Dear Members of RecWave,

We have some exciting announcements that we wanted to share with all of you. (if you aren't subscribed to our newsletter you probably missed this!)

1. iPod May Madness - At the end of May we will see how many stars all of our members have collected. We will then enter the top 10 members that collect the most stars into a random drawing where we will give away two free new iPOD shuffles (4GB = 1,000 songs)! Remember: you get 2 stars for sending out an invite and 5 stars for every invited colleague that joins the Wave. In addition to creating waves and catching waves, this is one of the best ways to collect stars and win a free iPOD. For details on collecting stars and member rankings you can go here: http://recwave.com/recwave-member-rankings. At the bottom right hand corner of the site you can also see who are the current top 12 members and how many stars they have. If you win, just make sure you follow the procedures for IPOD use at work!

2. New RecWave Advisory Board Members - We are excited to announce two new talented members of the RecWave team.

Idris Jassim Al-Oboudi has been working in the field of Recreation for the past 26 years. As Recreation Manager for the Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation Department, he has received the national Professional Distinguished Service Award by the National Recreation and Park Association’s Pacific Southwest Regional Council. This is the highest award bestowed by the NRPA. It recognizes professionals in the region who have consistently given outstanding service to the park, recreation and conservation movement on the state, national and in the case of Al-Oboudi the international level.

We are extremely excited to have Idris on board as we help recreation professionals connect around the country and around the world.

Jodi Rudick is President of the Advisors Marketing Group, a promotional agency founded in 1959. She is the author of four books related to marketing and publicity. Jodi has been a featured or keynote speaker at many youth-oriented conferences including DECA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the National Recreation and Park Association.

For three consecutive years she was named Speaker of the Year for the international Promotional Products Association. Jodi has presented more than 500 workshops and seminars to audiences in over 40 states, Canada and Mexico.

In 1995, Jodi created the Benefits are Endless… marketing campaign for the National Recreation and Park Association which has now been adopted by almost 1000 park and recreation agencies around the world. Over the past several years, Jodi has been a featured speaker at more than 250 recreation-related conferences and workshops in 40 states and provinces.

Jodi will help give RecWave a guiding voice as we ensure the community consistently fills a need for recreation and park professionals.

Welcome aboard Idris and Jodi!

3. New Group Functionality

Many users have already taken advantage of creating a particular Group for your office / region or association but all of you may not know of some of the new functionality we've added since last time including:

Group Files: Now you can upload files to share within your group so you can get their feedback quickly and in an open forum. Have a flier for an upcoming conference or a memo you want some feedback on? Stop using listservers and e-mail lists and start taking the conversations into an open forum online through our groups!

Group Events: Now you can keep track of important dates / deadlines and events by adding them to your group.

Groups are a great way to plan events and keep in touch with association members in between conferences. Also, groups allow you to keep files and events organized in an open forum so that you aren't trying to communicate with a large group of people through an email list. Groups will automatically notify members when a new event, file or discussion has been started so there is no need to send out additional emails.

4. Join the Discussions
There are several interesting discussions / waves that have recently been created. If you think you can help please participate (and earn stars in the process)! Here is a small sample of the discussions / questions / advice needed from your fellow colleagues around the country:

Jody need to gather a group of 50-65 year olds (BOOMERS!) to have a focus group on their wants/needs/desires for recreation programs/activities/classes

Greg is a student majoring in Recreation and Leisure Management and is looking to meet professionals involved in Youth Programming

Kim wants to know how do all of you deal with iPOD use at work?

Angela wants to know how to have a a teen concert / band night but also how to provide adequate safety.

These are only a few of the most recent discussions on RecWave. Please come lend your expertise and catch or make a wave!

Remember to invite your colleagues and friends from now until the end of May to have a chance at a new iPOD. You can invite them by logging in, going to http://recwave.com/invite, and pasting in their e-mails.

Thank you to all of our members that have helped us spread the word in our first month. We are very excited about RecWave's future and we are committed to making it better every day.

Thanks!
Sean and Patrick
About RecWave