Select a question below, or check out one of our quick video tutorials:
Videos:
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NRPA Connect Tutorial: Update Profile and Privacy Settings
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NRPA Connect Tutorial: Building a Contact List
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NRPA Connect Tutorial: How to Join and Unsubscribe From a Community
FAQ:
General
Contacts / Connections
Communities / Discussions
Library / Resources
General | Top
Q:
What is my username/password?
A: You will use the same username and password that you use to log in to www.nrpa.org. If you have forgotten your password or need assistance with your log in information, contact Customer Service at customerservice@nrpa.org or call 800-626-6772.
Q:
How do I update my contact information?
A: Both the “Profile” and “Complete your profile” links will bring you directly to the “Profile Tab,” displaying your personal contact information. Some information is uploaded automatically from your NPRA profile; you can edit this information by selecting “Edit Contact Information.”
Users also have an option to update their profile by “grabbing” the information from their preexisting LinkedIn profile by selecting “Update your information from LinkedIn®”
Q:
How do I update my privacy or subscription settings?
A: By selecting the “My Settings Tab” under your personal profile, use the drop down box to select between Subscriptions, Email, Privacy and RSS feeds. Use the box below to update your preferences, and then select “Save” to complete.
Contacts / Connections | Top
Q:
How do I find other members?
A: Click the “Directories” link found in the blue navigation bar. The Directory allows you to search for other members based on:
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First or Last Name
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Company Name
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Email Address
Use the “Advanced Search” option to increase your search to:
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Name
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Location
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Member of Group
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Education
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Occupation
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Occupational Level
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Areas of Specialization
Q:
How do I add contacts to my contact list?
A: When you perform a search in the Directory, you will see an “Add as contact” link underneath each person in your search results. Just click this link to send a contact request. If you click through and view someone’s profile, you can click the contact request link to the right of their profile picture.
Q:
Why should I add contacts to my contact list?
A: Creating this virtual address book makes it easy to send your contacts messages through the system to stay in touch or ask questions. Additionally, when you view another member’s profile, you’ll be able to see any contacts you have in common with them. You can also choose to let only your contacts view certain demographics in your profile.
Communities / Discussions | Top
Q:
What are Networks or Groups?
A: Networks and Groups are communities which allow you to participate in discussions and share resources with other members.
- Networks deliver enhanced opportunities for collaborative exchanges between members and the chance to participate in multiple groups on a national level. Within this diverse set of Networks you can engage with like-minded professionals on an array of topics, who face the same challenges and opportunities as you do every day. Networks are exclusive to members only, and you must join the community prior to participating in discussions.
- Groups are communities for members, and in some instances non-members, which center around a unique focus such as Certification, Accreditation or other common interests. Some groups are invite only.
Q:
What Networks or Groups do I already belong to?
A: Go to “Networks” or "Groups" in the main navigation bar. Select “My Networks" or "My Groups" to view the communities you’re currently a part of.
Q:
How do I join/subscribe to a Network or Group?
A: Go to Networks or Groups in the top green navigation. You will be taken to a list of communities to which you currently belong. Change the “Display” box to “All Networks” or “All Groups” in order to see a list of available communities. You can also use the “Community Type” drop down box to filter your results.
Select a Network or Group, and click the “Join Community” button. Then choose a delivery option for posts (Real Time, Daily Digest, Legacy or No Email).
Q:
What are all the email delivery options?
A: Under “My Profile” > “My Settings”, there is an option to update your subscription settings.
For each discussion, you have the following delivery options:
Real time: sends an email every time a new message is posted
Daily digest: sends one email to you each day, consolidating all of the posts from the previous day
Legacy: sends real-time, Plain text versions of the posts, which are compatible with Blackberries and most other handheld devices. This option also allows you to reply without logging in to a web browser, but it does NOT allow you to include attachments with your post.
No Email: allows you to be part of the group without having emails sent to you. You can still post and read others’ messages by logging in to NRPA Connect.
Q: I'd prefer to have certain discussion posts go to a different email address. Is this possible?
A: Yes, you can use different email addresses for different discussions. For example, you could have one discussion post go to your personal email and others go to your work email.
Go to “My Profile” > “My Subscriptions” and under each discussion to which you’ve subscribed, you’ll see “subscribed as [email address] with an option to “Change.” Just click the “Change” link, enter a different email address, click “OK”, and click “Save” at the bottom to confirm the change. If you change your main email address in your profile or with us, it will update all of the discussions that used your former email address. Those that use a different email address will remain the same.
Q:
How do I leave a community or unsubscribe from a discussion?
A: Go to “My Profile” > “My Subscriptions”. Here, you will see a list of available groups and those to which you’ve subscribed. Select “Unsubscribe” on the discussions you wish to leave and click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page. You will get a message confirming that your subscription options have been successfully updated. This can take several seconds if you change your settings for several groups at the same time.
Q:
How do I respond to others’ posts?
A: From a post, Click “Reply to Discussion” to send your message to the entire community (an alternative is “Reply to Sender” which only sends your message back to the sender; both links are located to the right of the post. We recommend only replying to the sender for simple comments like “me, too” that add little value to the overall discussion.
When replying by email, the same process applies as described above. Please note that you are unable to reply directly to a discussion via email. When selecting “Reply to Discussion,” or “Reply to Sender” you will be directed to NRPA Connect before allowing you to complete your post.
Q:
How do I start a new discussion thread?
A: In an email from a discussion forum, you can use the “Post Message” link in the right navigation bar. You can also use the “Post New Message” link found in the right hand side, under “Discussions” within a Network or Group. The “Quick Post” option found in the top green navigation bar, allows you to post a message directly to a Network or Group. Just select “Quick Post”> “Post a Message” and select the appropriate discussion group, press “Send” to complete.
Q:
I’m having trouble viewing the HTML email messages. How do I fix this?
A: If images are not appearing, it is likely that your email client is set to suppress images. This should be something you can change in your security or viewing options. If you would rather receive text-based email, go to My Profile and click on the "Settings" tab. Choose Subscriptions from the drop-down menu. Select the “Text” format option near the top of the page. Be sure to hit “Save” at the bottom of the page once you’ve made this change.
Q:
Why do I have to post messages and reply through the website?
A: There are many features made possible because of the web interface:
- When you send an attachment through this new system, it automatically places it in the Community’s library and sends a link to members.
- Because it sends a link, you can share files up to 1GB in size and just about any file type.
- All posts and associated resources are automatically archived and easily searchable.
Q:
Can I search for posts across all the communities?
A: Yes. Enter a keyword in the search bar. From the results page, you can filter on content type, date range or posted by. Click on "Advanced Search" for even more options.
Q:
How do I see a listing of all of the posts to a specific Community?
A: Go to the specific Network or Group you are interested in viewing. Select the “Discussions” tab to view all current and past threads.
If you see post you’re interested in, click the subject line which will take you to the entire thread. “Show Original Message” at the bottom of all of the posts in a thread will display the original message that started that discussion. The “Author’s Messages” link will show you all of the posts that particular member has contributed to the discussion.
Q: What is the Open Forum?
A: The Open Forum is a community created for all NRPA members, for easy connectivity. The Open Forum provides many of the same features as all Networks and Groups, but allows members to receive a broad arrange of information, opinions and advice by sharing posts with a diverse and extensive community of professionals.
Libraries | Top
Q:
How do I access a library?
A: Go to Networks or Groups in top green navigation bar. Select the specific Network or Group you wish to view, than select the “Library” tab. From here you can browse individual folders to view their content..
Q:
Can I search for specific files within the library?
A: Yes. When in the Libraries area, enter in a Term, keyword or phrase then select “Search.” Or just select the “Search” link to view more advanced search settings.
Q:
How do the libraries get populated/how do I upload a file?
A: There are a several ways documents are populated in a Library. You can upload documents by selecting the “Create New Library Entry” when in the Libraries area, or directly by using the “Quick Post” > “Share a File” link found in the top green navigation bar. Alternately, when you include an attachment in a discussion post the system automatically places it in the library.
Please note that uploading a document is done in a few steps and each step must be completed before you can move on to the next:
1. Choose a title for your document, include a description (optional) select the library to which you’d like to upload it and choose an Entry Type (most will be Standard Files); then click “Next”
2. Browse and upload your file. Click “Next” if you want to add tags to your file or click “Finish” (you may have to scroll down to access these buttons)
Q:
What kind of documents can I upload?
A: The system supports multiple file types including Copyright Licensed File(s), Hyperlinks, Standard files (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), Webinars, and YouTube videos.
Q:
What are the "tags" for?
A: Tags are another way of organizing and searching for documents. You can help others find the file you uploaded by including tags when you upload it. There are many pre-loaded tag categories to choose from.
Q:
What is the Knowledge Center?
A: The Knowledge Center is an extensive open library, with hundreds of resources from agencies all over the country. Members can upload documents for all NRPA Connect users to view. Documents can be posted by directly accessing the Knowledge Center or through using “Quick Post” located in the top green navigation bar (for more details see Q: How do the libraries get populated/how do I upload a file?).