Sign up as a Member – When you join phConnect, you will be able to convene and work with other individuals interested in, and working in the field of public health. As a member, you may join communities, participate in community discussions, work on community products, add events to the phConnect calendar, create announcements, invite others to join, and add your own community.

To sign up, you will need to provide your email address, create a password, enter your birthday, and agree to the Terms of Service. To join now, follow the link titled Sign Up.


Create a Member Profile – Every member is asked to develop his / her own profile and control the privacy settings associated with the profile. Your options are:

• Only the member is able to see the profile;
• Only the member’s connections are able to see the profile; or,
• All members of phConnect are able to see the profile.

To effectively network and participate in community discussions and on community documents, a person must sign up and create a profile.


Search for Communities – Browse existing communities collaborating on phConnect and join communities that are of interest to you. To browse existing communities, click Communities from the top menu. You may sort communities by most active, latest activity, most members, and latest. You may also enter in the community name or topic you wish to find in the search field.


Join a Community – Once you find a community of interest to you, click on the community to visit the community’s page; to join the community, click + Join Community on the top right side community's page. You must be a member of the community to participate in discussions and to contribute to community work products.


Participate in a Community Discussion – Discussions are an outstanding way for members to stay connected, involved, and participate in dialog with one other. You must be signed in and a member of a community in order to begin a discussion or participate in a discussion.


Share Documents with a Community – When you share documents with your community, you are able to receive feedback and comments from colleagues and work collaboratively with community members in your domain. Documents may include, but are not limited to, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. To add a document, you must be signed in and a member of the community.


Work on Community Documents – Work collaboratively with other community members by offering your suggestions and guidance on documents shared by other community members. To view and contribute to a community document, you must be signed in and a member of the community.


Start a Community – If you are interested in creating a community that does not yet exist on phConnect, click Communities from the top menu, then click +Add a Community. When adding a community, you will be prompted to enter the name of the community, load an image or logo for the community, and write a brief description of the community. If your community has an external website, you may enter the URL for others to visit the site. You will be asked to select a privacy level; the privacy level options are anyone or moderated membership. Anyone allows all members of the phConnect to view your community page and join the community. Moderated membership requires the community administrator to determine who may join as a member.

Once a community has been created, you will be able to invite members to participate and will be able to begin collaborating immediately. phConnect is a wonderful way to work collectively with individuals who are geographically dispersed.

Step by step instructions with screenshots for creating a private community are available in this PDF file: How to Create a Private Community on phConnect.pdf.

If you are not sure if your group is ready to be a community, please refer to the Community of Practice Program Resource Kit at www.cdc.gov/phin/communities/resourcekit/index.html for more information and guidance.


Search Members – To search for phConnect members and add a member as a connection, begin by clicking Members from the top menu and then sort the list of members by recently added or alphabetical. You may also type keywords such as name or location. If you do not find a member, you may send an invitation by clicking Invite Connections.


Invite Connections – Enjoy participating on phConnect? Invite your colleagues to join! To invite others to join phConnect, click Members from the top menu and select from three options:

• Import from Web Address Book: This option allows you to import your contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL Mail, or Gmail. To import contracts from your address book, enter your user name and password and click Import Address Book. Once your address book loads, select which contacts you would like to invite, then click Invite. Once you have imported your contacts they will remain in your address book.
• Enter Email Addresses Manually: This option allows you to manually enter email addresses and a message. To enter more than one email address, separate emails with a comma. Once you have entered all emails and your invitation message, click Send Invitations.
• Import from Address Book Application: This option supports uploading contacts saved in a Microsoft Outlook, Apple Address Book, or CSV application. Click Browse to find the file you desire to import, and then click Upload.

Organize Your Community – Help your community grow by making it easier for new and old members to find past discussions and documents. Use community input to develop a tagging system for discussions. More details and step-by-step instructions are available in the PDF: Organizing Your phConnect Community Using Tags.pdf.

Calendar of Events – Find upcoming events taking place in the public health community, or add your own event to the phConnect calendar. To add an event to the calendar, click Calendar on the top menu and click +Add an Event. Enter the name of the event, load an event image, enter an event description and type, select the date and time, enter location information, and enter the organizer information. If the event is organized by a community, include the name of the community. You may also select the privacy options for the event and invite your connections to the event.


Announcements – Read recent announcements or add your own. To add an announcement, click Announcements from the top menu. Click +Add an Announcement. Enter the details for the announcement, including the name, description, tags, and timeframe to display, and select the privacy settings. You may also edit announcements you previously added.


Thank you for your support of phConnect. Together we can connect public health practitioners, learn from one other, share best practices, and support the advancement of public health.