As an affiliate leader I was asked if I would share at the TESOL International Convention a challenge that Maryland TESOL had this past year. The idea was to have affiliates learn from each other. Do you have any idea what I had to share? It was the challenge of getting a new website. (I thought you might be interested in this information in case you decide to get a new website.)

The Maryland TESOL board was very organized in the process of looking for a new website provider. Each person on the board reviewed a different state’s TESOL website. We looked for user-friendliness, visual appeal, features, and so on. When we came back together we decided to go with the Massachusetts TESOL web provider. It seemed to be the best overall.

We were greeted by the website provider with open arms. They set up a conference call with the board and we listened to everything they had to say. We were guaranteed that they would be extremely supportive and that everything was going to be easily transferred from our old website to our new website. We were also told that we had nothing to because since they would handle everything.

However, have you read the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin? The process ended up being similar to that story. In case you have not read it, the moose was given a muffin. Then he wanted:

• — jam for the muffin
• — more and more and more muffins
• — a sweater when the door was opened (because the baker had to go out to buy more muffin mix)

After that, the moose noticed one of the buttons was loose on the sweater, which reminded him of puppets his grandmother used to make, so he wanted:

• — old socks to make puppets to put on a puppet show
• — cardboard and paints for the scenery
• — and so on

Well, FYI: We started the website process a year in advance of our annual state conference to ensure that we had everything ready to go so you could all find information about the conference with plenty of time. But the website provider continually stopped the process of building the website because they wanted more and more and more information from us. They asked for things they were supposed to take care of. They had us making calls to our old website provider, the gateway, the merchandise service provider. You name it, we called it. Once we had the information they requested, they were hard to get a hold of. (Their sales person was different than their support person.) And the support person provided much misinformation along the way, making us make more calls to clarify what they truly needed.

In addition, the old website had to be put into a dormant state to get the new one activated. Thus, we couldn’t even use the old website to keep you informed about the conference. The conference came around before they had it set up. Oh my! Nevertheless, through much perseverance, the website, as you know, is up and running. I would like to thank Karen Blinder, Sofia Marshak, and Perry Gorelick for all of their hard work in getting it to where it is now, as well as the board.

Tips for you in case you are setting up a new website:

• — When searching for a website provider, not only should you review the website and call them to hear their level of support, but also use a website provider that is recommended to you (or a trusted colleague).
• — If you run into the same problem of the new website taking time to get set up, make phone calls, emails, send/post flyers, use Facebook, and use your work websites to get your information out.

Remember, life is about the journey not the destination.

See the Maryland TESOL newsletter for this and other news.

Dr. Gilda Martinez-Alba, Maryland TESOL past president, currently teaches at Towson University in the Graduate Reading Program. She instructs teachers becoming reading specialists who are specializing in ESOL.