Using the Walk to Cure Diabetes Online Participant Center

One of my favorite times of year here at Breakthrough T1D is Walk Season. I love how excited everyone gets for Walk day and there is a definite buzz in the air here in the office as we prepare for each of the four Walks. It also means that I get to talk to many of our wonderful walkers and team captains as I answer questions and help with anything that might come up. I even have my own family Walk team, “Coe’s Go” at the Walk at California’s Great America. From answering questions and from my own experience as a team captain, I have seen just how crucial using the Walk to Cure Diabetes online Participant Center to its full capacity is. When you log on to your walker profile online, the walker Participant Center is the first thing you see. There have been a lot of changes and additions to make it even easier to personalize your profile, send emails and make use of some of the special features of the Participant Center.
    Walker Profile: The walker profile is really important because this is the first page that anyone searching for you on the website or following a link sees. I find that when your walker profile is personalized, it becomes more compelling for everyone who sees it, which really helps with fundraising. It’s also really easy to add that personal touch – just click on the personal page tab and tell your story. There is a standard message there which I tend to simply update with my own little introduction. You can also add pictures or a video to your personal page. I really need to remember to take a team picture this year so that I can put it on my page next year! If everyone sees how much fun the Walk is they’re more likely to want to join your team or donate. Many teams put together a video which is also a really powerful and effective way of telling your story. If you are the team captain you can also update the team profile with a personalized message on the team page tab.
    Email Tool: The most changes and updates have been made to the email option. There are two ways of getting there. You can either click on the first sneaker option (send email) on the menu to the left on the Home tab or you can click on the email tab on the top of the page. Once on the email page you can click on the use template link to see the different email template options. Some of the template options include recruiting, solicitation and thank you emails and they give you a place to start when communicating with potential teammates and donors. If you don’t know what to say there are a lot of great examples here. I encourage everyone to send an email to their friends and family. After all, you’ll never know if someone is willing to donate if you don’t ask!
    Special Features: There are a lot of really neat special features to make your emails look good and help you easily send them out. On the bottom of the email page you have a choice between two different stationary options. I like how snazzy the stationary makes the emails look – this is not your standard boring yahoo message! You can also import your contact list in from your personal email. The option to do so is located on the menu to the left of the email message. The other feature I really like is the option to personalize your personal page and team page links. Instead of a long bunch of random numbers you can add your name or team name and make the link more compact and logical.
    In the end, the Walk to Cure Diabetes Participant Center exists to make it easy for walkers to communicate with team members and donors. A personalized walker profile, easy and fun looking emails and special options are essential tools that can help make your Walk team meet your goals. Please contact me with any questions that may arise. You can reach me at kcoe@BreakthroughT1D.org or 415-597-6315. I am here and happy to help!