User Guide

Updating your profile 

• Click the avatar in the upper right corner, and then the submenu item “Profile” 

• On the profile screen, you will be able to edit/update your information, including: 

  • Bio 

  • Education 

  • Job History 

  • Professional Associations 

  • Honors and Awards

  • Contact Details 

  • Social links 

  • Picture 

    • Click the “Actions” button and then select “Change Image” 

Updating your notification/email settings (frequency of digests)

Please note - there are two types of notifications you will receive from this platform… 1. Community Notifications and 2. Email Communications. Each of those have different settings, described below. 

• First, be sure you are in your profile screen (instructions above). 

• Then, click the menu header labeled “My Account”. 

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• If you want to change how frequently you receive updates on activity taking place within your communities… select Community Notifications.

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• Note: The platform is defaulted to a daily consolidated digest

• You can choose the frequency of notifications from any individual community, by finding that community in the list, and then selecting the drop down option next to it, and selecting Real Time, Daily Digest, or No Email.

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• If you want to receive only 1 weekly digest of all community activity, you should check “Consolidated Weekly Digest” next to all communities on the right hand side. 

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• Once you have clicked all the check boxes, you will then have the ability to choose what day of the week you would like to receive your weekly consolidated digest!

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• If you want to change how frequently you receive emails, select Email Preferences. 

  • Email communication will always go to the profile inbox within The Connection, however, by default, they are also emailed to your preferred email address (the email you log in with). 

  • Once on this screen, you can select “no” (via toggle boxes) to opt-out of receiving certain emails per your preferences.

Joining a community

• From the main menu header, under “Communities”, select All Communities. 

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• • This will create a result list that is defaulted to show you All Communities that you could belong to.

  • On the right hand side of that screen, you will see a Join button on the communities that are available. 

  • Once in a community, you can click the community name (which is hyperlinked) to get into it.

Posting a discussion item 

• Once you are in a community, you can post discussion items that everyone will see. 

  • On the right hand side of the screen, click “Post New Message”   

  • In the Open Forum community (to which everyone belongs), you will be instructed to enter a “Discussion subject”. 

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    • This is defaulted to be a discussion item. 

  • In other communities, you will have the option to identify your post an “Open-ended discussion” or a “Question to be answered”: 

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  • • Depending on your selection, an icon is inserted at the front of your post’s title in the feed - identifying what type of post it is:

• **Please note: The first time you post content, you will have the ability to upload a file. This is located under the text box. 

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  • After it is posted, you are not able to add an attachment. If you really want to add an attachment, you will have to delete your original post and add a new one, or add it as a hyperlink. 

Tagging someone in a discussion 

• When creating a post, you can tag another Inform USA member by typing the “@” symbol… and start typing their name. A list of member names will auto-populate for you to select from. 

• It will notify this person via email (if they have that email preference selected). It will also send the message to your inbox within The Connection. 

Adding a library item 

• The Resource Library is a very important member benefit… as you can see examples of other Centers’ documentation.

• You can share a library item from within a community, or from any screen, you can go click the “Create” button in the upper right corner, and select “Library Entry” 

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• • You will be asked to enter a Title and the Library it is within, and then there is a text box for you to provide a description of the item. 

  • Toward the bottom, you will have to specify the type of entry - often it will be a standard upload 

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  • • From this same screen, you can also upload a “Custom Thumbnail” which will provide a visual for users. 

    • After clicking “Next” you will be taken to a screen where you can upload your file. 

    • Click choose and upload

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    • Next will allow you to describe your file… and Finish will skip that step and complete the process.

Resource library 

• All Communities will have a resource library within them… and the Open Forum (where all members share space) there is a specific Resource Library with folders and subfolders. 

• To navigate to this library, you want to first get to the Open Forum. Once there, click the “Library” menu header: 

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• • Scroll down on the page and on the left hand side, you will see the folders, and a count of the number of documents within each folder:

Searching by topic 

• In the upper right of any screen, you can use the search bar to type in the content you are looking for 

• However, in this new platform, you are also able to search by Standard (because of tagging). For example, when you type “Standard 14” it will bring up any documents, and any discussion items that have that tag attached: 

Following content 

• This platform makes it very easy to keep track of documents or discussions that are of interest to you. There are two ways to do so: 

  • 1. When you make a post, the system automatically tags you as “following” the thread so you will be notified when anyone comments 

  • 2. Or, if there is an item of interest, in the upper right hand corner, you will see the word “Follow” with a star icon… simply click the star and you will now be notified if there are any additional comments made regarding this item 

Events listed 

• From the main menu bar, you will see the “Events” menu header. 

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  • This list contains the free monthly webinars, Roundtables, Inform Program Presentations, and Committee meetings (if you are a part).