Your newsreader contains your personal collection of customized news feeds.

Adding Recommended Feeds
• Click on one of the folders across the top of the page. If the folders do not appear, click the Add Feeds link in the upper left.
• A window will open with the recommended feeds on the left. Select a feed on the left to preview the latest entries
   associated with this source.
• To add a feed source, select it on the left and click Add to my page icon.
• The selected feed will appear on your newsreader.
• Click the Close button to return to your newsreader.

Searching for Feeds
You can search for feeds by typing in key words, such as “lumber prices”, or by entering the URL of known feeds, such as http://rss.cnn.com/rss/money_latest.rss. Search for your favorite feeds by typing in a keyword(s) into the search box at the top of the page. You can also enter URLs into the search box to easily add them to your newsreader.

• A window will open with your search results left. Select a feed on the left to preview the latest entries associated with
   the key words or URL you entered.
• To add a feed source, select it on the left and click Add to my page icon.
• The selected feed will appear on your newsreader.
• Click the Close button to return to your newsreader.

Customizing Your Newsreader
Each news feed is contained with a box with a header that displays the name of the feed. To customize the appearance of the box, click on the pencil icon in the header. From here, you can edit the name of the feed, change the color of the header, choose the number of news items to display and choose between viewing headlines only or brief descriptions of the news items. Click and drag the top bar of any news feed to arrange them in any order you like.

You can also organize your news feeds by using the Add Page feature. This allows you to group multiple news feeds on separate pages. For example, you could create a page called Industry News that contains news feeds relevant to your industry and create another page called Local News that contained news feeds from your area.

Deleting News Feeds
News Feeds can be deleted by clicking the X at the top right of each news feed.

Adding Widgets
A widget is a tool that allows you to perform a specific action. For example, you can access Google Maps, calculators or outside email accounts from within your My Connection account. Click on the name of widget you would like to add and it will appear in your newsreader in a separate box. Widgets can be deleted by clicking the X at the top right of box.

Community Discussions

Community Discussions are topics posted by members that are meant to be discussed among members. Topics can include posting questions, opinions on news articles, best practices, etc. about relevant business subjects.

Participating in Community Discussions
There are two ways to participate in Community Discussions – posting and commenting.
Posting a new discussion thread:
• Click the Click Here to Add an Entry button at the top of the Community Discussions page.
• You will be prompted to enter a security code to help prevent spam.
• Create a title for your entry, such as “Ideas to manage shrinking margins”. The title should be relevant to your topic
   as well as interesting to other members.
• Type in your topic for discussion. Basic editing tools are available including text formatting, bullets, numbering and
   adding hyperlinks.
• Click Submit to post your entry.

Posting a comment to an existing discussion thread:
• Click on the title of the post or the Comments link at the bottom of the post to view or add comments.
• Type your comments in the box that appears at the bottom of the page.
• Click Post Comment. Comment appear in the order they are posted.

Searching
You can search within Community Discussions by entering a key word(s) into the search box at the top of the page and clicking Go. Posts that contain the key word(s), if available, are then presented. This tool is very useful when looking for specific topics across multiple discussion threads.

Groups

Groups allow for members with similar interests to easily find and interact with one another. Click on the name of the Group to read a description of the group and view current members.

Joining a Group
To join a group, click on the Join link next to the group name. You will be prompted to confirm your decision to join the group. Some groups may require group owner permission and others allow for instant membership to the group.

Creating a Group
Creating a group within the community allows you to define what interests or member attributes are important to you. For example, if you want to interact with other members that have similar job functions in your community you may want to create a Financial Professionals group or a Best Practices in Marketing group.

Events

Events allow you to stay informed about upcoming events as well as post events so other members can participate in them. The Events page defaults to display a brief description for all upcoming events in the order they are scheduled to

Viewing Event Details
The Events page defaults to display a brief description for all events. Events are shown in the order they occur. Click on the title of the event to view the details as well as add the event to your Outlook calendar.

Adding Events
To add a new event:
• Click the Add and Event link in the left column.
• Enter in the logistics of your event including title, date, time and location.
• Then select a relevant category, include a summary of the event (which will be displayed on the Events page) and
   provide a more detailed description.
• You can then enter a URL to the event and decide to make the event public (viewable by all members) or private.
   Click Save Event to post your event.

The ability to add multi-day events is coming soon!

Searching for Events
To view events by category, click the name of the category in the left column. All events associated with that category will be displayed.

To search for an event based on key word(s), enter the key word(s) in the search field and click Search Events. To search for nearby events, enter your postal/zip code and the desired number of miles and click Search Events. To search for an event on a specific day, enter the date or click the calendar icon and click Search Events.

Surveys

Each month a new survey will be posted. The results of the previous will be posted the following month.
All results are reported in aggregate.

Find Members

Searching
The Find Members page allows you to search for individual members, members that share a specific attribute and view the most recent members that have joined My Connection. Fill in any of the fields

Browsing
The Browse All Members page displays all members in the community. Click on the member’s name or image to view
their profile.

 

Add Friends and Invite New Members

The ability to add members to your friends list and invite new members into the community is a powerful feature of My Connection.

Adding Friends
• Click on their name or image of the member you would like to have as a friend to view their Profile.
• On their Profile page click the Request a Friend link in the left column.
• You will be prompted to enter in an optional personal message that will be included in your request.
• Click Add to My Connections to send the request.
• Once the member has approved you as a friend, they will appear on your Profile page and you will appear on
   their Profile page.

Inviting New Members
• From your Profile page, click the Invite Friends link.
• Click the Create an Invitation button at the top.
• You will be prompted to enter the name and email address of the person you are inviting.
• You can also include an optional personal message that will be included in your invitation.
• You can track the status of your invitation from the My Invitations page where you can also delete the invitation
   or resend the invitation.

My Profile

Your profile is where you share information about yourself with other members.