Prepare a study with Silas

Pick the group's resources, have Silas draft themes, an outline and questions for one meeting, change anything, and keep it for the date.

A leader can have Silas draft a study for one meeting from the resources Trellis already holds, then lead the discussion from a phone. It's optional. A group that never uses it sees at most one line on its next meeting and nothing else changes.

Silas comes with any paid part of Trellis except free Groups alone, and an admin turns him on. Until then there's no Prepare with Silas button; see Silas settings. The group's leaders, co-leaders and office staff can prepare a study. It only shows for an upcoming group meeting that isn't cancelled.

Prepare a study

Open the group. On This week, press Prepare with Silas in the Study part of the next meeting. You can also open the date on Schedule and press Prepare with Silas there.
Under What should Silas read?, tick the resources to use. They're grouped as On this meeting, This group’s and For every group.
Check Passage or topic. It starts from the meeting's title.
Pick How long is the discussion?: 45, 60 or 75 minutes, or type any length from 45 to 120. Past 75 minutes you get the same six questions with more time on each, and you can add your own.
Add anything under Anything to keep in mind? (optional). Leave out names. Silas doesn't need them to write a study.
Press Draft the study.

You'll see the draft first. Nothing is saved until you keep it. If nothing is on the shelf, name a passage and Silas drafts from that alone.

What Silas reads and skips

Silas reads what you pick: PDFs, and the notes on a resource. He also sees the passage or topic, the length, your words, the group's stages of life and kind, and your church's statement of faith if it has one.

He never reads the roster, attendance, write-ups or prayer requests for this, and he isn't given the group's name.

A resource he can't read stays on the list, greyed out, with the reason. Links and Word, PowerPoint, image or text files with no notes can't be picked. Add notes to the resource and he'll read those, or save the file as a PDF. A PDF that's too big or won't open is skipped, and the draft lists it under Silas skipped.

Each draft counts as one of Silas's reads, and so does each redraft. Silas writes in his own words and is told not to copy a guide.

Change the draft

The draft is a sheet, and every line is editable. Click a line to change it.

Themes: three, with one marked Silas’s pick. Choose another and press Redraft around this theme. That replaces the outline and questions, and any changes you've made to them.
Outline: Open, Read, Talk and Pray, with minutes.
Discussion questions: each shows the resource it came from. Use Up, Down and Remove, or Add a question. After a removal, Put back the one you removed brings it back. May not suit every group marks a question Silas isn't sure of.
A word to the leader and Before next week.

How long beside the sheet changes the questions and minutes without another read. Silas read and Silas skipped list what he used. If the church has a statement of faith, the sheet says it was drafted with it in mind; check it before you use it. Start over returns to the choices.

Keep it

Press the keep button at the foot, named for the meeting's day, such as Keep for Tuesday. Only then is the study saved to the meeting. Inside Edit the button reads Save. A draft you don't keep isn't stored, and a reload loses it. Closing or reloading the page with an unkept draft asks first. Moving to another Trellis page doesn't, so keep it first.

A kept study stays usable with Silas off and after the date passes. On This week its Study part shows the theme, the number of questions and the time, with Lead the discussion, Edit and Print. Once a study is kept, Prepare with Silas on Schedule becomes Open the study.

Lead the discussion

Press Lead the discussion. The screen shows one step at a time: the opener, the reading, each question, the prayer and what's before next week. Open, Read, Talk and Pray at the top jump to a part. Press Next and Back, or use the arrow keys. Under a question, If it goes quiet opens a way back in; under the opener, A word to the leader opens Silas's note. It shows about how long a step takes and runs no timer.

Tick Let the group see the questions on the sheet. Members of the group then see Questions for the meeting's day on their group page, until that date has passed. They see the questions only, never the outline or the note to the leader.

Who can see it

A kept study belongs to the meeting. The group's leaders and co-leaders and office staff can see and edit it. Members see only the questions, and only when a leader shares them. Pressing Draft again on a kept study asks first, since it replaces the study when you keep it. If two leaders keep a study at once, the second is told and can open the first.

A study is deleted with its meeting.

Still stuck? Ask Silas