Posts Tagged 'easy-to-use'

Import your members onto BigTent

Published January 12, 2009 Big Features Leave a Comment
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We’ve just released a much-awaited feature — a way to instantly add members to your group. Using our new Import Members tool, you can get members into your group and start sending them email communications right away. Importing is faster than the usual method of inviting members to join, since inviting members requires them to act on their invitations before they get your other group emails.

Importing your members takes four easy steps:

1. Choose your members’ settings. Do they all have the same group membership type, or are some new and some alumni? How long do their memberships last? Tell our system.

Import members - step 1

2. Pick an import plan. You can cut and paste a list members’ names and email addresses, or import a list of contacts. If you’re coming over from MSN groups, we’ve got some extra tips for you in our MSN Transition Guide.

Import members - step 2

3. Review your data and make any changes. Fix a typo, change a membership end date, that sort of thing.

Import members - step 3

4. Review the email that will go to your imported members. This email tells members they’ve been added to your BigTent group, how long their memberships last, and how often they will get group emails. Personalize it if you’d like.

Import members - step 4

Read more about this new feature in our help area, or create a group and give it a whirl. Happy importing!

Tuning up the Tent

Published October 30, 2008 Big Features , Big Thoughts Leave a Comment
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Over the last few months, the BigTent team has been busy conceiving, designing, and building the latest incarnation of BigTent.

To inform the new design, we met with group members and administrators to learn how BigTent could better meet their needs for a group networking app. We also dug through site analytics to see how members were using existing features and content, and combed through support logs to understand the site triumphs and pain points of our current users.

With your requests, feedback, and usage stats in mind, we unveiled our updated product last week. Here are some highlights of the new release:

Increased focus on you and your groups. The“my BigTent” page gives members a quick, personalized view of the newest activity in their groups. We also made it easier for members to access their personal calendars by pulling “my calendar” into the top-level navigation.

Improved navigation. We did a little Tent-cleaning by reorganizing and rewording the primary sections of BigTent. Our goal was to make touring the Tent more intuitive and easier to master.

Notably, we moved the classifieds feature into the group context. Now when members want to post a listing for something they have for sale or trade, there’s an easy-to-find tab to get them started.

New look and feel. Our updated visual design gives more prominence to your group’s branding and content. Your group name now sits atop a color-coded header, a change that lays the groundwork for enhanced group customization tools (coming soon!).

Improved group management tools and navigation. The new BigTent admin area sports an action-oriented navigation, making it easier for group leaders to quickly complete their administrative tasks and return to the group. We also revamped the group settings page to make building out your group and adding content even easier.

We hope you enjoy the new BigTent! Let us know if you have feedback, and stay tuned for more upgrades and additions.

–Jay and the BigTent team