Posts Tagged 'bigtent'

BigTent launches Coach Corner

Coach Corner icon

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

Join BigTent for Twins Club: Extreme Makeover

Twins Club: Extreme Makeover artwork

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 staff and volunteers connect on BigTent

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.

Access-Colorado-group-photo

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.

How to Shop for Free featured on Good Morning America

Kathy Spencer shows off her stockpile of toilet paper - all of which she got for free

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.

How to Shop for Free

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

Join BigTent for a free webinar, How to Grow Your Group

Grow Your Group with BigTent

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

BigTent welcomes FlyLady and FlyBabies!

flylady-logoflylady-marla-cilley

A big BigTent welcome goes out to the FlyLady community! Starting today, Wednesday, September 16, BigTent will begin hosting the communications that connect over 500,000 FlyBabies around the world.

FlyLady and her team chose BigTent for its ability to send timed newsletters, and the opportunity to strengthen their community through two-way discussions and organized subgroups.

If you currently receive FlyLady emails, you will continue to receive emails without having to make any changes. Your current email delivery options (daily digest or individual emails), will also be preserved with the switch to BigTent.

If you currently receive FlyLady emails and would like to see how FlyLady is set up on the BigTent Web site, please check your email today for a special invitation to join BigTent. The message will come from “no_reply@lists.bigtent.com”, and we recommend you add this address to your email “Safe List” to ensure delivery. To learn how to update your Safe List, please read our help article.

To join FlyLady as a new member, please visit the FlyLady BigTent page and fill out the form provided.

Welcome to BigTent! We are so excited to have you join us.

Best,

The BigTent team

About BigTent
Big Tent Design, Inc. is where trusted groups connect online.  The free platform for family-friendly organizations strengthens group involvement and simplifies group management. By combining the best of today’s social networking features with group management tools, Big Tent helps real-world communities share, communicate and organize online and in-person. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in San Francisco and currently hosts parents groups, PTAs, preschools, clubs and other community groups nationwide. Learn more: https://www.bigtent.com
About Saving Dinner
Saving Dinner’s goal is to bring families back to the dinner table with healthy menu plans, grocery shopping lists and recipes. Leanne Ely, the founder of Saving Dinner, is considered the expert on family cooking and started Saving Dinner by sharing healthy menus with families. Now, tens of thousands of kitchens across the world are busy creating simple, delicious meals with her weekly Menu-Mailers, freezer dinner kits, and best-selling cookbooks, Saving Dinner: The Menus, Recipes and Shopping Lists to Bring Your Family Back to the Table, Saving Dinner the Low Carb Way, Saving Dinner for the Holidays, Saving Dinner the Vegetarian Way and Saving Dinner Basics: How to Cook Even if You Don’t Know How. Learn more about Saving Dinner from their website: http://www.savingdinner.com

About BigTent

BigTent (Big Tent Design, Inc.) is where trusted groups connect online.  The free platform for family-friendly organizations strengthens group involvement and simplifies group management. By combining the best of today’s social networking features with group management tools, Big Tent helps real-world communities share, communicate and organize online and in-person. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in San Francisco and currently hosts parents groups, PTAs, preschools, clubs and thousands of other community groups. Learn more at www.bigtent.com.

About FlyLady

Founded in 1999 by Marla Cilley, FlyLady is a mentoring group that uses the “Sidetracked Home Executive” (SHE) system to help members organize their homes and lives. Marla adds humor, spunk, and a dose of common sense to her advice. When members join FlyLady, they receive daily FLYmail with FLYing Lessons around setting up routines, removing clutter, and Finally Loving Yourself. The public is invited to join this group at https://www.bigtent.com/groups/flylady

New at BigTent: membership management, enrollment upgrades

Now it’s even easier to sign up members and manage their information in your BigTent groups:

Member manage page. This new addition your group’s Manage area enables you to navigate all the ins and outs of the membership process. You can change membership types and end dates, suspend or remove members, and create exceptions to your group renewal rules.

For example, let’s say Helene enjoyed her trial membership and upgraded early to a full membership. In just a few clicks, you can make this change in your group records:

manage group members on BigTent

manage group members on BigTent

Revised enrollment process. We’ve shortened the number of steps it takes for a new member to join your group, and we’ve made things more familiar by adding your group name and logo to every sign up page.

join a group on BigTent

We hope these changes, in addition to our new support for international time zones and group subscription changes via email, help you connect with your trusted communities. We want to hear from you — please feel free to share any questions or feedback you have.

Best,

Michelle  & the BigTent team

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

Join our FREE webinar: How to Engage Your Group

BigTent webinar: How to Engage Your Group

Hello again, awesome admins and community leaders!

I’m pleased to announce that our last webinar was a huge success, drawing over 40 group leaders from across the country. To continue the conversation, we’re hosting another free session on Thursday, September 10, to share best practices for engaging your group.

During this webinar, I’ll share 10 tips and tricks on how to increase online and in-person participation for your group. We’ll discuss how to nurture your members’ interests, how to keep members logging into your group site, and more.

Here are the details:

How to Engage Your Group
Thursday, September 10 @ 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern
Register for FREE: bigtent.webex.com – click on “How to Engage Your Group”

I have used the tips covered in this webinar to get members active and participating in my own group, Moms and Tots San Diego (www.bigtent.com/groups/mtsd) . I have also partnered and shared best practices with over 3,000 groups on BigTent.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information. I hope you can attend!

Best,

Jaine, BigTent Community Coach since 2007

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

Happy BigTent-iversary, MPOMC!

This week, BigTent celebrates the third anniversary of bringing on our first group, Marin Parents of Multiples Club (MPOMC). On August 13, 2006, BigTent issued over 100 invitations for members of the Northern California parenting club to join the site.

BigTent had just finished its original product definition when MPOMC called for help.

the original BigTent

“The person who managed our club account couldn’t remember the Yahoo! Groups password that had been set up, and we were locked out of our account,” says Jenn Hagerman, former Co-President of MPOMC. “Luckily for us, I knew Laney [Whitcanack] and that she was getting BigTent up and running. The timing was perfect, and we were thrilled to partner with BigTent as we moved more of our programs online.”

As an early employee of BigTent, I look back fondly on the time our team spent sheperding MPOMC members onto our site. I recall sending personal email follow ups to each member, explaining a bit about BigTent and the need to finish activating one’s club membership online.

Among the many key learnings of moving over our inaugural group, the need for browser compatibility testing became readily apparent when our site layout wouldn’t display on Internet Explorer for Mac. We quickly put up signposts, recommending that users stick to Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari when using BigTent.

Luckily, the browser fix paved the way to much smoother sailing.

“One of the most memorable parts of switching to BigTent was getting email from members about how easy it was to sign up and thanking the club for finding such a great tool to support it,” says Jenn.

Hats off to MPOMC for taking the plunge with technology. We’re proud that you call BigTent your online home!

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

BigTent reminds you: Celebrate Mom with flowers!

proflowers

In a continuation of our partnership with ProFlowers, we are providing two new exclusive Mother’s Day (May 10th) offers to the BigTent community. If you’re still deciding what to get your mom for Mother’s Day, these are a great option.

Speaking from personal experience, I just sent tulips to my mom for the first time last month for her birthday via ProFlowers and I instantly rocketed into “favorite kid” status :)

Click on one of the two links below to take advantage of these offers.

Save $10 on Mom’s Delight, plus get a FREE Green Vase, $29.99!

Buy 12 Assorted Mother’s Day Roses + 12 FREE + FREE Vase, $29.99!

Feel free share to these links with the members of your BigTent groups. And for you moms out there – you can also pass these links onto your kids or significant others as a subtle hint :)

Best,

- Rufus and the BigTent Team

minirufus

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