Archive for December, 2008

A BigTent holiday

Published December 31, 2008 Big Culture Leave a Comment

Dear BigTenters,

Before we close out 2008 and usher in a hopeful 2009, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued interest and loyal participation in BigTent. We wouldn’t be where we are without your commitment to serving your local communities of moms, dads, school leaders, hobbyists, fitness enthusiasts, and much, much more!

It goes without saying that it’s been a tumultuous, trying year across the US and beyond. We hope your holidays have been a heartening time of happiness and rejuvenation. 

There’s a lot in store for 2009, so we’d like to leave you with a quick and final glimpse of our office holiday spirit, BigTent style:

Decking out the computers

Deck the monitors with boughs of holly…

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Thanks for all your holiday cards!

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This year, we adopted a tree. It will be planted in SF in the new year.

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Kitchen passerby definitely took note of our gingerbread house-making skills.

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Even the dogs got decorated!

Happy holidays to you and yours,

BigTent

‘Tis the season for virtual gifts

Published December 9, 2008 Big Features Leave a Comment
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Some of our virtual gifts

Today, BigTent launched its first batch of virtual gifts. From holiday gifts to snowmen, cups of coffee to glasses of champagne, there’s bound to be a gift you want to share with others in your group.

To kick things off, we’ve given all members two free credits to redeem on premium gifts, which usually cost a dollar. Meanwhile, our snowflake, birthday present, and welcome mat gifts are always free to share.

Sending virtual gifts only takes a few clicks, so get out there and start spreading some cheer to your friends and family in the Tent!

BigTent and Compass partner to offer life coaching

Published December 8, 2008 Big Culture 4 Comments
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BigTent and Compass partner to offer life coaching

BigTent has partnered with Kimberly Fulcher to offer a unique “Get organized in 2009″ opportunity to group leaders who migrate their group to BigTent, start a new group on BigTent, or grow their existing BigTent group by January 31st, 2009.  Life and business coaching expert, Kim is the founder, president and CEO of Compass Life and Business Designs (www.mylifecompass.com), a personal development company and community for women.

Coaching for Leaders: Compass Coaching Network will provide a month’s membership free to the leader of any new BigTent group that grows by 10 or more members by January 31st. Each month, Compass Coaching Network helps members with the common challenges they face every day. This online service will help you get inspired and make real improvements in your life in less than 10 minutes a day. Get empowered through coaching, and connect with other people like you who want to enjoy their life!

Grand Prize: Any group leader who migrates their group to BigTent, starts a new group on BigTent, or grows their existing BigTent by January 31st will also be entered in a drawing to win a free “life makeover” valued at $1,500. The winner will receive three personal coaching sessions with a professionally trained coach and a signed copy “Remodel Your Reality,” Kim’s recently published book. Reclaim your confidence. Redefine balance. Go for your dreams. You can do all of these things working with a Compass Coach!

To Enter: Complete these three steps to be entered into the promotion.

  1. Migrate a group to BigTent, start a new group on BigTent, or grow your existing BigTent group.
  2. Get at least 10 new people to join your BigTent group by January 31st.
  3. Send an email to promo@bigtent.com with the name of your BigTent group.

The winner of the grand prize will be selected at random during the first week of February.

Good Luck!

- The BigTent Team

New tools in the Tent

Published December 3, 2008 Big Features Leave a Comment
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Last week we unveiled some great new features on BigTent! The features include:

- Easy download of calendar events

- Greater visibility of forum search options

- Customizable invitation rejection message

Easy download of calendar events:

ical is now in beta!

For our tech savvy members, we’ve created a feature that allows you to integrate your BigTent events into your desktop calendar applications. This feature allows you to download your calendar events to your desktop for use in other Calendar applications such as Outlook, Google, and iCal.

...will show up on your external calendar of choice

You can download events 6 months prior to and one year from today.

Greater visibility of forum search options:

Instead of having to click on “Advanced Options” to filter forum topics by author, date, or message type, these choices are now a part of the main search menu. You can filter messages by forum, keywords, author, date range, message type, or any combination of these.

Customizable invitation rejection message:

We know you never want to deny potential members entry to your group, but sometimes an interested person may not fit your membership criteria. For this reason, we’ve created a feature that allows group leaders to add a message that gets sent when you or another leader rejects a potential membe’s application.

This feature is particularly useful for groups with a limited capacity, or groups that only accept members who meet a certain requirement (e.g,, attended a specific university or have children of a certain age) and want to specify these requirements when denying memberships.

We’re adding new feature and enhancing existing features all the time. Stay tuned for more tune-ups in the Tent!