I am sure that some of our staff are familiar with Internet Forums but I expect that some of you may be saying to yourself; “What is a web forum”?

Well, a web forum is a message board, a bulletin board system in the form of a discussion web site. It is very similar to this newsletter but with the added advantage of the readers being able to leave messages, suggest ideas, ask questions and interact with other individuals in real time. Imagine being able to communicate with fellow employees throughout the company instantly i.e. leave a general message which is, maybe a request for advice or help with a particular problem at work or being able to start a discussion and receive numerous replies from other company forum users. You may have an announcement to make, maybe a new contract which you have just won for the company and want your fellow employees to know about it. Or, you may have advice which you feel may help your colleagues achieve their goal at work. There is even a live Chat Box where you can discuss work issues with colleagues throughout the whole company. Participating in an Internet forum allows us all to build bonds with each other and create interest groups which will easily form around a topic of discussion.

There is a small amount of jargon to learn – when you submit a new subject or topic for discussion it is known as starting a thread, communicating with each other using publicly visible messages are referred to as posts, it is also possible through the forum to send private messages know as PMs to fellow forum members.
The Assembly Point already has many discussion areas: Company news & information, Calendar events, Sales discussion, Servicing discussion, Legalisation, Sales presentations, General servicing tips & advice, Sales tips & advice, Technical service bulletins, Engineers' specific forms & documents (to download), General forms & documents (to download) and even some light-hearted areas i.e. You've just got to laugh and the Tea room. These are just a few initial topical discussion areas, the beauty of The Assembly Point is that it can be configured and expanded to suit all department’s needs.

Our forum is not freely available to just anybody, is only available to company employees and requires registration; just go to: http://ukfire.forumotion.net/ and click on the registration button fill in a few important details: your name and your chosen password these details will be sent to the forum administrator who, after a few checks, will grant you access. Initially we have configured the forum mainly for sales and servicing staff, as it becomes established, forum usability will gradually be expanded to include all company departments.

If you would like to take a peek preview the address for The Assembly Point is: http://ukfire.forumotion.net/
I look forward to seeing you using the forum very soon.

Admin– Norwich.