Final pre-launch walkthrough of the VCEDC website with Kathy Schmitz (VCEDC) and the Asymmetric team. The site was approved for launch that evening, contingent on a set of fixes and content updates identified during the review. Mark (developer) was on standby to push the site live once changes were applied.
Attendees:
- Melissa Cusumano (Asymmetric) — project lead
- Isalia Ramirez (Asymmetric) — implementation
- Aquilino Acedron (Asymmetric)
- Mark Hope (Asymmetric) — developer, not on call but on standby
- Kathy Schmitz (VCEDC) — client
Related client: [1]
| Owner | Task |
|---|---|
| Melissa | Contact Mark (developer) to fix missing submit button on Event Notification form |
| Isalia | Fix map default view on Contact Us page — currently resets to middle of ocean |
| Isalia | Reconfigure Donate page with three options in correct order (Check → PayPal → Stripe) |
| Isalia | Revert Leadership page: Jim → Board Chair, Kate Farrell → Board Chair Elect |
| Isalia | Disable links for Business of the Year entries prior to 2024 |
| Isalia | Replace "Endless Forest" homepage photo (Brad & Ruby) with a winter-themed photo from the tourism library |
| Mark | Push site live once all fixes are confirmed |
| Owner | Task |
|---|---|
| Melissa | Coordinate with Tracy to configure form-to-KIT integration (both Contact Us and Event Notification forms) |
| Melissa | Grant Tracy admin access to the new site |
| Kathy | Send Tracy's contact info to Melissa |
| Kathy | Locate and send news releases for past Business of the Year winners to Tracy and Asymmetric |
| Tracy (VCEDC) | Update Leadership page roles on January 1 |
| Tracy (VCEDC) | Link past Business of the Year entries to their respective news releases |
| Tracy (VCEDC) | Update Business of the Month winner photo (Eagle River Animal Hospital plaque) once re-photographed |
The form's submit button disappeared after a recent developer update. Melissa flagged this during the live review and immediately moved to contact Mark. A test submission was successfully received by Kathy during the call, confirming the form itself was routing correctly — the button rendering was the isolated issue.
The embedded map on the Contact Us page was defaulting to a view of the open ocean rather than the VCEDC location. Likely caused by the same developer update that affected the form. Isalia noted this for immediate fix.
The current hero photo is pixelated and features Brad and Ruby, who were associated with the old website. The photo is also approximately five years old. Decision made to replace with a winter-themed image from the Vilas County tourism photo library. A specific candidate (a child in a winter scene) was selected during the call.
The donate page needed restructuring into three distinct options. Kathy specified the order explicitly, prioritizing "Mail a Check" first to accommodate older businesses and community members who prefer traditional payment methods.
The page had been updated prematurely to reflect post-January 1 roles, listing Kate Farrell as Board Chair. This was corrected during the call: Jim returns to Board Chair, Kate to Board Chair Elect. Tracy will make the official update on January 1.
Past award winner entries were linking to generic "Business of the Month" pages, which contain incorrect copy (including a "nominate a business of the month" call to action). Decision: disable all links prior to 2024. Tracy will later link each year to the correct news release. The underlying pages for prior years may be removed or repurposed once Tracy reviews them.
Both the Contact Us and Event Notification forms need to automatically populate VCEDC's KIT email system. Kathy confirmed this was working on the previous site. Tracy manages the KIT account and will need to be looped in to configure the integration. Melissa does not currently have KIT login credentials.
"If once people send me a notification, it should automatically be populated into KIT." — Kathy Schmitz
On launch approval:
"Go ahead and go live. Make the changes that we talked about today. Go live." — Kathy Schmitz
On donate page order rationale:
"We still have, you know, we're very rural and a lot of older businesses that we work with, and there's a lot of people that still write checks out." — Kathy Schmitz
On KIT integration:
"It should automatically be populated into KIT, because if you want notifications to sign up for events, that means that we need to have you in our system." — Kathy Schmitz
On go-live timing:
"It's actually probably the best time because then if it takes a few hours, it's at night instead of during the day." — Melissa Cusumano