Participating in Slack discussions
- Accept your email invitation to the Slack workspace. If you don’t have an invitation, request to join the HighEdWeb Workspace.
- Complete your profile:
- Add your preferred name to Display Name. Avoid using Twitter handles or other online identities.
- Add your full professional name to Full Name.
- You can either add your preferred pronouns to the Pronouns field and/or after your Display Name (two-factor pronouns).
- Add your title and institution/organization to What I Do.
- Upload a Profile Photo so people can recognize you in Slack, preferably an individual portrait photo.
- The workspace uses channels to organize discussions by topic within Slack.
- Mind the channel: Check the channel purpose and topic before chiming in.
- Be a good citizen of Slack: Ask and answer questions, assume best intent, try not to sidetrack conversations.
- Adhere to the HighEdWeb Code of Conduct.
Communication best practices
- Format messages so that they’re easier to read.
- Use emoji reactions liberally to acknowledge messages while keeping channels tidy .
- Use threads to respond or add to a message topic.
Slack message composer
When you’re writing a message in Slack, press the Aa button to reveal a formatting panel in both Slack’s desktop and mobile apps. Highlight any text you’ve written then click options like bold, italics, strikethrough or code format to give messages the right emphasis or to make key excerpts stand out.
Create a Slack message
Note: You can edit your message in Slack up to 5 minutes after posting. Only admins can delete messages.
From the New Message option
- From anywhere in Slack, select
new message next to your workspace name in the top left.
- Type and format your message in the message field.
- Select
send message to publish your message.
From the message field
- Select the message field in a channel or direct message.
- Type and format your message.
- Press Enter to send it.
Responding to messages
When responding to a message in Slack, you have several options:
- Add an emoji reaction.
- Amplify someone else’s emoji reaction by selecting it.
- Respond with a message of your own by starting a “thread.”
Mention someone in a message
Mentions are a direct way to notify specific people of something in a Slack message..
- As you’re writing a message, enter the @ symbol.
- Enter a member’s name, or select one from the list of members. You can repeat this step for every person you’d like to mention in your message.
- Send your message.
Self-promotion
HighEdWeb social networks like Slack are intended to allow digital professionals working in higher education to network and share insights and information with peers. To preserve the spirit and intent of the Slack workspace, HighEdWeb does not allow the self-promotion of products and services to community members outside of dedicated Slack channels for Association sponsors or the #events channel.
If you have or know of upcoming non-HighEdWeb webinars and events that may be relevant to our community, please feel free to share those events in the designated channels. To learn more about how best to engage with our community, please don’t hesitate to contact our sponsorship team.