 This is Shannon Smith and today I'm going to give you a quick overview of the importance of your EDUCAUSE profile. Here we are at the EDUCAUSE home page. In the upper right hand corner you'll notice the login link. You can login from any page on the EDUCAUSE website and one of the reasons you should set up an EDUCAUSE profile is so you can be included in the EDUCAUSE member directory. So let's take a look. This is the EDUCAUSE member directory page. Membership at EDUCAUSE is at the institution level and is open to institutions of higher education, corporations serving the higher ed IT market, and other related associations and organizations. The current membership comprises more than 2,600 colleges, universities, educational organizations, and corporations representing more than 68,000 active members. You can search the directory to find member organizations as well as to explore the EDUCAUSE network for individuals based on their functional role or specific areas of interest or by geography. The one thing these nearly 70,000 people have in common is that they've joined the higher education IT community by setting up an EDUCAUSE profile. You can see that I've typed my name into the member search bar. Let's go and see what my profile looks like. Here you can see my profile page. Notice that I'm still not logged in. You can tell by the red login link in the upper right-hand corner. In my profile, I've included information about my professional background under the biography section. I've also uploaded a photo and included information on how to connect with me by email, through Twitter, or on my personal website. If you scroll down, you'll notice the additional information about my involvement with EDUCAUSE volunteer committees, as well as EDUCAUSE publications I've authored, presentations I've given at EDUCAUSE conferences, and blog posts I've published on the EDUCAUSE website. Think of your EDUCAUSE profile as an online resume or the image you present to the higher education IT community. And the cool thing is that EDUCAUSE links all of your contributions automatically, so you don't have to worry about a thing. Now let's click on the login button so I can show you how to create your own profile. The EDUCAUSE login screen is one of several places on the EDUCAUSE website where you can select to create your profile. As you can see, you'll be asked to come up with a unique username, as well as to provide your email, organizational affiliation, and address information. You will also enter a little bit of information about your position, including where your role fits within your institution and your area of responsibility. After you've completed the CAPTCHA question, you'll go ahead and click on Create New Account. What happens next is your information is forwarded to the EDUCAUSE membership department, where a member services representative reviews your information and associates your profile with your member institution. You will then be sent an email with a temporary password. Once you've received your temporary password from member services, you will be able to log into your account and update your profile. In the upper right-hand corner of any EDUCAUSE webpage, you will always be able to tell if you're logged in, and on your profile page, there are several tabs and links enabling you to edit information pertaining to your account. If you scroll below, you will see links to all of your EDUCAUSE related activities, including the option to upload resources to conference sessions. I'll talk about the various services available to EDUCAUSE members in another mini-tutorial, but let me show you the new Favorites option on the EDUCAUSE website. This is what the EDUCAUSE homepage looks like when you're logged in. Notice I have several links under the My Favorite Pages column. Let's click on one of my favorite links, Career Development. When you're at any information page on the EDUCAUSE website, you can now click this star to add it to your Favorites list. You can also send the page to your LinkedIn profile, tweet a link to the page, or give it a plus one in Google+, or you can use the Add This button to connect this page to over 200 social media platforms. Of course, one of the most convenient aspects of having an EDUCAUSE account is the ability to register or submit a proposal for one of the many awesome conferences hosted by EDUCAUSE throughout the year. Be sure to check out our mini-tutorials on completing a proposal for a conference session and how to use the EDUCAUSE Speaker Concierge Services. This mini-tutorial on the power of your EDUCAUSE profile has been brought to you by EDUCAUSE Professional Development. This is Shannon Smith, and I hope you've enjoyed it. Be sure to look for other APD bites to help you get the most out of your relationship with EDUCAUSE.