My Secret Plan Update

Hi Everyone

I have a big and fun update on our SparkAmerica/SparkEarth project!

First, sometime in January we will launch a new feature called SparkChallenges. These will be simple challenges that anyone can do. Our goal is to have a feature that can be used by anyone in an organization or group. We just got the mockups of the feature the day before Thanksgiving and it looks really good. I can't share too much yet about the details, but I can say that people will be able to do these challenges in 3 ways:

1. As individuals with no contact with other people
2. With community support from other SparkPeople members
3. People will be able to start their own challenge (sort of like a SparkTeam, but a lot simpler) and then invite their social/real friends/co-workers for friendly competition in a "private" SparkChallenge. These challenges will have their own private community feed for friendly trash-talking/motivation :).

This will make SparkAmerica/SparkEarth much more exciting and realistic because for the first time ever, SparkPeople will have different features that appeal to anyone.

Then, all of the activity from all current SP features plus these new challenges will flow into the SparkAmerica/SparkEarth leaderboards.

This will hopefully make my longtime dream of using SparkPeople and our SP System program to build Healthy Leaders and have them spark their family, friends, co-workers, and community. I think this plan could really amplify our goal to make a big impact on the world.

Speaking of the leaderboards, we have new pages up so people can select their favorite affinities from several different categories. Then, all steps, fitness minutes, or SparkPoints earned by a member will be added to each affinity selected by that member. So, if I select Minneapolis as my city, the company I work for, and the Minnesota Vikings as my favorite football team, then if I earn 50 SparkPoints, those 50 SparkPoints will be added to each of those affinities.

Our goal is to build the most impactful campaign ever in the areas of fitness and health, leadership development, and community support!

If you would like to select your favorite affinities, just go to this page.

Note that you can add your company or other organization like nonprofits if they aren't already included. With almost no promotion, we've already had over 60 organizations added by members.

Through the years, many of our members have joined SparkPeople because of word-of-mouth from others. At the same time, we have heard from many people that their friends didn't use SparkPeople because they didn't want to track their food or they thought SparkPeople was too overwhelming.

This new SparkChallenges feature will be the solution for both of these issues!

If you submit an anninity, we will put you on a list and send you updates including:

• Launch dates and any feature updates
• Materials that you can share with people in your organization
• Any other information that comes up

You can feel free to share SparkPeople and SparkAmerica with your organization now if you'd like, but the updates coming soon will most likely make this much easier.

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know and read comments from other members on this blog.

It's fun to see the list of new affinities added recently by SparkPeople members. My goal is to add 1,000 new affinity organizations by June 1, 2018. This could become a historic grassroots leadership effort! Do you have any affinity groups you'd like to add? If so, just visit the page above and you'll see a link.

Here is the list of affinities added by SP members:

• Florida International University
• Mississippi State University
• SC4
• Office Depot, Inc.
• Spectrum Brands
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• SUNY
• University of Alabama
• Salvation Army
• Wayne State University
• Elements Therapeutic Massage
• WellSpan Health
• Linda Spangle
• University of Tennessee
• NORML, Inc
• American Express Global Business Travel
• CDPAP
• State of Oregon Employees
• Slocum ISD
• Make A Wish Foundation
• Patriot Bible University
• Great Falls Rescue Mission
• Aramark
• Shopko
• CBRE
• Morgue Official
• Trimedx
• St. Jude Children's Hospital
• Shriners Hospitals for Children
• Wounded Warriors
• BJ's Wholesale Club
• Cigna Healthcare
• Woods & Brangwin, PLLC
• University of Wisconsin in Madison
• Mercy Hospital Iowa City
• University of Pittsburgh
• Doc's Pizza
• TN Daily
• OPWDD-Taconic DDSO
• The American Legion
• SAU 24
• Ascension
• Pit Bull Rescue
• Southwestern College Chula Vista
• University of New Mexico
• Civitan International
• SECURA Insurance Companies
• Framingham State University
• West Point
• Hart
• Autoport (Michigan) Limited
• Optum
• Harry Potter
• People-Inc.org
• Consol Energy, LLC
• Bethany College Bison
• Delta Tau Delta
• University of Tennessee Football
• Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts
• JJ Watt Foudation
• Community Partners of Strafford County New Hampshire
• The Queen's Medical Center-West Oahu

Have a great week everyone and thanks for your support!

Chris "SparkGuy" Downie



Chris (SparkGuy)

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