August 2016 - Summer may mean holidays to anyone who doesn't work in students' unions but to the MSL team and all of you out there getting ready for the new term and Freshers, we know the summer months are a time to put new ideas in place, refresh websites and get excited about bigger and better participation projects.

In this summer newsletter (part 1) we're pleased to bring you details of some of the projects we're working on and news from the wider MSL community.  As always, we love to hear what you've been up to, so if you have a great student engagement story to share, please send us the details.

Improving security for your website with HTTPS
Edinburgh University Sports' Union joins MSL
August training dates - MSL Basics and MSL Elections
Coventry University Students' Union selects the MSL System 
MSL User Group meeting
MSL Support email address change

Look out for part 2 in the next few weeks.

Improving security for your MSL website

We're pleased to advise that we have completed the majority of your website moves over to HTTPS which is a more secure version of the normal HTTP protocol. Hypertext Transfer Protocol - Secure (HTTPS) provides authentication of your website (so preventing it being impersonated by an impostor) and encrypts all communications between your site users and the website to ensure that the traffic cannot be read or forged by third parties. This is especially important for your site where users log in with their credentials and make payments to you. If you would like more information about this move, please contact us.

Edinburgh University Sports' Union joins MSL

We're pleased to announce that EUSU recently selected the MSL System for their membership management platform, including new website and the MSL App, to provide the digital resources they need to manage the diverse requirements of their clubs and members. Read the news in full.

Don't miss out on two training opportunities in August

Join us on the 22nd and 23rd August for two full days of training on MSL Basics and MSL Elections.  Places cost £35 + VAT per delegate per session which includes lunch. MSL Basics training on the 22nd will cover managing your site users and memberships, creating products and events through to basic website editing - book your places.

MSL Elections training on the 23rd will cover setting up groups, posts and voter lists, displaying elections, results and real-time voting stats on your website, running the count and the different stages of the count - book your places.

Coventry University Students' Union selects the MSL System

One of the largest students' unions in the UK, CUSU has chosen the MSL System to help support its strategic participation and engagement objectives following a comprehensive review of the market. CUSU will use MSL's membership management system together with Elections and Volunteering modules. Read the news in full.

MSL User Group meeting -  NUS Digital Summit  

MSL was delighted to take part for the first time in the NUS Digital Summit last month. We hosted an MSL User Group meeting there, the notes from which have now been published. Steve Gibson at Exeter Guild of Students has kindly offered to take up the role of administrator for the MSL User Group and we look forward to the next group event which will likely be a virtual meeting. Access July's User Group meeting notes here and look out for communications about the next meeting date.

MSL Support email address change

Please note that from Monday 5th September, all email communication from the MSL Support team will come from support@ukmsl.com. The helpdesk@ email will continue to accept incoming emails but all responses will be from the support@ address. Please update your records accordingly.