SeniorNet - Learning centers for older adult computer users

SeniorNet Learning Centres &
GrownUps 50+ Community

www.grownups.co.nz is still growing with your help and we’re pleased to keep bringing you new features. The site should have around 70,000 unique visitors from around NZ this month and we now have just over 21,000 members, after two years of being live.

During May, we were extremely honoured to be Voted Best Lifestyle Website in NZ for 2008 at the NetGuide People’s Choice Awards, therefore many thanks for your support.

I’ve also personally very much enjoyed the opportunity to speak about the Internet and GrownUps to several Auckland-based SeniorNet Learning Centres this year and if we’re able to get any funding in the future, we’re keen to come and meet more of you.

SeniorNet-only Competition (Wordfind)

For the remainder of July, we are pleased to offer a SeniorNet-only competition here http://www.grownups.co.nz/read/lifestyle/entertainment/seniornet-competition with a 10-pack of great DVDs to win.

Train trip of a Lifetime across Australia – value $7000+

Also, we have a fantastic Train Trip of a Lifetime competition open until 31st July also, so we hope that this is of interest. http://www.grownups.co.nz/read/travel/rail/win-ghan-train-adelaide-darwin

You must be a GrownUps member to take part, however membership is Free and is a very quick process for any SeniorNet members not also GrownUps members http://www.grownups.co.nz/login/register. There is an area to ‘tick’ that you’re a SeniorNet member in the registration (or in the MyProfile section for existing members http://www.grownups.co.nz/profile).

Many thanks indeed and if you feel that this is of interest, we’d really appreciate you passing this onto your members, before these close on 31st July 2008.

Take care, thanks again for your support of our Free community website for the 50plus demographic in NZ.

New Zealand's leading Free independent community website for NZ'ers aged 50+
Launched in June 2006, the site was rebuilt in April 2007
Online lifestyle magazine, integrated community elements & leading edge interactivity
Promotes SeniorNet via a Technology section and works together on Photo competitions
There is increased promotion of the site around NZ with ongoing PR
During July, GrownUps had over 44,000 unique users (and 65,000 Total sessions) - More than 20% growth over July, therefore the site is growing rapidly
Loyal and growing member database of well over 14,000
SeniorNet has a listing feature on GrownUps in the Community Section http://www.grownups.co.nz/community in the 2nd column, which provides direct access to those SeniorNet Learning Centres that have placed information on the site
SeniorNet also features information in our Technology section http://www.grownups.co.nz/list/lifestyle/technology

GrownUps offers this service exclusively to SeniorNet as the only technology Learning Centre network on the GrownUps site.

A number of Learning Centres already have a listing on the Clubs/Orgs Directory which will have been placed by a member from each respective Club.

To check this, visit http://www.grownups.co.nz/community/clubs and either;

Select SeniorNet from the 'Type' field and click Search
Or scroll down and in the 2nd column, under By Type, click on SeniorNet

If the information is incorrect or incomplete;

the person who registered the information from each Learning Centre, will have access to update this
if that person is unavailable or you're not sure who they are, then we can delete the current listing and add a new one

To edit a current listing;

the person with access simply logs in, goes to MyGrownUps http://www.grownups.co.nz/my_grownups and in the 2nd column, under 'my clubs', the SeniorNet listing will be there, with the option to edit or delete the listing
Once any edits have been made, the listing will be sent to GrownUps admin, where it will then be published live to the site

To add new SeniorNet Learning Centre listing;

Register an individual (not Club) on GrownUps free by clicking here http://www.grownups.co.nz/login/register, filling out the form and click Register at the bottom
An 'activation/security' email will be sent to the email of the person who registers
This email must be read and a link within the email must be clicked on as a security feature to activate the free GrownUps account
When this link is clicked on, you will have access to MyGrownUps (http://www.grownups.co.nz/my_grownups)
In the 2nd column, there is a heading 'my clubs'. Click on the 'Add a Club' link
Add all the relevant SeniorNet Learning Centre information (including a logo or image) and click 'Save club'
This information request will then be sent to GrownUps admin for acceptance
Once accepted, you will receive an email with a link to the new 'Club' listing
To edit a listing, please refer to the 'To edit a current listing' instructions above

GrownUps offers each Learning Centre a Home Page (or series of pages) to promote your activities, classes, special requests, last minute class timetable changes, events and any information to current members and also to potential members - this includes text and images.

Any updates can be administered at first by GrownUps staff, however these would shortly be able to be administered by each individual Learning Centre. They can be updated as regularly as required.

The page would include email links to a designated person in each Learning Centre.

What do we need to do for this to happen?

Collect information/text in a Word Document
Information includes contact details for the learning centre and for a representative
Attach any images as jpeg's
Provide the layout that you would like to see for the page (within the same Word doc)
You may send as much information as you wish
Send any information to: register@grownups.co.nz

Richard Poole from GrownUps will contact you as soon as the page is live, for you to check and make any additional changes.

He will also provide the URL link (website address) for your Learning Centre.

Every club will be able to see how many page views their learning Centres Home page has had.

Discussion Groups

We will set up a specific SeniorNet Discussion Group that you are welcome to use as much as you wish.

These can be set up as a generic Topic or each Club can set up its own group.

Technology articles and opinion

All GrownUps members can contribute any article of interest, in a members' contribution area. SeniorNet members are therefore very welcome to contribute any stories, articles or images that they wish to share on the site, not just within the SeniorNet area.

General Promotion

Due to the Home page listing, there is the potential for every visitor to GrownUps to be exposed to the SeniorNet brand and also easy access to find their local Centre and/or find out more information via each Centre's homepage on the site

Promotion in each Monthly newsletter (currently goes to over 11,000 people)

Each Learning Centre can be provided with a short code, that if members decide to register on GrownUps and they use this code, each time they login to the site, a message saying e.g. 'SeniorNet Eastern Bays welcomes you' will sit at the top of each persons screen [Please note: Registering is Free however is not mandatory for most parts of the site]

GrownUps would look to do some PR around any Agreement that was entered into

Special offers and competitions

Each Month we will run a special competition for any new SeniorNet member registering with GrownUps and also any member contributing to the site.

The prize will be a DVD and could extend to competitions between Learning Centres.

In the future: MyGrownUps promotion

Every registered member has a personal area on GrownUps (MyGrownUps). As we do have details of a person's suburb, we can therefore promote the local SeniorNet Learning centre to each individual, so that they see this each time they logon to MyGrownUps.

Therefore we can actively direct people to their local club and with this service, inform GrownUps members of any events at local SeniorNet clubs, in order to further entice them to join - this can occur with every new member that joins GrownUps also.