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BigTent Group of the Week: Pre-Vet Club of Pierce College

Published April 22, 2010 Big Features 2 Comments
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This week’s BigTent Group of the Week is a super active student group at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA. With over 150 current members, the Pre-Vet Club of Pierce College is committed to helping members develop professionally and give back to their surrounding community.

Kris Galang, Public Relations Chair for the club, took some time to share more of his experiences with us:

Q. What kinds of community events does the Pre-Vet Club participate in?

A. Our members assist with the care and husbandry of the animals on our 200-acre farm laboratory including bottle-feeding orphaned lambs, beef cattle vaccinations, and egg-laying hen physical exams. We also work with horses and cats at local animal rescues, volunteer with a local women’s shelter, and provide backpacks filled with clothes and school supplies for children on Native American reservations through a program known as Walking Shield.

Q. How did you get involved with the organization?

A. I am constantly inspired by my fellow students — whether it be the amount of knowledge shared in a classroom setting or seeing us in action on our farm. It is because of this that I believe it’s important to not only connect with the greater campus and community, but to connect with each other! I am enjoying my role as Public Relations Chair, as it is my responsibility to raise awareness for our club.

I am currently in my second semester at the pre-vet program. After spending almost 8 years in sales and business management (with an educational background in journalism), I decided to refocus my life towards a path that has always been closet to my heart — animals! Inspired by very own French bulldog and the many other animals in my life, I decided to return to school and fulfill a childhood now adulthood dream of becoming a veterinarian.

Q. Why did your group choose BigTent?

A.  BigTent is easy to use and has a ton of fun, amazing features. BigTent has allowed our group to remain connected (member gifts, photos, etc.), engaged (forum topics, current events), and excited (weekly calendars, subgroup news). BigTent is the most powerful, free service of its kind

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

How to Organize Your School Online: Webinar recap

Published April 22, 2010 Big Features Leave a Comment
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School leaders from across the US signed up to hear words of wisdom from Croce PTA leader, Monica Baucke, in our BigTent webinar, How to Organize Your School Online.

As promised, we have posted Monica’s 10 tips for improving your communications and increasing parent involvement, as well as a recorded version of the webinar.

If you have any questions or ideas, you may wish to join Monica’s online discussion group, PTA/PTSA/PTO Parent Groups.

Please feel free to share these resources with your leadership teams. We welcome any questions or feedback you may have.

Best,

The BigTent Team

Follow Monica on Twitter: http://twitter.com/myptofview

Follow BigTent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bigtentgroups

Social Media 101: Webinar slides and recording available

Published April 21, 2010 Big Features Leave a Comment
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Our free webinar, Social Media 101, was a huge hit! We had nearly 150 people sign up to learn how to get started with services such as Twitter and Facebook pages.

Based on this turnout, we plan on hosting the webinar again in the near future. In the meantime, we have uploaded materials from the webinar for those who missed this week’s session:

Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback. We look forward to seeing you on a future webinar!

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

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

Looking for Ning alternatives? Learn about BigTent in an upcoming webinar

Published April 16, 2010 Big Features 7 Comments
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With the news that Ning is phasing out its free service, many leaders of Ning networks have begun the search for a free alternative. We’re aware of all the effort involved in a researching and adopting a group technology solution, and we’d like to make the process easier for you.

To learn more about BigTent, join us for a webinar on Wednesday, April 21 @ 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern. We’ll give you an in-depth tour of our product, plus explain the process for moving over to BigTent. You’ll be pleased to know that we offer free hands-on training for group leaders getting started with BigTent.

BigTent has many of the same features as Ning and more: discussion forums, announcements, subgroups, event and membership management. Plus, you can collect dues payments and donations.

If this sounds good to you, sign up to learn more at our webinar! Hope you can make it.

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

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

Learn how to organize your school online with BigTent

Published April 8, 2010 Big Features 2 Comments
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We are once again honored to have PTA volunteer and expert, Monica Baucke, host a free upcoming webinar for school leaders. If you can, please sign up and join us:

How to Organize Your School Online

Thursday, April 22 @ 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern

Register for free at http://bigtent.webex.com

Monica will share several tips for managing your group online, including:

  • How to get buy-in from other school leaders
  • How to encourage donations
  • How to create a BigTent buzz

The session is designed to be interactive, and no question is too big or small. Take this opportunity to learn from Monica! Monica is in her second year using BigTent to manage communications for not one, but two schools: Croce Elementary and Christensen Middle School.

Hope to meet with you soon. Let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

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

Join BigTent for a free webinar: Social Media 101

Published March 25, 2010 Big Features 32 Comments
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A lot of groups at BigTent have expressed interest in learning about social media. In response, we’re hosting a free webinar to discuss the social media landscape and share tips for getting started with services such as Facebook and Twitter.

If you’ve been looking for ways to raise awareness about your group, sign up to join our virtual meeting:

Social Media 101: 10 Tips for Publicizing Your Group

Tuesday, April 20 @ 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern

Register for FREE at http://bigtent.webex.com

We’ll cover 10 tips for getting started with social media, and we’d also love to hear from you. Please bring any questions or ideas that you’d like to share — we’ll have time throughout the webinar to discuss your specific topics.

Hope to see you at the webinar!

-Mia & Rufus @ BigTent

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

Group of the Week: Golden Gate Mothers Group

Published March 18, 2010 Big Features Leave a Comment
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This week’s BigTent Group of the Week hails from our hometown of San Francisco, CA. Get to know the Golden Gate Mothers Group (GGMG), a 3500-member powerhouse that has recently started making full use of BigTent’s subgroups feature to organize more than 100 playgroups.

Our interview with GGMG board member, Summer Recchi, clued us into more inner workings of the club:

Q. How does your group operate on a day-to-day basis?

A. We offer a variety of services including playgroup formation, an online discussion forum, a monthly printed newsletter, kids activities, just-for-moms activities, and family social events.  We also support our community by awarding $10,000 annually to charities nominated by our members.

Q. Why did you switch to BigTent?

A. BigTent has allowed us to consolidate a series of disparate services, saving us time and making our offerings more flexible. With our old systems, we would hold in-person events every other month to place moms in playgroups based solely on their work status and the age of their children. Now with BigTent, members can join a playgroup anytime, and can pick one based on a variety of factors — neighborhood, number of children, and special interests.

Q. That’s great that BigTent is helping you enrich your community. When you’re not busy with GGMG, what else are you up to?

A. I’m a stay-at-home mom with a 2-year-old daughter and a second child due in June. I teach baby sign language classes part-time, and am enjoying focusing my time on my family. At the same time, serving on the GGMG Board has helped ease the  transition from corporate life (I worked for a computer software company for 10 years) to motherhood. With GGMG, I have just the right amount of mental exercise, and I enjoy being part of a team that’s making a difference in our community.

Q. Going back to GGMG, what are some of your future goals for the group?

A. We are looking at different ways to ensure our long-term sustainability. We have always been an all-volunteer group, but may try a different approach to ensure that we continue to serve the mothers of San Francisco and help them navigate this crazy time in our lives called Motherhood.

Fun with Fundraising webinar slides and recording now available

Published March 17, 2010 Big Features 2 Comments
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In case you missed our Fun with Fundraising webinar, be sure to check out the recording and copy of the slides.

Group leader and host, Natalie Diaz, shared tried-and-true methods for raising group funds, including tips for soliciting sponsors and strategies for monetizing group publications.

Natalie is also a twins expert. Be sure to check out her site, Twiniversity, for information and advice aimed at parents of multiples.

We look forward to seeing you on a future webinar!

Best,

The BigTent Team

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

Follow Natalie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/twiniversity

BigTent team members head to SXSW

Published March 12, 2010 Big Culture 1 Comment
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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

Redbeacon Partnership Offers Added Value for BigTent Groups

Published March 10, 2010 Big Features 1 Comment
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Today, Redbeacon and BigTent are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership that will help members of BigTent groups find competitive offers from service professionals such as painters, plumbers, and more.

“Online communities, such as parents groups powered by BigTent, are a natural place to turn in the search for high quality local service professionals, which is what makes this such a powerful partnership” said Ethan Anderson, Cofounder of Redbeacon.

Integrating RedBeacon’s service with BigTent has allowed us to expand our Reviews and Classifieds offerings. Currently, group members can reach out to each other to buy, sell, or solicit advice on products and services. Redbeacon expands this network — simply list the service you’re looking for, and the RedBeacon engine will collect bids from relevant professionals in the area. In addition, you’ll be able to see if a service provider has been endorsed by another member in your group.

The BigTent system even understands when you post about a requested service in Forums, which is often the first place people turn to when contacting their groups. Just look for a pop up box that prompts you to go through RedBeacon.

For the time being, RedBeacon services are in limited release on BigTent and will be available to approximately 100 groups in the Bay Area.

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