1. Go to sme.org and add your email address
2. If you are already in SME's database, users will recieve a "Create Web Login" message
3. Complete all required fields
4. Create a password

5. After the demographic information has been added, click the "Add" text to upload your photo to your SME.org account.
6. You can make additional adjustments to your profile information in the text box area to the left.

Your SME Connect member profile page is where other members can learn more about you, your expertise, background, company and technical areas of interest. A full and complete profile (with a photo and bio) ensures you’re perceived as an authentic and credible manufacturing professional. When you reach out to connect with another member, having a full profile influences whether your invitation to connect is accepted.

The information within your profile is largely made up of the information SME houses in its database about you and any other information you wish to share with other members. How much or how little information you share and make visible to others is entirely up to you.
 

 

The user profile photo is the main image that represents you and is associated with all your activity within the SME Connect community. To change your profile photo, navigate to your profile page by clicking your profile image/username, which you’ll find along the top right-hand side of your browser window in SME Connect. This will take you to your profile where you can select the camera icon to add your profile photo and cover photo if you would like. 

If you would like to choose a photo from our avatar image menu.  Click on the avatar menu within the edit profile page.  Download the photo and upload it as your profile picture.  

Within your profile you can view your connections on the bottom left-hand side. You can also browse members by selecting, "Connect" on the top navigation and then Member Directory

In the "My Account" area, you can update the main account details for your account including username, first name, last name email address and password.You can also update your privacy, notification and subscription settings.

The Privacy Settings tab in the "My Account" area gives you control over who can see your content. There are three settings for each area that can be applied: connections only, everybody and nobody. The areas that you can control privacy for are profile comments, profile information and all content. You can also restrict access to limit the ability for other members to send you a private message.

Note: Your profile page is not visible to the public, i.e., only logged-in SME members can view your member profile; nonmembers only have access to their SME.org user profile and cannot create a profile on SME Connect. Contact the SME Connect Community Manager at smeconnect@sme.org if you ever have privacy concerns or issues.

The notifications tabs allows you to control what areas of the platform send you an external email to your account email address when there are updates to content you uploaded or are participating in. You can also unsubscribe from all site notifications in this area.

The Subscription Settings tab in the "My Account" area gives you control over what discussions, blogs, resources, chapters, committees and communities notifications you received. There are four cadences you can choose: Instant, Daily, Weekly and None.

Your connections can be viewed on your profile page. You can remove connections from this page as well.
If you have any pending connection requests, you can select one of the following options: "Accept Request" to add them as a connection, "Deny Request" to not add them or "No Action" to leave them as a pending request. 

The bell icon on the top right shows your outstanding connection requests and new messages in your internal inbox. This inbox is only for messages sent within SME Connect and does not email your account email address unless you have message notifications turned on.

The site messages allows you to communicate privately with other users on the site. The message view allows you to see latest messages you have received from other members. You can open and read messages by clicking on the subject header of each message. You can also delete a message, click check box and then click “Delete Selected.” To view sender’s information profile, click the member's name.

To connect with other members, you will need to send them a connection request. To send a connection request, you will need to view their profile and click on the "Add Connection" link. If you are already connected, you can also remove them in the same area. Depending on the specific member's setting, you may also send a private message. You may also be able to view all of the profile information and click on the links to find other members with similar interests or experiences.

1. To create a new post, click the "Start a Discussion" button on the Dashbord.
2. Then click the discussion post topic that you would like to participate in.
3. Once you have selected the Discussion Category you would like to post in click the "Add Topic" button.
4. A pop-up box will appear and this is where you can add your discussion topic. Once you have completed your message, select the "Post" button.

The additional option for creating a discussion topic is:

1. Select the Category Topic you would like to post in from the DISCUSSIONS drop-down in the top navigation bar.
2. Then click the discussion post topic that you would like to participate in.
3. Once you have selected the Discussion Category you would like to post in click the "Add Topic" button.
4. A pop-up box will appear, and this is where you can add your discussion topic. Once you have completed your message, select the "Post" button.

1. To reply to a discussion, select the discussion you would like to reply to and then go to the bottom of the post and select "Reply." Remember to use the @ symbol to tag the person’s name you would like to reply to or utilize the "Quote" option, which automatically tags the person's name within the discussion post. Once you are ready to post your comment, select “Post" and your reply will display in the category selected.

1. Click the Quote icon that you’ll find alongside a post.
2. A quote will appear in the message box in the compose message window. Note: Using “Quote” will add all text from the quoted post to your post, therefore you may wish to remove any unnecessary quoted text to highlight the specific point you’re responding to.
3. Add your reply.
4. To post your reply, click the “Post” button.

1. Select the text you want to link and click on the “link” icon in the toolbar.
2. In the popup window, first select your link type (either a website URL or an email link).
3. If using a website URL, add your link in the URL field and click OK.
4. If using an email link, type the email address you want to use and any default subject line or message body and then click OK.

1. Click on the image icon in the toolbar
2. Select an image from your previously uploaded images or upload a new image.
3. Add a title, brief description and keyword tags (if appropriate).
4. Click on Update, to add the image.

1. Click on the Video icon in the toolbar.
2. You can choose to select from your previously uploaded videos, upload a video file from your device or to embed a video using an embed code (i.e., from YouTube, Vimeo or Dailymotion). Please note: Currently, only videos from YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion are able to be embedded. If you wish to be able to embed videos from an alternative service, please contact smeconnect@sme.org for assistance.
3. Add a title, brief description and keyword tags (if appropriate).
4. Once uploaded or embedded, click on Update to add the video to your post.

Want to “tag” someone in your forum post? Then use an @Mention.“Mentions” are a way of bringing someone’s attention to your post. When composing a post, type the @ symbol and then start typing the name of the person you want to tag. Select your contact from the list of community members displayed. They will be notified (depending on their communication preferences) that they’ve been “mentioned,” giving them the opportunity to read your post and respond. By default, when replying to a post the @mention will automatically populate.

You can show your support to a topic or a reply by “liking” (or choosing another reaction) a member’s post.

If you’re reading a discussion thread and would like to be notified when new replies are added, you can subscribe to be alerted to new discussion topics. Click on the “Subscribe” drop-down and select the frequency of any notifications, i.e., an instant alert or add the content to your daily or weekly digest email.

If you read a post in our forum that you feel is in violation of our Site Policies, please use the “Objectionable” link to report the content to the community manager. The community manager will take further action if necessary.

If you’re a frequent contributor on SME Connect and/or a volunteer leader, you’ll receive and start collecting activity badges for the contributions you make as well as any volunteer roles you may hold (i.e., chapter officer, Member Council, Board of Directors, etc.). Connections, forum posts/replies, likes and profile completion will help you earn badges. Check out the badge glossary for more details.

To RSVP* for an event, you can select one of three options. Yes, no or maybe. If you select yes, you can then provide the number of people in your party that will attend if the event creator as enabled that option. You can also tag the event with relevant keywords and leave comments.

*Note: To RSVP to an event, you must first register and then create an SME.org username and password.

To view the SME Connect Blog, select "Blog" on the top navigation. This will show you the full archive of blogs posted.

To comment on a blog, select the blog you would like to comment on and scroll to the bottom of the page. There you will find a comments section where you can then select "Start a post" to add your comment.

You can also “react” to a blog by hovering over the “thumbs-up” image and clicking the images to like, love, appreciate, inspire, celebrate or question.