By Ashley Murphy
Join us in welcoming the newly revamped www.nirsa.org to the NIRSA family!
It’s been a long time coming, and we hope you enjoy getting to know each other.
Meet your new friend, the NIRSA website
After about a six-year run, the time had come for the former site to be overhauled; a visionary team of NIRSA members, National Center staff, and outside vendors (Gravitate Design Studio and Association Technology Solutions) teamed up over the past 18 months to make that happen. Our goals were based on member feedback: a more modern design, easier-to-use navigation, and updated content. In addition, we added new functionality for account management, a more fluid registration process, easier renewal system, and an improved management tools. For content, we introduced a new section devoted to collegiate recreation’s Communities of Practice and a dedicated news section.
Be sure to check in later this month for a more detailed account of the redesign process. In the meantime, start exploring. Be sure to let us know what you like and how we can improve.
Not sure where to get started?
Scroll over the main navigation options Grow, Discover, Connect, Play, Join, and Give to see dropdown menus of the pages within each section. These areas contain the majority of the association’s offerings:
- Grow – professional development events and opportunities, including the Annual Conference, institutes & symposia, local & regional events, online learning, awards & scholarships, and the Professional Registry.
- Discover – resources to support continuous learning and engagement, including publications, research opportunities & assessment data, a new dedicated News section, and quick access to the NIRSA Know.
- Connect – organized channels for connecting with others under shared topics, goals, or locations including a new Communities of Practice section dedicated to bringing forward conversations, resources, and related groups and event opportunities for some of the profession’s most active areas. The new Buyers’ Guide—although in still in its beta phase—allows you to connect with NIRSA Associate Members for the products and services you need to get your job done.
- Play – the headquarters for NIRSA’s sport tournament offerings, as well as home to other resources to help you develop and manage successful sport programs on your campus.
- Join – the go-to pages for future friends looking to join NIRSA. Ready to renew your membership? You can do that here too, or right from your member profile page.
- Give – a direct link to the NIRSA Foundation and our new streamlined giving process to help you help us support the future generation of leaders in collegiate recreation.
Wondering what happened to Habitat?
Although you don’t see a Habitat presence on the new site, the features of Habitat haven’t gone away. They’ve been folded into the main nirsa.org site in a more congruous and integrated way. You’ll no longer have the feeling of moving back and forth between two separate sites, and we hope we’ve made navigating your discussions, libraries, and blogs more convenient and less confusing.
So, you won’t see us referencing Habitat anymore. Rather, we’ll be encouraging you to get involved in discussions on the NIRSA website, to contribute your resources and best practices to NIRSA’s resource libraries, and to blog about your story…on the NIRSA website!
These features are organized under the Connect menu and sprinkled throughout the site on relevant pages. If you’re a member of a NIRSA leadership group, you’ll be receiving a direct link to your group’s landing page for quick access to your discussions and files.
Let us know how we’re doing
Are we delivering the content and experience you’re looking for? Send us your feedback! Email webfeedback@nirsa.org with your questions, comments, ideas, favorite recipes…whatever you have to share, our team wants to hear from you! We already have some exciting improvements on the way, so be sure to let us know what you think.
