Wishing you and your family the best for this holiday season!

Thank you for being a part of the BigTent community, and looking forward to 2012!

- The BigTent Team

Adriana has been interested in fostering community and strengthening relationships ever since being a Transfer Student Councilor on the Brown University campus. Before embracing the role of Community Manager, Adriana started at BigTent as a Campaign Manager, where she became well-versed in the product and learned firsthand the value of BigTent and its groups. She brings to the role experience in project management, communication and marketing from her former roles at Citrix Systems, Inc. and Federated Media Publishing.

As Community Manager, Adriana will support the BigTent community by providing regular admin and member tips on getting the most from your group, sharing relevant news and updates, spotlighting new and interesting groups through our blog, and being another resource to answer your questions. Also, starting next month, she will be relaunching our online BigTent training sessions.

When she’s not keeping BigTent members up-to-date with the latest news and tips, Adriana can be found biking through the city, playing piano, practicing yoga, or browsing the local farmers market. She urges you to drop a TentMail note to say hi, as she loves making new friends.

Please join us in welcoming Adriana!

Best,

- The BigTent Team

October is International Walk to School Month. During the month of October, elementary and middle school students and their families can help their schools win one of five $5,000 grants – simply by walking or bicycling to school. Parents are invited to sign up online for the Walk to School Challenge at www.facebook.com/greenworks, and log their families’ walking or bicycling trips on behalf of their school. The five schools with the highest level of participation will be eligible to win a $5,000 grant. Through this program, Green Works hopes to encourage people to use walking and bicycling to school as a simple way to spend more time outdoors and live a more natural lifestyle.

In addition, BigTent members who enters their school in the Walk to School Challenge, will be entered to win prizes from Green Works. Each week, BigTent will randomly select one person to receive a collection of Green Works products. At the end of the four weeks, we will select a Grand Prize Winner who will win Green Works products, along with a backpack full of weather garb to keep you walking throughout the year.

 
To enter into the BigTent member drawing, enter your group into the Green Works Walk to School Challenge above and write a comment to this blog post below. Make sure to include your school name.
 
Now start walking!

- The BigTent Team

Walk to School Day
Walk to School Day has been celebrated since 1997 as a way to bring community leaders and children together to build awareness of the need for communities to be more walkable. The one-day event, which is coordinated by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, has grown to a month-long celebration that includes millions of participants worldwide. In 2009, students and parents from over 3,500 U.S. schools laced up their sneakers to walk or strapped on their bicycle helmets to pedal to school instead of riding in a car. Walk to School events are aimed at bringing forth permanent change to encourage a more walkable, bikeable America – one community at a time. For more information, visit www.walktoschool.org.

Greetings from Austin!

I’m Jenn, a design team member here at BigTent, reporting with my colleague Pearl Wu, who’s QA. We’ve recently landed in Austin and are excited to take part in the 2010 SXSW Music and Media Conference.

There are some great keynotes and workshops listed this year. We’re excited to participate in discussions on mobile user experience, location and context, Tastemaker Moms, and much more! It is our hope that these conversations will inform our thinking as we expand our product into the mobile realm, and continue to devise strategies for appealing to all the Chief Household Officers out there.

If there are any BigTent members out there participating in SXSW, please get in touch with us @jenn__chen and @pearlsaur. You can also show your support by joining our group on Facebook. We’d love to meet up with you!

Best,

Jenn and Pearl

To show our support, we’re participating in the 2009 National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs (NOMOTC) Convention, held July 26 – August 1 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. We’ll be answering questions in the Resource Room, and sponsoring the Club Networking Luncheon on Saturday, August 1. Hope we’ll even have some time to get into the convention theme, “Only in Vegas.”

I’m a mom of twins and former President of my own twins club, Mid-Peninsula Parents of Multiples, so BigTent’s efforts to support multiple-birth parents is very near and dear to me. If you’re planning to attend the convention, be sure to stop by and say hi!

Best,

Dawn & the BigTent team

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bigtentgroups

]]> http://blog.bigtent.com/2009/07/17/bigtent-supports-online-groups-at-2009-nomotc-convention/feed/ 2 BigTent boys at firestation http://blog.bigtent.com/2009/07/10/building-a-team-at-bigtent/ http://blog.bigtent.com/2009/07/10/building-a-team-at-bigtent/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:28:37 +0000 BigTent http://blog.bigtent.com/?p=685 ]]> Taking a break from the daily grind, BigTent recently participated in an interactive scavenger hunt in San Francisco’s Mission District. Under the expert guidance of Melanie and The Go Game, we divided up into small teams and scurried off from Dolores Park.

Armed only with digital cameras, smartphones, and occasional clues,  we tested our collective talents with a variety of creative and fast-paced challenges. We solved location-based riddles, recreated famous historical events in photos, and sleuthed for special agents. We even reenacted famous movie scenes — using only our fingers.

We reconvened at Andalu, dining on delicious tapas and judging each others’ scavenger hunt results. In true team spirit, everyone brought home a prize, from self-adhesive mustaches to a dueling unicorn-vs.-narwhal set.

It was a one-of-a-kind experience, though Jaws did appear twice:

Have fun out there!

-The team @ BigTent

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bigtentgroups

We have seen an increase in the number of homeschool support groups on BigTent and we’re working hard to nurture this growing interest. Here are two quick updates for you:

1. We’ve launched the Homeschool Leadership Collaborative, a free online group aimed at homeschooling parents and leaders of homeschool organizations.

The group is a great resource for getting support, sharing best practices, and learning from colleagues with various homeschooling philosophies. We welcome your ideas and hope to see you in the group soon.

2. For homeschoolers in Washington state, come meet BigTent this Friday and Saturday. We’ll be in Puyallup at the 2009 Washington Homeschool Organization (WHO) Convention.

This convention is the largest event of its kind on the West Coast, and we’re excited to participate. Look for us in Booth 2003.

Best,

Archana and the BigTent Team

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:

Deck the monitors with boughs of holly…

Thanks for all your holiday cards!

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

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

Even the dogs got decorated!

Happy holidays to you and yours,

BigTent

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

Why the change? If you do a little Web search for “big tent,” you’ll find results for media venues, political parties, advertising agencies, bookstores and more. Plus, there’s the occasional person who wonders if we sell party or camping tents.

We live in a virtual Tent

We don’t sell tents, but we do provide free management tools for your family-friendly community group. And rest assured, our Tent fits more than 4-6 people, so come on in!

-Mia and the BigTent team

P.S. Yes, we really will delete the hundreds of spaces between “Big” and “Tent” all over our pages. If you see any renegade spaces, let us know.