community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Higher Logic Page community.afpnet.org/home Ellie AFP introduced Higher Logic community platforms earlier this year. Most of you have knowledge of these community platforms because you are AFP chapter website program and your new chapter site is on these platforms. The community section is a way for members to engage with one another, ask questions, and share resources. There is a variety of communities that members can elect to join for specific content. I will go over how to use the platform. To get to the community platforms – please go to community.afpnet.org. You will need to sign in with your AFP login once here as this platform is only open to members. If you need help with your AFP login, please contact AFP IHQ Chapter Engagement.

Choosing All Communities AFP Connect Choosing All Communities Ellie – - Under the communities drop down menu on your banner, choose All Communities. - This page will display all of the community options available on the AFP Online Community Offerings.

Choosing the Open Forum AFP Connect Choosing the Open Forum Ellie – - Type “Open Forum” into the search bar on the top right of your screen and press “Enter” on your keyboard.

Entering the Open Forum Discussion or Library AFP Connect Entering the Open Forum Discussion or Library Ellie – On this screen you may choose to enter the Open Forum Library or Community Discussions. Click on the title of the option you wish to choose.

community.afpnet.org/home Higher Logic Open Forum Discussion community.afpnet.org/home Ellie Posting a new discussion is similar to sending an email message The To field is preset with the “Open Forum” designation If you would like to cross post across more than one group, you can select the additional group in the cross post to box Your name is listed in the From box, but you are allowed to edit it. I would recommend you add your chapter name next to your name The subject line, is where you put a description of what the post is about The large box in the middle is where you can write your message. The top bar is where you have options to format the txt in the box. You are also able to edit your signature at the bottom of the page. And you are able to attach documents to the post Pressing send posts your discussion

community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Open Forum Library community.afpnet.org/home Ellie The library functionality is a great way to share and search resources from other chapters On the library homepage, you will find a listing of all resources by those most recently posted. You can search for and download documents from this page. I recommend that you upload and share resources that are working at your chapter Next we will go through how you can upload resources. To start, select the Create New Library Entry at the top right-hand side of the page, highlighted in red here.

AFP Connect Open Forum – Posting to the Library community.afpnet.org/home Ellie You will be taken to the add to a library page. You will first list the title of your resource Second, the Library box is automatically pre-filled as “Open Forum” The description box allows you to describe what the resource is. I would recommend putting in a short description of what the resource is and how it’s used at your chapter.

You are then able to select the type of resource you are uploading You are then able to select the type of resource you are uploading. You have the option to share, a hyperlink to a website or page that is useful, a YouTube video, a Webinar, or two types of a standard file upload – a standard upload, or a copyrighted upload. The standard upload is for a resources that is created by the chapter and isn’t being used in a commercial capacity The copyrighted upload is reserved for using works that are commercial, for instance a chapter from a book, you will then be asked what type of commercial resources it is and if people are allowed to modify it. Please use caution when sharing resources that are commercial. I would recommend instead of uploading the actual file, to just link to a website that has the information. Next is the owner box, this is where you can select who owns the information from other AFP members. I recommend leaving this box empty unless you got the resource from another chapter and would like to give them credit. Select next

AFP Connect Online Forum - Library community.afpnet.org/home Ellie To upload a link, you will be taken to the upload file screen You can pick the file from your computer by selecting choose and upload and following the prompts

community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Open Forum Library community.afpnet.org/home Ellie Please note you can upload multiple files at one time. For instance if you are downloading your NPD nomination toolkit, you can name the resource “AFP Chapter NPD Toolkit on the first page, and then on this page upload all of the materials in the toolkit – like applications, award descriptions, judging sheets, etc.”

community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Open Forum Library community.afpnet.org/home Ellie Once all of your files are uploaded you can add a description for each file here and then select finish

community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Open Forum Library community.afpnet.org/home 1 Ellie Once the resource is uploaded you will come to this screen, which allows you to do a couple of different things with the resource: 1 – in the actions side under you can see statistics about the resources – how many views, downloads, etc. those in the community when viewing your resource will also be able to see these stats 2 – tags and key words – you can add tags and keywords to make the resource more searchable. For example, for the NPD resource I would add NPD, my chapter size, as tags 3 – as an uploader of a resource, you can add a comment, but this section is usually used by those viewing the file. Example comments can be “I used this tool and it’s great” or as the uploader you can say “we are updating this tool in the next year and I will share the new tool once it’s done” 4 – uploaders and other community members can add links and entries related to this tool. So if a chapter uses your tool and edits it to fit it’s membership, they may upload their version in this area and say for smaller/larger chapters etc. 2 3 4

community.afpnet.org/home AFP Connect Open Forum Member Tab community.afpnet.org/home Ellie The final function we will look at is the members tab. Met someone at leadership academy or Icon and want to connect? You can search for them here. If they haven’t joined the group, please note you may not find them. So, I encourage you all to join! You will then see each member listed in alphabetical order by last name. You can send them a private message on the platform or add them as a contact, which adds them to your community contacts on the platform – not on your personal or email contacts. One of the benefits of AFP membership is the vast network of peers that you have available to you from our over 199 professional chapters. We regularly hear that the best part of our onsite meetings is that you get to meet others who are doing the same work you are doing. We hope to continue these connections through this platform Should you have any questions about the platform, please reach out at anytime.