New Site Features Searchable Database, Member Profiles and Improved Look and Feel

DETROIT -Inforum, Michigan’s largest network of professional women, has launched a new website designed to make Inforum membership even more valuable. The new site, at www.inforummichigan.org, is an online community that significantly enhances networking and information sharing opportunities among members, allows Inforum’s leadership to communicate more effectively and provides better access to news and information of interest to Michigan’s professional women.

The changes to Inforum’s online presence go far beyond the aesthetic,” said Terry Barclay, president and CEO of Inforum and Inforum Center for Leadership. “To be sure, our new website certainly has a significantly improved look and feel compared with the former site. However, the new functionality is what makes the change really exciting. This launch represents a new phase in the way Inforum communicates with its members and members communicate with each other.”

“This new website represents Inforum’s ongoing effort to be responsive to members’ needs and interests,” said Vivian Rogers Pickard, Chair of the Inforum Board of Directors, President of the General Motors Foundation and Director, Corporate Relations for General Motors Co. “The new site will add significant value to Inforum membership by making it a lot easier for members to interact online and build their personal brands. Our members said they wanted these kinds of tools and we are glad to deliver them.”

Among the features Inforum members will now enjoy are: -

• Enhanced member profiles that will allow members to upload a photo and provide deeper, more meaningful information about their professional and personal lives, including privacy controls that allow different levels of access to various kinds of information.
• A searchable database, allowing Inforum members to easily find each others' profiles on the website.
• A new Chief Executive’s Blog intended to serve as a conduit for two-way communication between Inforum’s staff and its members. The blog will allow members to talk back to Inforum by posting comments.
• An online video archive of Inforum events and a greatly improved photo gallery.
• Direct access to the website for Inforum’s networking and affinity groups, allowing them to post up-to-date information and keep in touch with members via e-mail. - The ability to send and receive messages to and from other Inforum members.
• Better access to information about Inforum activities and events, as well as other information of interest to Inforum members.

 Some other improvements include changes that members will not see, but will boost the efficiency of Inforum’s member relations efforts, improve the event registration and member sign-up processes, and save hundreds of staff hours per year by making various administrative and bookkeeping tasks more automated. “

This new website does more than just make Inforum membership more valuable,” Barclay said. “In many ways, it will allow Inforum itself to be a better, more responsive membership.”

The new website was developed by Ann Arbor-based Ingenex Digital Marketing, which also is a platinum-level corporate investor in Inforum.

About Inforum

Unique in the U.S., and one of the largest and most prestigious business forums in the Midwest, Inforum has more than 2,000 members in its Southeast Michigan (Detroit), Mid-Michigan (Lansing) and West Michigan (Grand Rapids) affiliates. No other group brings together as many women to help each other lead and succeed. The mission of Inforum is to strengthen the business environment in Michigan by creating opportunities for women to lead and succeed. Our vision is to serve as the premier forum for a broad cross-section of business professionals to meet and forge alliances with women decision makers. 

For more information about Inforum, visit www.inforummichigan.org or call 313.578.3230.