Your Professional Profile

Networking for the Music Professional

The heart of the new CMS Web site is your professional profile. CMS provides the opportunity for members to build a professional profile and share the fruits of their work with the profession and the public.

Through its professional activities, CMS gathers, considers, and disseminates ideas on the philosophy and practice of music. CMS creates forums in which individuals working in the various areas of music can interact and communicate. Your professional profile enables you to participate fully in CMS professional networking.

CMS members are welcome to build a professional profile by compiling information on their professional activities. The information compiled is archived and may be retrieved, edited, and further developed. Over time, your professional profile can serve as a legacy of work accomplished.

The following guidelines provide information concerning establishing and editing your professional profile.

Establishing Your Professional Profile

After logging into the members' Web site, click on EDIT MY CMS PROFILE at the top of the left column. Your profile edit page will open. From this profile edit page you may add information concerning your professional life and work.

Establishing and editing your profile is easy, but kindly note the following guidelines and options.

The Professional Profile contains five major sections to work through:

1. Edit Profile
2. Change Profile Picture
3. Change Profile Video
4. Set Preferences
5. Set Notifications

Here is an overview of each:

(1) Edit Profile

The Edit Profile section is presented first. The Edit Profile section contains the following major areas:

• Basic Informatio
• Contact Information
• Education
• Professional Activities
• Community Activities
• CMS Communication Options

Complete these sections as best represents your professional life, work, interests, and communications preferences.

The Colorful Lock – Each item in the profile has a colorful lock to its right. Click the lock for each item and decide whether you wish this piece of information to be available to:

• the general public
• site members – i.e., all CMS members
• friends – i.e., only those CMS members with whom you establish a friendship on this site
• only yourself

The default setting for each item is “site members.”  “Site members” are all members of CMS that log into the CMS Web site. Unless you click the lock and change the item's setting, all members of CMS will be able to view the item in your professional profile when they log into the CMS Web site. The exception to the rule is the CMS Communications Options section – these items default to “only yourself” and will remain so unless you specify otherwise.

Thus far, you have been editing your profile in its “Account Information” section. When you have completed the above, click “Account Details” in the left column. In “Account Details” you may change your name, email address, and password, and specify other features to suit your needs.

Save – Be sure to click the Save button in the left column to save the changes you have made.

(2) Change Profile Picture

Notice the four additional sections of the profession profile – two to the left of “Edit profile” and two to the right. Click “Change profile picture.” Add or change your picture on this page. Select “Choose File,” select the file of your choice from your local computer, and then upload the photo. This will be the photo displayed in your profile.

There is no need to return to the “Edit” page and click the Save button in the left column. Your photo will automatically be saved to your profile.

(3) Change Profile Video

Again, notice the four additional sections of the profession profile – two to the left of “Edit profile” and two to the right. Click “Change profile video.” Add or change your profile's video on this page.

First, however, you will need to either establish a link to an existing video or upload at least one video clip to the CMS site. CMS members are limited to ten video clips of 8 megabytes each. To add video files for your use:

• Click the black Videos button, the rightmost button on the green bar at the top of the page.
• Select “Add”over at the far right. (It's hard to see but it's there!)
• Here you can either (a) link to a video file on the Web or (b) upload a video file of your own to the CMS server.
  • To link to a video file on the Web, highlight the “Link Video” tab, enter the full URL for the video (e.g., http://www.video.com/myvideofile.mp4), enter a location (optional), and specify your preferred audience via the Lock function (see above).
  • To select a file to upload, highlight the “Upload Video” tab, select Choose File, select the video file from your computer by highlighting the file and clicking “Choose,” enter a Title, enter a Description and Location (both optional), and specify your preferred audience via the Lock function (see above).
  • Finally, click Upload Video at the bottom of the page.
• Repeat this process to load up to ten files.

Now, move the cursor over “My CMS Profile” and click “Change Profile Video.” Select “Choose File,” select the video file of your choice, and then upload the file. This will be the video that is part of your professional profile.

There is no need to return to the “Edit” page and click the Save button in the left column. Your video will automatically be saved to your profile.

(4) Set Preferences

The Preferences section has four major areas:

General – Your CMS profile will present to you your most recent CMS networking activities (e.g., edit your profile, post photos, join a discussion group, start a new discussion). You may indicate how many of your recent activities (“Activity stream feeds”) you wish included your profile's list.

Also indicate whether you wish to have the “Like” feature included in your profile and, by clicking the lock, your access preference.

Privacy Setting – Edit your privacy preferences to best suit your professional needs.

Email and Notifications – Edit your email and notifications preferences to best suit your professional needs.

Blocklist User – You have the ability to create your own list of site users that are blocked by you. As you view a profile of an individual, a ‘block user’ icon appears which you may select by clicking it. In this section, all users whom you have blocked will appear in a list. From here, you may choose to unblock these users.

(5) Set Notifications

In Emails and Notifications above, you selected which notifications you would like to receive by email and which notification you would like to receive on site. The on-site notification will be listed here.

Review Your Profile

When you are finished and would like to review your profile, click MY PROFILE at the top of the page or the MY CMS PROFILE tab. Check your profile to make sure it best represents your professional life and work.

Using Professional Networking Features

As you will note, it is from your profile page that you will be able to take part in several professional networking opportunities. From here you can make friends and join groups.

The Share Block – Status, Photos, and Video

Notice the Share block at the top of your profile page. Also note the lock just below it. In this block you can enter a “status” message and share it with the group you have selected via the lock. For example, you may wish to enter the message “I-IV-V-I is my favorite chord progression.” and share this with the general public. To do so, (1) type the message in the block, (2) click the lock and select “Public” from four options, and (3) click the Share button to the right. Viola! The public now knows how you feel about chord progressions.

Click on ‘Photos’ or ‘Videos’ to share media content. Both options function in the same way. Select a photo or video, add optional commentary in the text book, select your audience from the lock options, and click the Share button.

Four Activity Options – Groups, Members, Photos, and Activity

Notice that four large buttons appear on your professional profile page: Groups, Members, Photos, and Activity.

Group – This indicates the number of discussion groups of which you are currently a member. Click the Groups link to see a list of CMS discussion groups and to join or resign from these groups.

Members – This indicates the number of CMS members that have friended you. Click the members link to see the list and access the professional profiles of these friends.

Photos – This indicates the number of photos that you have uploaded to the site. You may manage your photos by clicking the photo link or by clicking the Photos button above. The Photos section also enables you to create photo albums and include pictures posted by your friends.

Activity – This indicates the number of CMS networking activities (e.g., edit your profile, post photos, join a discussion group, start a new discussion). On the list will be all your CMS activities for easy access and retrieval.