Kitely Forums

So on Sunday there was a decision to create a Greeters Group. This group was created specifically for those who want to be part of welcoming new members.
We all had a lot of ideas as to what could be done.
This thread is to discuss our ideas regarding how to improve the New Resident Experience.

I am going to offer a few things that I think might be helpful.

Upon arriving in the Welcome area, one is greeted with a large tree, and some text on boards around the perimeter. The whole of the region is lovely, the nicest welcome area I have seen in fact - but there is little direction.


Rather than a tree in the middle I think a well made board, with the same style and attractiveness that the rest of the builds on this region share.
On the board should be a few clickable panels.

*Welcome Pack - which would include agreed upon landmarks (Serene passed us out a great folder at the meeting) to find initial freebies. It would also include a notecard with a bit of a how to. Ex: "To Explore in Kitely, go to the kitely website and log in with your Username and Password you used to log into the viewer. Choose this page here https://www.kitely.com/search and you will be able to see many world pages with descriptions of what you will find there. You will be able to teleport to the world from the web page by chosing 'enter world', or make note of the region, enter it into your Map in your viewer and access iit that way.
A world will take a few moments to load up if there is no one in the region at that time. This is because Kitely worlds run on very robust servers and the way we keep costs affordable to our residents is by only having them come online when someone teleports to them. Worlds with many items may load a bit slower, but generally the wait is not long at all. Be aware that you can only access worlds that match the maturity rating chosen in your Profile at the Kitely Website."

*Male Parts - which is a folder of many skins/shapes and outfit from Clutterfly. (no there are no naughty parts in it, regardless of the name)
*Female Parts - Same as above.
So maybe those Three Panels Vertically - then in a larger square to the right of it, a list of some destinations, either Kitely Sponsored, or destinations found ON the welcome region.

Benches could be around the perimeter of this area, with maybe a little coffee vendor or some such thing. We have many spots in the Welcome area, but many are not utilized. Perhaps one of those areas could actually be a venue, and various G rated events could be held there by residents.

A board with Online Indicator panels of anyone in the Greeters Group who agrees to donate some time to being available to help New Residents could be great also. I have heard many people tell me 'I came here to explore but Search doesn't work in the viewer', or 'I have been here a few times and can never find anyone around' -- we don't have anything on our splash page indicating whether there are people in world or not and some people have said that they figured that means no one is online. Having an indicator board - and having some Greeter Members hang out would be a great way to help show how vibrant of a community we are.

That's all I can really think of right now.

Hi,. just checking before i post info on this subject, if this is the right place to make suggestions on improvements to the welcome center? If not, please direct me where to go for that, ty.

Here are some articles I have done about welcome centers.

Grid welcome centers on the Hypergrid, examples and summary. For the HGProject
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/ ... rs-on.html

3RG new Welcome Center rework and upgrade. HGProjects
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/ ... enter.html

DigiWorldz lets customers promote their places on its welcome sim
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/ ... -lets.html

Community-based welcome site (New Media Arts project)
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/ ... lcome.html
Web based preliminary welcome site (starter instruction is given here)
http://www.newmediaarts.org/home/projec ... ll-travel/

Thank you Moonrise.

Don, this is a good thread in which to make suggestions for improving the Kitely Welcome Center.

Here is a Quote from the 1st Listing of links Selby provided. It sums up the the one thing any welcome center has to do right and do it 1st, everything else is after this.
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" The first place your visitors see when they visit your grid or community is your welcome center or entry point. Remember hearing about the importance of first impressions? Does your entry point make the kind of first impression you want it to make? "

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How does the "new person" feel within 10-15 seconds after they rez in. This is the Single most important thing that will get someone to stay to learn more and explore, if this is failed, they simply "Poof" and they are gone, most likely never to return. From that point of entry into kitely < or any landing spot really > an impression IS made. Make sure its the one you want them to "feel".

A key note from my years doing business in SL previously, If they pop in and "have to hunt for anything they came for" most dont and leave. Make sure Vital information is available at the entry point, so the AV doesnt have to move to see it, if they have to hunt for it, it might as well be on the moon for 95% of the people.
So answer these questions correctly as possible, and its a Win Win,
1) What does the new person want to see instantly when they arrive?
2) Does your entry point meet that expectation adequately enough?
3) Does your entry area "lead" people to more information on things like Events, Hot Spots, Plays, Desired locations? < insert reason they logged in to try kitely here >
The more YES you can answer those questions with any design, the more likely people who try kitely will stay and do more, become more involved.
The more NO to those questions, the quicker they leave.
Keep in mind, no build for this is perfect for everyone.
Currently the Welcome center is a warm neutral area, not completely bad, having the things nearby is decent, what it lacks is a 1st impression that makes more people want to stay and see more. Landing next to a tree with a sign on it does not inspire one to want to stay and see more. I am new here and have met some very talented people already, I am sure the new design will be an improvement, looking forward to seeing it.

To Sum up what i am saying : The 1st Impression isnt just something that matters, it might as well be the ONLY thing that matters, if you loose there attention there, nothing else you did matters, they are already gone....

If i can be of any assistance on this project, please let me know. I Thank you all whom are involved actively making Kitely a better place for all of us!

Thanks, all, for the suggestions made so far. It should be possible to include at least some of these, maybe slightly adapted but still "in the spirit of", in the new centre.

Please understand that there are a lot of constraints and requirements that any build like this has to meet. Sometimes these conflict with each other, and then they need to be prioritised. If any suggestion isn't implemented, it's not because it hasn't been considered.

Because this is such a key build for Kitely, Ilan and Oren have to have final say on what is done.

I have really only one thing I want on record here. The most important thing people can see when they enter ANY new community, be it virtual or actual, is welcoming and friendly people (in this case, avatars). Without PEOPLE to represent it, no community looks like it has much to offer. Imagine going to a new school where no one says "hi" or a new temple where no one around you bothers to introduce herself or invite you to lunch. Imagine a shopping mall where there is no one to point you to the store directory quickly or encourage you to hear the music being performed in the food court. Imagine having to hunt and read for more than a couple minutes to learn how to buy a condo in a new retirement community. Would you stay? Would you go hunting for people and activities or would you justleave, assuming the place was not all that interested in having you join the fun?

I have visited the welcome areas on several grids. Some are really, really good at welcoming new people and helping them want to hang around. Inwordlz and GCG, VH and Metro come to mind right away because, on all three of those grids, I was met and welcomed by people who seemed really to want me there and who made themselves available to answer questions. Digi and Craft come in second because there were greeters on duty and it would have been easy for me to beckon their help, had I needed it. Also, several grids handed me a packet of info when I landed or showed me how to quickly ask for it by touching an object that was clearly labeled and visible when I landed.

The only thing that makes people feel truly welcome when they come to a welcome center is actually being welcomed by other people. Period.

Have you all seen this? Here's the kind of entry point you could build with a big budget! In the end, they do admit that the most important thing is the greeters.

While this is a great example of a big expensive build, I think there are some ideas we could borrow. Where they have all these fun things for newbies in one place, on Kitely, our residents can build these fun things on their own worlds and we can point newbies to them. Anyway, lots of food for thought if you are a builder in opensim.

http://www.slartist.com/firestorm-gatew ... a1836.html

Wow I love this welcome center, it really show all the potential of virtual world into one place.