SleevePlicationTalk Contest & Newsletter 05/02/2012

[Alex Brecher 10,512]

SleevePlicationTalk News

This is it! We’re launching our SleevePlicationTalk News, a regular newsletter to keep you up to date on our community. We’ll tell you all about our exciting new features, programs and anything else you need and want to know about SleevePlicationTalk.com. Our goal is to make sure you know everything

This is the first edition of SleevePlicationTalk News, and we have a lot to talk about. In this edition, you’ll find information on:

• The launch of the SleevePlicationTalk apps for Apple and Android devices (and a free iPod contest, of course!)
  
• Creating your own SleevePlicationTalk.com patient profile
  
• Social and support groups on SleevePlicationTalk.com
  
• How to contact a local real-life surgeon on SleevePlicationTalk.com
  

And more!

I want to thank each and every one of you for your participation and support, and I encourage your feedback and comments. Together, we’re moving toward a healthier future!

Sincerely,

Alex Brecher

Founder

SleevePlicationTalk.com Apps Have Launched!

Now take SleevePlicationTalk.com with you wherever you go. The fully functional SleevePlicationTalk Android and SleevePlicationTalk iPhone, iPad and iPod apps are both free. They let you track your favorite threads, post to the forums, private message your buddies and upload photos using your mobile device. Now you never have to feel alone because you can carry the support and information you need.

You can access and download them directly to your smartphone, so why wouldn’t you get your app today?

We’re Giving Away a New iPod Touch!

To Celebrate the release of our Mobile apps, we’re giving away a brand-new iPod Touch. It’s a drawing, but we want to reward our active posters, referrers, bloggers, members with completed profiles and new members. The more you participate in SleevePlicationTalk.com, the better chance you have of winning. Here’s how it works.

Eligibility and Chances of Winning

• Forum members must make at least one post in any forum on SleevePlicationTalk during the contest period of 30 days from your receipt of this newsletter.
  
• Members must have a completed patient profile.
  
• You can increase your chances of winning by making more forum and blog posts, uploading more photos and referring members.
  

At the end of the contest period, one of the forum administrators will find all of the eligible forum members – remember, you have to make at least one post and have a completed Sleeve Plication profile. We’ll make a big spreadsheet with the Username of each member who is eligible, and assign points based on your activities. The more points you have, the better your chances of getting the iPod!

Point Structure

• 1 point: each forum post and each uploaded photo
  
• 2 points: each forum post from our mobile apps and each blog post
  
• 5 points: join a group
  
• 10 Points: complete My Surgery, My Surgeon or My Sleeve Plication Story; upload before and/or after photos
  
• 20 points for each successful forum referral; and
  
• 40 points for a fully completed patient profile
  

Get Involved Again

If you’re an old-timer who hasn’t been around much, this contest is a great opportunity to bring you back to the boards. You have tons of experience and advice to share with newer sleeve plication patients. If you’ve fallen off the wagon, don’t be shy. It’s never too late to get back on, and we’re here to give you the support and confidence you need for success in your lifestyle goals.

Some Reminders and New Features

Create or update your own Sleeve Plication Patient profile. Your information encourages other members and helps you connect with members that have your same interests and struggles. It also gets you 40 points for our iPod Touch giveaway.

We've recently updated our surgeon database; now, every bariatric surgeon in the world is included. Check it out and find a local surgeon who can help you. You can locate and read reviews on sleeve plication surgeons to help you choose an expert for your care.

Our social and support groups are up and running. We know that you all have special interests and identities, and our social and support groups provide more specialized platforms than our general community. Just of the few types of groups we have are

• Regional groups of people from your city or state.
  
• Surgery Buddy groups with people who got the Sleeve Plication at the same time as you.
  
• Medical Condition groups with people with a particular condition, such as PCOS
  
• Eating Support groups with people who struggle with eating issues, such as emotional eating
  

Check them out and join one or start your own.

Be a Good Friend

Be sure to mention SleevePlicationTalk.com as a source of support and information for any your friends, family members or associates who are considering sleeve plication surgery or have had it. Also, don’t forget that SleevePlicationTalk.com is a member of the WLSBoards.com network. Recommend our other four communities to anyone you know who needs them, and please stop on by and introduce yourself if you have had a weight loss surgery revision.

• LapBandTalk.com for LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Band
  
• VerticalSleeveTalk.com for Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy
  
• RNYTalk.com for Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
  

We Need Your Help

When you come here, you can depend on support, encouragement, sympathetic ears and expert advice from surgeons. But we need you to let community be able to continue grow stronger! Over the years, I’ve found that many bariatric surgeons and their staff don’t even know we’re here. Help us out by asking your surgeon to hang a couple of fliers in the clinic. They can go the waiting room bulletin board, at the reception desk and in patient consultation rooms.

I’ve even gotten the fliers ready for you in color and black-and-white options. Print them out and bring them to your next appointment, or email them to the office.

So please, support us and ask your surgeon to post these fliers in their office and hand them out to their patients. It helps you out because our community will benefit from more patients and surgeons with valuable advice. Remind your surgeon and clinic staff that it helps them out because it gives them more exposure to patients.

Stay in Touch

Feedback forum - we're always open to members ideas and feedback. Please use our feedback forum to let us know how we’re doing and send us your ideas on what you’d like to see at SleevePlicationTalk.com. We always want to know what you’re thinking and how we can improve!

We're now on Facebook and on Twitter. Like us and follow us to keep track of what's going on in our communities and show your support!

Don’t forget to support and celebrate! Our upcoming surgeries list tells you which members are about to get their bariatric surgery, so stop by and wish them luck! Come by the surgery anniversary list to congratulate members when they hit their annual anniversaries of their surgeries. Your name will be automatically entered onto the right list as soon as you update your patient profile.

Coming Soon…

We're releasing customizable health trackers and tickers within the next 90 days. We'll include more info in future newsletters, so stay tuned for information on those and the other latest happenings around SleevePlicationTalk.com.

Thanks for reading, and talk to you soon!

Sincerely,

Alex