcoming events as well as more information. Don’t miss out!

TABS, CASE-NAIS, NAIS

Our bags are packed and we look forward to seeing you. Please stop by our booths at TABS, CASE-NAIS, and NAIS and say hello. We love seeing our valued clients and touching base. Don’t miss finalsite’s presentations at TABS (with Jon Moser) and NAIS (Jon Moser and Lorrie Jackson) as well!

finalsite University 2011
Registration is Open

Make plans now to attend next summer’s finalsite University which will be held June 21 through 23, 2011 at Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut. Pat Bassett, President of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and Pete Upham, Executive Director of The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), will be our keynote speakers along with Jon Moser, President and Founder of finalsite. To register or for more information on hotels, etc., go to finalsiteU.com

Webinar Spotlight

Websites for International Schools
ECIS/finalsite Webinar Series
December 7, 2010 9:00 - 10:00 EST
(-5 h GMT)
Many of finalsite's powerful tools are of particular use and value to institutions involved in international education. Join us as we explore website features and tools of special interest to the international community. Topics include: dual or multi-language websites; currency, date, and time format; site lock-down; multi-language spell-checks; universal keyboard; PagePops; and much more.
Register Today!

For more upcoming webinars, see: finalsite.com/webinars.

Best Practices for Schools

Raise Fund-Raising Awareness With A Website Thermometer

“You have to find creative ways to reach out to your prospective donors. This was definitely one of them. I think every independent school website should have one!”

-Carlos Barroso, Director of Marketing and Communication, St. Andrews School

Sometimes graphics speak louder than words. That was the case for St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida last year when they wanted a visual that would reinforce the goal and latest update from the school’s annual fund.

The idea originated in the fall of 2009 and the school and finalsite collaborated to create the first usage of this element by the CASE-NAIS Annual Conference in January 2010. Feedback has been very positive with users eager to see progress on the thermometer as they visit the web page.

More importantly, the school hit its annual fund goal last year in part due to heightened awareness from tools such as the thermometer. This year, the thermometer is also being used in print form on signs in carpool lines along with the online version, reinforcing the progress of giving over the months.

finalsite has made this tool available for free for any school interested; submit a ticket to get the process started. For other examples, see Westover School  and Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. Make your annual fund dreams a reality with this interactive tool for your next campaign!

Teacher's Corner

Coordinating Calendars

Wish you could see the events happening in classes other than your own? Maybe you want to make sure there aren't too many tests scheduled or projects due in one day?  Now you can! Read on for this easy tip from finalsite’s Deployment team.

With our summer release we've added a new feature to the Calendar Manager that lets you “peek” into other teacher's calendars. Now, you can't edit the events in their classes but you'll be able to see what they have assigned so you can coordinate with the events you'll be adding to your own calendar! First you'll need to make sure that your site administrator has this enabled in the Calendar Manager. If it's enabled when you log into the Calendar Manager you should see the following:

Once you click there, you'll see a pop-up window where you can select the type of calendar events you'd like to view: homework, class events, exams, quizzes or other custom event types you may have set up at your school. You're able to see events from all groups or select specific groups.

Once you select the group spaces and type of events you'd like to see you'll see something like this:

Easy! Hope this is helpful and let us know what other topics you’d like to see tips on in upcoming newsletters.