Off Topic: Arkansas Baptist Annual Meeting

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Is anyone else on here going to the Arkansas Baptist Annual Meeting in Hot Springs around the end of the month? I’ll be attending at least the Tuesday afternoon sessions and SWBTS meeting. It’d be fun to meet some other Accordance users!

 

Here’s the info on the meeting: https://arkansasbaptist.org/post/first-baptist-church-in-hot-springs-to-host-arkansas-baptists-for-2022-annual-meeting/

 

If there’s a better forum thread to move this too, feel free to. 

[Kristin]

Hi @Nathan Parker,

I am not Baptist, so I won't be going (it's also kind of far) But I just wanted to mention that I think it was a good idea to post it here, as I agree it would be fun to meet Accordance people in real life.

 

Take care and I hope you have a good trip.
Kristin

[Rev. Dr. Timothy M. Hall]

I have been a Texas Baptist in the past and am now an anabaptist (Mennonite Brethren) ... I agree with @Kristinthis is a good idea. I might post something like it for my next convention.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Thanks! I also showed the link to Accordance marketing in case they want me to help “talk up” Accordance (especially that Accordance 14 is coming) when I’m there. I’d be glad to do it!

[Pastor Jonathan]

Was Baptist (Independent, Fundamental) then non denominational.

 

Now I am Brethren, Covenant Brethren Church.

 

Wonder If Accordance is or would be interested here as well.

 

Maybe we can set a page on this forum for announcing conferences/meetings?

 

@Mark Allison or @R. Mansfield would that be possible?

Edited October 10, 2022 by Pastor Jonathan

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Might be useful. Or at least have a general thread we could chat about stuff like this in case there’s an opportunity for future Accordance user meetups.

[Pastor Jonathan]

37 minutes ago, Nathan Parker said:

Might be useful. Or at least have a general thread we could chat about stuff like this in case there’s an opportunity for future Accordance user meetups.

That would be great. Hot Springs is almost the other side of the country to me, but I do travel some.

 

I think a designated thread for this would be great. 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Pastor Jonathan
Grammatical fixes.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Pastor Jonathan said:

Maybe we can set a page on this forum for announcing conferences/meetings?

 

@Mark Allison or @R. Mansfield would that be possible?

 

Well, this whole thread is a bit iffy as it is since the guidelines specifically ask that we refrain from posting non-Accordance-related announcements. For about 30 seconds, over the weekend, I debated whether to step in or leave it be. I left it since there was discussion about Accordance user meetups. 

We're always conservative about adding new sections to the forums so as not to overwhelm new visitors. If anything, we could just set up an "Other" section. Lemme think on it a while.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I was a bit hesitant to post it to this particular section since it wasn’t directly about Accordance, but I wanted to see if any other Accordance users were attending in case we could have an Accordance users meetup at the event (which would be super fun). I couldn’t find another section to post it in that would fit. 

 

On an “Other” section, you could set it up as a smaller, sub-forum if you do it or put it at the bottom of the General forum groups so it’s not heavily visible to new users and not too overwhelming. You could also restrict it still so that the discussions still need to be loosely Accordance-related (such as Accordance users discussing conferences to arrange for Accordance user meetup events, etc.). It doesn’t need to derail into discussing non-Accordance stuff, but would be useful for discussing Accordance-related stuff that’s not directly tied to the program.

[Pastor Jonathan]

4 hours ago, R. Mansfield said:

 

Well, this whole thread is a bit iffy as it is since the guidelines specifically ask that we refrain from posting non-Accordance-related announcements. For about 30 seconds, over the weekend, I debated whether to step in or leave it be. I left it since there was discussion about Accordance user meetups. 

We're always conservative about adding new sections to the forums so as not to overwhelm new visitors. If anything, we could just set up an "Other" section. Lemme think on it a while.

I understand about the guidelines and am careful about that.

 

But as was mentioned, and I think would be a BIG help for Accordance, is to know where these meetings are held so you can work with the leadership of these groups and see about getting your team there.

 

I was even going to suggest putting together packages based on who you go to. In this thread alone, Baptist, Pietist, Anabaptist, Brethren, Mennonite authors could be compiled, and presented as sets. I for one would love works by Alexander Mack, (?) Naas, and Donald Durenbaugh. But these are just some of what can be done.

 

I do think this topic should be down a bit so as not to overfill the other parts of the forum, but we, the users, are simply wishing to help. And for some, these updates are how we can.

 

Another company would take the leap at having this information and I don't want Accordance to fall behind on this.

 

So, I will respect and accept your decision on what to do with this thread, but I wanted to just share my. 02. 

 

I hope you take this response in the heart it is intended. But I see great potential. 

 

ETA: Accordance meetups would also be a great opportunity as well. Forgot to add that. Thanks @Nathan Parker for the idea.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Pastor Jonathan

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Good comments @Pastor Jonathan. If there was a forum thread we could post these to well in advance of the meetings, it’s possible that either Accordance staff could attend them, or even team up with Accordance users attending them to help sell targeted Accordance modules packages at the meetings with content the meeting participates would be most interested in purchasing (plus offer additional sales on select Accordance modules to meeting participants). Maybe these Accordance users could become  “Accordance Ambassadors” and receive some Accordance module credit in exchange for helping to sell modules at some of these meetings. Accordance could clear such setups with the leadership of the meetings first (so no unsolicited selling is going on), but it would be a great way for Accordance to increase its marketing at these events, and even leverage the Accordance user community in places it’s difficult for them to attend. Accordance could setup a process for this to ensure everything is done properly and “by the book” (so a user doesn’t just go out and wing it on their own).

 

Accordance user meetups is another big benefit of these meetings. I’d love to be able to sit down with a handful of Accordance users and just chat about the software, tips and strategies on getting more out of Accordance, how other’s use Accordance in their workflows, what modules they use, what modules they’d like to see in Accordance, etc. Such meetups would be a great way for users to interact and get more out of Accordance in general and have some fellowship in the process. Now that COVID restrictions are finally being lifted in some areas, it’d just feel good to interact with other Accordance users in-person and talk about how we all use and love Accordance.

[djohnston]

On 10/8/2022 at 9:01 PM, Nathan Parker said:

Is anyone else on here going to the Arkansas Baptist Annual Meeting in Hot Springs around the end of the month? I’ll be attending at least the Tuesday afternoon sessions and SWBTS meeting. It’d be fun to meet some other Accordance users!

 

Here’s the info on the meeting: https://arkansasbaptist.org/post/first-baptist-church-in-hot-springs-to-host-arkansas-baptists-for-2022-annual-meeting/

 

If there’s a better forum thread to move this too, feel free to. 

 

I'll be around.  I know I'll be at the Pastor's conference on Monday.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I won’t be making it to the Monday sessions, but I’ll be there Tuesday afternoon for sure.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I’ve been pondering my feedback above on an “Accordance Ambassador” program a little more.

 

Logos had (maybe still has) an “Ambassador” program a while back. Their program had a few complications

 

• Users were treated as quasi-employees/contractors, so Logos had to deal with tax reporting, etc.
• Users had an annual quota of Bible software base packages to sell to remain in the program.
• Users still bought base packages and books in order to promote them, but they had to go through the employee purchase channel, which was confusing.
• Users had to handle the sales for Logos and pass them onto Logos.

I had considered doing it years ago, but it was too complicated for me.

 

An “Accordance Ambassador” program could be more of a “referral program on steroids”:

 

• Accordance users are still users, not quasi-employees. No tax reporting, etc., to deal with.
• There’s no annual quota of sales to remain in the program.
• Accordance users could signup with an online form, then participate in some basic training with some high-level overviews of the Accordance advantages, main features of Accordance, primary collections, and most-popular Accordance modules. Most of this on-demand. There could be some live webinars during the initial stages of the program.
• The program could start out centered around “events”. Eventually it could expand where “Accordance Ambassadors” could help promote Accordance in churches, Bible colleges/seminaries, and other ministry contexts.
• Any major events Accordance Marketing Staff could attend would continue to be handled by the Accordance Marketing Staff. Rick and the rest of the team has to have some of the fun! 
• Where “Accordance Ambassadors” would be useful are for smaller, more targeted events that it’s impractical to dispatch Accordance Marketing Staff (such as annual state Baptist convention meetings, other denominational meetings, etc.). 
• The Accordance Marketing Staff could coordinate with the organizers of the meetings ahead of time and gain clearance to dispatch an “Accordance Ambassador” and find out what modules/bundles would be most useful to promote at the meeting.
• The Accordance Marketing Staff could put together a flyer for the “Accordance Ambassador” with the promoted sale items for the event, plus a coupon referral code on the flyer and expiration date. Those who attended the event and received the flyer could then order the items with Accordance before the sale end date.
• A biggie: Accordance’s sales channels (website, customer service), etc., handles all orders, not the “Ambassador”. The “Ambassador” acts more as a “referral on steroids”. This eliminates the “Ambassador” needing to be treated as a quasi-employee or handle any sales info.
• Another biggie: Payout would be in the form of an Accordance Gift Card (unlike Logos that paid out in cash and had to handle tax forms, etc.). No tax forms needed. It’s just another glorified referral program where the “Ambassador” makes a percentage off of each referral from the event.
• Future perks could be that “Ambassadors” get early access to future releases of Accordance (so they’re part of the customer beta testing program) so they’re ready to help tell others about all the great new features of each major Accordance release on launch day.

 

[Pastor Jonathan]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:47 PM, Nathan Parker said:

I’ve been pondering my feedback above on an “Accordance Ambassador” program a little more.

 

Logos had (maybe still has) an “Ambassador” program a while back. Their program had a few complications

 

• Users were treated as quasi-employees/contractors, so Logos had to deal with tax reporting, etc.
• Users had an annual quota of Bible software base packages to sell to remain in the program.
• Users still bought base packages and books in order to promote them, but they had to go through the employee purchase channel, which was confusing.
• Users had to handle the sales for Logos and pass them onto Logos.

I had considered doing it years ago, but it was too complicated for me.

 

An “Accordance Ambassador” program could be more of a “referral program on steroids”:

 

• Accordance users are still users, not quasi-employees. No tax reporting, etc., to deal with.
• There’s no annual quota of sales to remain in the program.
• Accordance users could signup with an online form, then participate in some basic training with some high-level overviews of the Accordance advantages, main features of Accordance, primary collections, and most-popular Accordance modules. Most of this on-demand. There could be some live webinars during the initial stages of the program.
• The program could start out centered around “events”. Eventually it could expand where “Accordance Ambassadors” could help promote Accordance in churches, Bible colleges/seminaries, and other ministry contexts.
• Any major events Accordance Marketing Staff could attend would continue to be handled by the Accordance Marketing Staff. Rick and the rest of the team has to have some of the fun! 
• Where “Accordance Ambassadors” would be useful are for smaller, more targeted events that it’s impractical to dispatch Accordance Marketing Staff (such as annual state Baptist convention meetings, other denominational meetings, etc.). 
• The Accordance Marketing Staff could coordinate with the organizers of the meetings ahead of time and gain clearance to dispatch an “Accordance Ambassador” and find out what modules/bundles would be most useful to promote at the meeting.
• The Accordance Marketing Staff could put together a flyer for the “Accordance Ambassador” with the promoted sale items for the event, plus a coupon referral code on the flyer and expiration date. Those who attended the event and received the flyer could then order the items with Accordance before the sale end date.
• A biggie: Accordance’s sales channels (website, customer service), etc., handles all orders, not the “Ambassador”. The “Ambassador” acts more as a “referral on steroids”. This eliminates the “Ambassador” needing to be treated as a quasi-employee or handle any sales info.
• Another biggie: Payout would be in the form of an Accordance Gift Card (unlike Logos that paid out in cash and had to handle tax forms, etc.). No tax forms needed. It’s just another glorified referral program where the “Ambassador” makes a percentage off of each referral from the event.
• Future perks could be that “Ambassadors” get early access to future releases of Accordance (so they’re part of the customer beta testing program) so they’re ready to help tell others about all the great new features of each major Accordance release on launch day.

 

These are great ideas.

 

But through it all, I will stress that conversations must be had with the meeting leaders and organizers before just trying to sell Accordance.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Indeed. For starters, that way someone isn’t walking around promoting something the meeting organizers aren’t aware of, plus the other benefit is the organizers might have suggestions for targeted modules/bundles to include in the conference sale. My guess is primary collections should probably always be included (for any new Accordance users or users who need to plunge into a larger collection), but each meeting would have certain modules/bundles that would most benefit their attendees.

[Pastor Jonathan]

13 hours ago, Nathan Parker said:

Indeed. For starters, that way someone isn’t walking around promoting something the meeting organizers aren’t aware of, plus the other benefit is the organizers might have suggestions for targeted modules/bundles to include in the conference sale. My guess is primary collections should probably always be included (for any new Accordance users or users who need to plunge into a larger collection), but each meeting would have certain modules/bundles that would most benefit their attendees.

Agree. But what would be beat in this instance of suggested bundles is if the Accordance Team communicates with these orgs before the conference, put together the module or the collection and then show up, run.a booth, meet the people involved and offer that very specific collection.

 

I know in my particular denomination, you promote a collection based on Pietism and AnaBaptism, with a few of their old writings and founders, they may be surprised. 

[Pastor Jonathan]

13 hours ago, Nathan Parker said:

Indeed. For starters, that way someone isn’t walking around promoting something the meeting organizers aren’t aware of, plus the other benefit is the organizers might have suggestions for targeted modules/bundles to include in the conference sale. My guess is primary collections should probably always be included (for any new Accordance users or users who need to plunge into a larger collection), but each meeting would have certain modules/bundles that would most benefit their attendees.

Agree. But what would be best in this instance of suggested bundles is if the Accordance Team communicates with these orgs before the conference, put together the module or the collection and then show up, run.a booth, meet the people involved and offer that very specific collection.

 

I know in my particular denomination, you promote a collection based on Pietism and AnaBaptism, with a few of their old writings and founders, they may be surprised. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I believe Accordance marketing has considered the idea of “denominational bundles”. I sent them some feedback a while back saying they shouldn’t go the same route as Logos and try to offer denominational primary collections (since when Logos gets into offering both base packages and denominational base package, it really confuses the lineup of what a “base package” or “primary collection” means), but I did suggest that Accordance could offer multiple levels of “denominational bundles” as an addon to an Accordance primary collection or the Accordance engine that would offer useful content. They said they’d consider my feedback, so maybe we’ll see something like it down the road. That could be one offering at these events, as well as other specialized bundles or module sales for the event.

[Kristin]

Just a little mouse in the corner...this thread sounds like Logos.

[Pastor Jonathan]

2 hours ago, Kristin said:

Just a little mouse in the corner...this thread sounds like Logos.

It may seem like it, but I wouldn't want that. This is more us trying to help Accordance. 

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I definitely don’t want Accordance becoming anything like Logos, and in fact, that’s why I’m making the suggestions I’m making in this thread. Logos has attempted to increase their marketing in the past with their own “Ambassador” program and “Denominational Base Packages”, but their execution of both was very complicated. My head still spins from it.

 

The idea of having Accordance users act as an “Ambassador” for Accordance at meetings/events Accordance marketing can’t practically attend would be a good suggestion, but my idea of a simplified “referral program” is far simpler than the way Logos pulled their program off.

 

Same way with “denominational packages”. The idea of denominational bundles makes sense for Accordance to consider. I could certainly use a Baptist bundle of books, and an Anglican bundle of books would have been useful for my PhD dissertation. Theologians and other Bible students sometimes need bundles of books based on a denomination or theological perspective. However, Logos execution of “denominational base packages” are confusing. For Accordance, I would prefer denominational “addon bundles” to the primary collections instead. They would be far simpler and easier to understand and purchase.

[Pastor Jonathan]

To expand on what @Nathan Parkerwas saying,

 

Accordance could offer, in my case, a Brethren addon.

 

Instead of all the filler, What I would absolutely love to have in that add on is:

 

Some Who Led: https://www.biblio.com/book/some-who-led-hardcover-miller-dl/d/864477092

 

Complete Writtings of Alexander Mack:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0936693126/ref=x_gr_mw_bb_sout?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_mw_bb_sout-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0936693126&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

 

Fruit of the Vine:

https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Vine-History-Brethren-1708-1995/dp/0871780038

 

 

And there are many others such as James Quinter's hymns, and many more.

 

A package that is put together of these and several more would be amazing.

 

And Baptist, Lutherns, Etc could compile lists like this. It doesnt take away from the Collections but is simply an add on.

 

Not sure if I clarified my idea and going in connection with @Nathan Parker.

[ukfraser]

14 hours ago, Nathan Parker said:

However, Logos execution of “denominational base packages” are confusing. For Accordance, I would prefer denominational “addon bundles” to the primary collections instead. They would be far simpler and easier to understand and purchase.

As this has morphed off topic from the original off topic, generally there is a lot of resources in packages i just don't find relevant and personally i would like the accordance staff to sort out the web site first so it makes it easier to see/find resources they already have. There are denominational groupings but im not sure i identify with them so adding those grouped resources to a package wouldn't help. And the competitor packages leave me underwhelmed. But looking at the screenshot below, based on the current tagging,  is this really what an anglican collection would contain, 1 volume? and brethren dont currently exist as a tagged tradition!!!

 

When i moved to apple in 2008, it took me about a year to understand the accordance site before i made the jump to bible software on a mac, the next iteration of the web site was easier to navigate but i find the current iteration a pain as the grouping isnt clear and nothing is in alphabetical order so i have to rely on search and hope i eventually use the correct word. with portrait orientation its awful on the iPad!!!! Now i just look at the sale page or search for tools that look interesting when i come across them on webinars.

 

what was wrong with the previous useful meaningful groupings of study bibles and commentaries and lexicons?
 

Not good for browsing!

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by ukfraser

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I’d also like to see the categories on the website more aligned with the categories of tools inside Accordance itself. That way, at-a-glance, I could see which categories of tools in Accordance I’m weak in and want to bulk up add to my Accordance library.

 

It might take some time for that. Web development takes a while, and I know Accordance’s web developers need to focus all their efforts on Accordance Cloud at the moment, but at least it’s a wishlist for the future. 🙂