Web Team Instructions
Each year we host a virtual General Assembly (GA) on UUA.org. These notes track the before, during, and after process of making pages for GA online.

Before GA begins, we make pages for each of the events we know we'll be streaming video for: usually everything that occurs in the General Session room.
During GA, we embed live-streaming video on the home page for that year's GA and update event pages as they occur.
After GA, we edit the GA online home to use the past tense. We send videos out to a transcription service, and post the transcripts on the page with each video when it comes back.
GA [Year] Index
Each year's GA page will live at /ga/off-site/YEAR until some time after GA, when it gets moved to /ga/past/YEAR.
Start off with a video placeholder image like the one above, and include text like this:
Video of public events from General Assembly (GA) 2021 will be live-streamed on this page, June 23-27—no registration required. Watch General Sessions and the Sunday Morning Worship. On-demand video will be available after each event concludes.
Before or between events, embed the video for the next event with text like the following:
General Session I (1 hour): 1:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. CT / 11:00 a.m. MT / 10:00 a.m. PT, June 20, 2024 | No registration required | Agenda
You may register for GA to gain access to the rest of General Assembly, but watching video on this page is free.
For registrants—sign in to Whova, email gaonlinesupport@uua.org, or visit the “Ask Me” page.
When the event is over, switch to the next video. When GA is over, remove the embedded video box.
Post the "Live-Streaming Video Schedule" with text like, "The following events will be streamed here as they occur. On-demand video will be available after each event concludes." As events occur, move links to event pages to a new section of "On-Demand Video."
Event Pages
Page Locations
Each year's GA online has a section for Business & Social Witness which includes pages for general sessions and public witness. That's also where we post CSW alerts, annual reports, and GA minutes.
When we posted all the morning worships as well as the main hall worships, we had a section for Worship & Music (pre-2020). If we're only posting a few worships, they can be direct children of the year's index page.
If workshops are available to the public, they can go in a Workshops section.
Prepare for Sharing

An image which serves as a video placeholder for each event will assure people they're on the right page.
Each event page should include an image which will ensure that sharing the page on social media will include something relevant to see, and not just the UUA logo.
Include a body summary and hook title that help encourage people to "attend" the event.
- Sample title: "A Story of Us: Welcoming Celebration, #UUAGA 2017"
- Sample summaries (shoot for under 140 characters): "Video & chat at 8am CDT, June 22: celebrate of the web of life and greet the day with story and song and surprise!" or "Video & chat at 7:30pm CDT, June 21: the business of the Association is conducted: reports, debate, and more."
Before the Event
- Start with a clear statement like, "General Session II will be live-streamed here, June 24, 2021. 1:30 p.m. EDT / 12:30 p.m. CDT / 11:30 a.m. MDT / 10:30 a.m. PDT. No registration required."
- Once live-streaming events have been created on YouTube, we can embed those videos on the page for each event. Before then, we can include a placeholder image to let people know that video will appear in that spot. Set the video/image to 66% wide, left-aligned.
- Include the chat snippet in a Paragraph (see below for more on chat). Set that to 33% wide, right-aligned.
- Post the program description and any agendas, orders of service, or other materials for each event.
- Include links to special collections where relevant.
- Hide the section menu so the video has plenty of real estate even with the chat box next to it.
- If we have video with ASL as an option, create another page for that video & the chat. Refer to the original page for the agenda, order of service, or reporting. This page does not need to be on a menu; instead, link to it in the caption of the video on the original page: “Watch with ASL.”
After the Event
- Post scripts, transcripts, or other updates like vote results, interesting Tweets, or reporting from UU World as they come in.
- Remove the chat snippet and set the video to 100% wide, no alignment.
- Un-hide the section menu.
- Update the hook image and description.
- Remove the chat from the page with the ASL video, if there is one.
Important Message
Edit the "Important Message" snippet as follows (Admin HTML so the icon will stay black) just before/during live-streaming events. Retire the snippet in between events.
<p class="text-black"><a class="no-line text-black" href="/ga/off-site/2024"><span class="fab fa-youtube" title="YouTube video"> </span>Live-streaming today! General Assembly 2024: </a><a class="text-black" href="/ga/off-site/2024/business/i">General Session I (1 hour), 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT</a> and <a class="text-black" href="/ga/off-site/2024/business/ii">General Session II (2 hours), 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT</a></p>
Business & General Session Pages
Update the business and General Session pages as appropriate with agendas, summaries of actions/votes taken or to be taken, etc.
Voting results from previous ballots are announced at the beginning of sessions; make a note of those results on the appropriate General Session page and the business page.
The daily emails sent to delegates is usually a good source of material.