Say hello to Doha Expat Mums & Kids (DEMK)! This group unites moms from over 64 countries  – Bangladesh, Ghana, Croatia, Iran, and more. Priding itself on its positive, friendly atmosphere, DEMK requires prospective members to attend one event before joining the group.

“We find that this encourages the idea of DEMK being a true local community, since it’s not something random people can join just by going online,” says Roxanne Davis, founder of the group.

DEMK has only been around for a year. How does it already have 500 members?

Roxanne tells us more.

Q: So, how did it all start?

A: When I moved to Doha, Qatar, in October 2008, there were individual playgroups here and there throughout the city, but no groups to connect the moms and help them all thrive in this challenging locale. Having been part of a fantastic moms group in Houston (Heights Kids), I decided to start one here.

Though there were many people who were interested in the group, I was also met with a surprising amount of resistance. I was told that no one would show up to the group’s events, no one would help out, etc. These comments really took me aback, and they motivated me to ensure the group was successful.

Q: What do you do to ensure success?

A: We’re extremely busy! Here in Doha, we’ve had to make our own fun. We have an average of three events per day, ranging from coffee mornings to playgroups to walks along the sea. Our group is volunteer-based, so members dive in and organize activities with the attitude of “build it and they will come.”

Our members have organized and/or given tours of the local organic farm, the wholesale market, the abaya souk, the fabric souk and the zoo.

Q: How does BigTent help your group?

Heights Kids transitioned to BigTent in early 2008 and never looked back. When it came time to start Doha Expat Mums & Kids, I didn’t even consider using other platforms — BigTent is positively the best one out there.

Q: Aw, thanks. We’re blushing now. Tell us about you. What else are you up to besides this group?

A: I am the mother of two kids, a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter. Our family is on our third expatriate posting; previously we lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Melbourne, Australia. My husband works for a large oil company, which keeps us on the go every couple of years or so.

Also, I used to work as a mover and long-haul truck driver for Mayflower and United Van Lines. As such, I can drive a split shift transmission, am fully fluent in trucker lingo, and know the best truckstops for Mexican food.

Q: Now we’re hungry. What are your future goals for the group?

A: DEMK is growing very, very quickly, and it has turned into a full-time job for me and several friends. A new website which will support our own advertising is in the works.

We’re also planning to offer a discount card for sale to members, which will get them better rates at hotels, salons, restaurants, specific events, etc. It’s very exciting to see the labor of my love expand to include income opportunities!

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Hats off to Natalie Diaz, twins club expert and Twiniversity founder, for an excellent webinar this morning! The BigTent webinar, “Twins Club: Extreme Makeover,” had over 30 people register from 17 different states.

In case you missed it, we now have slides and a recorded version of the session available for viewing:

• Webinar slides. Get a PDF with all 10 tips for sprucing up your club.
• Webinar recording. Tune in and hear Natalie’s advice, plus questions and feedback from the audience.

BigTent is proud to be the largest online host to twins clubs, with over 150 twins groups calling us home. If your group has yet to check out BigTent, be sure to watch our Quick Tour or create a new group. We look forward to seeing more of you on the site!

Best,

The BigTent Team

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

Great news for everyone starting groups on BigTent! We just launched our Coach Corner, which is designed to help you learn the ropes for managing your group on our site.

The Coach Corner contains live, recorded, and printed resources to train both your leadership team and your members.  Sign up for a web training session with expert Community Coach, Jaine, check out a series of videos to make sure you’ve done everything necessary to set up your group, or download helpful guides for transitioning to BigTent.

We plan on making frequent Coach Corner updates to keep pace with new features and site growth, so be sure to check back frequently for new content. We look forward to seeing more of your groups on BigTent!

Best,

Rufus and the BigTent team

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

Are you a twins club leader looking for ways to save time and boost participation in your group? Join us next week for a fun, free webinar, hosted by BigTent and led by fellow expert twin mom, Natalie Diaz.

Twins Club: Extreme Makeover
Thursday, November 12 @ 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern
Click here to register for free

In this session, Natalie will share 10 tips to help you cut down on management burdens and spruce up your twins club. Tips include:

-How to manage member information online
-How to delegate volunteer responsibilities
-How to plan awesome events

Natalie is Director of Manhattan Twins Club, a group on BigTent that boasts over 900 members. Natalie is also founder of Twiniversity.com and a contributing writer for New York Family Magazine — she is guaranteed to commiserate with you and make you laugh!

Hope to see you next week at the webinar. Let us know if you have any questions.

Best,

The BigTent Team

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

Access Colorado is a non-profit organization that was formed to support AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers and their supervisors in their collective efforts to fight poverty and improve student access to post-secondary education.

Here’s a little Q&A with our fearless leader, Melanie:

Q. How does BigTent improve the day-to-day functions of your group?

A. BigTent offers seamless integration of a calendar, forum, news items — plus widgets to link the group to our website. On a typical day, you’ll see a variety of professional development opportunities, trainings, deadline reminders, and other resources posted to our group.

Q. What are your future goals for the group?

A. Our online group is still fairly new, so I’d like to see us up the rate of participation.

Q. Aside from your role with Access Colorado, what keeps you busy?

A. I practice yoga daily, spend time with friends and family, and teach computing skills to adults reentering the workforce.

Congratulations to Kathy Spencer and the How to Shop for Free team! Today, Good Morning America aired a segment where Kathy put her coupon expertise to the test, completing trips to Shaw’s and CVS for mere pennies on the dollar. The Massachusetts mother of four even set a personal best shopping record at Shaw’s.

If you watch closely around the :30 second mark (4:00 minutes remaining), you’ll see a cameo appearance from How to Shop for Free on Kathy’s laptop. Kathy moved her group to BigTent in 2008, and a year later the active online community has grown to nearly 9,000 members and sends hundreds of messages daily.

The Good Morning America clip highlights four of Kathy’s tips for stretching your dollar at the register. To join ongoing discussions about the latest store deals and get advice from an experienced coupon community, be sure to sign up for How to Shop for Free. Also, leave a comment below to give kudos to Kathy!

Cheers,

The BigTent Team

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

In case you couldn’t attend this morning’s webinar, How to Grow Your Group, we have a copy of the slides and a recorded version of the webinar to help you out.

Jaine Murphy, BigTent Community Coach and expert in starting and growing groups, led the session and shared 10 tips for increasing publicity and member interest in groups. Audience members represented all kinds of great groups, including neighborhood, parenting, PTA, and non-profit organizations.

BigTent will continue to organize webinars in ongoing efforts to share best practices for leading groups and for getting the most out of our free site. We hope to see you at a future webinar!

Best,

Mia and the BigTent team

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

Here’s a new time-saving tip for your members on BigTent: now it’s possible to email listings into Classifieds! If you have an item that you’d like to post for sale or trade to your group’s Classifieds, but are short on time, you can compose a quick message and send your post via email.

You can find your group’s Classifieds email address at the top of the Classifieds listings page:

To email in a Classifieds listing, just send your item description to your Classifieds email address. Your post will appear in your group’s Classifieds area in the “mixed bag” category, and the subject line from your email will become the title of your post. Learn more about posting to the Classifieds in this help article.

Yesterday’s feature release also included a set of free Halloween gifts. So when you do have a moment to log in, try sending a Jack-o-Lantern or other fun gift to your friends on BigTent.

Best,

Rosa and the BigTent team

Congratulations to Heather S., winner of the Two Week Kitchen Makeover, hosted by Leanne Ely and sponsored by Rubbermaid.

Members of the menu planning group, Saving Dinner, were encouraged to rethink ways to organize their kitchen drawers, cupboards, and pantries. Dinner Diva, Leanne, provided coaching and makeover assignments in manageable, 30-minute chunks, while Rubbermaid supplied tried-and-true storage solutions.

Several fearless Saving Dinner fans submitted “before” and “after” photos of their kitchens, and Heather S. was crowned the lucky winner.

As Heather put it, “Oh my gosh! Rubbermaid is GENIUS! What am I going to do with this new space?”

The sight of Heather’s immaculate new setup is enough to make me want to dash home and tidy up my own kitchen. Before I do, however, it’s worth mentioning that the Two Week Kitchen Makeover signaled more than a chance to bring about culinary order. The campaign also provided Rubbermaid a focused way to engage with its target audience, generating candid feedback about Rubbermaid products and nearly 1,000 coupon downloads.

You can read more about Rubbermaid’s novel advertising efforts in this ClickZ article.

Congratulations again to Heather for winning $100 of Rubbermaid products! On behalf of BigTent, we look forward to hosting more opportunities for group members to benefit from connections with our trusted site sponsors.

Best,

Donna & the BigTent team

Hello admins and awesome community leaders,

My name is Jaine and I’m one of BigTent’s Community Coaches. I wanted to let you know that our free webinar, How to Grow Your Group, is back by popular demand!

During this webinar, I’ll share 10 tips and tricks on how to grow your group. We’ll also have a portion devoted to sharing our best practices so we can learn from each other. Here are the details:

How to Grow Your Group

Wednesday, October 28 @ 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern

Register for FREE: bigtent.webex.com – click through the weekly calendar and register for “How to Grow Your Group”

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information. I have grown my own group, Moms and Tots San Diego (www.bigtent.com/groups/mtsd), from zero to 700+ members in just three years. I have also partnered and shared best practices with over 3,000 groups on BigTent.

I hope you can attend!

Best,

Jaine, BigTent Community Coach since 2007

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