Welcome to the SAWE Blog!

In the newsletter we discussed all the changes that are coming in regards to our social media presence.  I am excited that this blog is one of those changes.  We really want this to be interactive, having members ask questions, add comments, and get conversations going on the blog.

This blog is a public forum so it is not just for members.  For anything that we plan to be for members only, we will hyperlink to the website where you will need to sign in to view.  There will also be a block on the website front page that will link to recent blog posts.

We are using WordPress for the blog, as the features are very beneficial.  Posts will be able to have categories and tags to be easily searchable (i.e. Standards & Practices, President, etc.).  There are many other features we will be implementing and using on WordPress that the SAWE website could not offer.  You may need to create a WordPress account to be able to interact with posts.

Blog posts will include a variety of content.  The blog will allow us to dispense the newsletter, as we will be posting updates from the Executive Board members regularly on the blog.  We hope that this will prove more useful, timely, and interactive than a 10 page newsletter that comes out quarterly.

We will spotlight SAWE members’ careers and accomplishments, in a series of brief career autobiographies.  I believe that this will be most beneficial for newer, younger members to see where a career in Mass Properties can take you.  I also think that this is a great way to get to know some of the members of the society, as some of us only see each other once a year.  I hope this also leads to easier interactions at conferences.  This can also lead to mentoring opportunities as younger members may be very interested in the work and accomplishments listed in the blog post.

We will include articles related to mass properties, and occasionally may reference back to a paper from a conference.  We believe it is very important to promote the importance of mass proprietaries, and this forum should allow us to do so.  Being a public blog, this may be a way of reaching nonmembers.  Blog posts such as this will be connected to our LinkedIn page, hoping that cross traffic will bring in new members.

As to be expected, I am sure we will run into issues as we start using the blog.  Please be patient as we will work through any issues as quickly as possible.  If you have any questions or want to contribute to the blog, please contact me.

Melissa Rapier                                                                                           (melissa.rapier@sawe.org)