Tuning up the Tent

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

Peek into the New BigTent

We’re excited to share a whole new Big Tent site with you today!

We’ve been working hard the past several months to bring you even better ways to support your groups.

Some screenshots of our new site

Thanks to all of our group leaders and users, from all 50 states and around the world, for your inspiration and feedback in helping build the greatest place online for the greatest groups in our communities!

We’re thrilled to share our latest and greatest with you!

—Laney, Founder, BigTent

Announcing the winners of the BigTent 25 in 25 Campaign

Congratulations to the following winners of BigTent’s 25 in 25 Campaign. Thank you for all the hard work you put into your groups.

Grand Prize Winner of a $1,000 group grant
– Ainsworth Elementary PTA

Creative Offline Promotion: $500 group grant
– Chelmsford Mothers’ Club

Creative Online Promotion: $500 group grant
– Newburyport Mothers Club

New iPhone 3G
– April L: member of the How to Shop for Free and Seacoast Mothers Association groups on BigTent

We would also like to thank all of the other people who entered the promotion. We received a lot of great entries and saw a ton of effort put into growing group membership. We hope to feature many of these other groups in a new “featured group page” coming soon to www.bigtent.com.

– The BigTent Team

Big Tent becomes BigTent

In the next couple of weeks, you’ll start to see things getting a little closer around here. We’re officially condensing our name from two words to one, BigTent.

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. 🙂

Der Intern: BigTent’s International Workforce

Here at BigTent, we recently bid goodbye to our summer interns. Thanks to Bernhard, Courtland, Gary, and Mary Liz for all of their enthusiasm and hard work!

As our interns headed back to school to complete their studies, Bernhard had a particularly long voyage. He flew all the way back to Dresden, Germany, where the snow is already starting to fall.

For warmth, there’s always Starbucks.

After a year of getting to know BigTent inside and out, we’re hoping that Bernhard will someday help implement “Das Grosse Zelt,” the German variety. To find out how Bernhard first united with Big Tent, please read on:

Going to the USA, working at a cool company, and getting international experience and new contacts – this is a dream for all European boys. Especially when, like me, they have just finished their boring civil and army service and are craving some international spirit.

So I decided in 2006 to work for a web company in San Francisco, but I wasn’t sure if I should join a start up or a larger company. After my first Skype call with BigTent it became totally clear to me: This is the company you just have to join. Full of opportunities and challenges and great people, I knew it right away.

So after flying over, orientating in a new culture, fighting for housing in San Francisco, applying for a social security number and fighting for my new visa, I started working in the mid-February 2007. I think I started on Valentine’s Day (<3).

I got to work on a variety of projects, from public page implementation, admin area design, and moving the Big Tent blog to a more robust hosting service, WordPress. Meanwhile, I tried to spread some German culture around, handing out hundreds of German beer mugs, amusing my coworkers with my harsh accent and my special way of small talking.

Now I am leaving to finish my college education. It’s not easy to say goodbye, to leave this wonderful environment and the friends I have made here. It has been a pleasure to work here – my BigTent, I’m gonna miss you all! Thanks for everything, I think I can’t phrase it in words how much you have given my life a wonderful, new direction. It has been so much fun!

Sincerely,

Bernhard Schmidt

UPDATED 4/28 Now with Zendesk

Navigate BigTent with Helpstream

We’ve recently released our new HELP area at www.bigtent.com/help. BigTent has partnered with Helpstream, a provider of support and knowledge software, to bring you our new Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Base is full of answers to frequently asked questions and helpful hints for you and your group’s members. You can easily search for answers to your specific question, or browse through our Help Topics to learn more about BigTent.

You can also submit questions or feedback from the HELP area. If you search for your question and can’t find an answer, click “Submit new case” and fill out our Web form to ask for help. Our team will get back to you quickly. You’ll get a response via email, and you can track the progress of your request right in the HELP section.

Come and poke around the HELP area to learn more about Big Tent! No BigTent login required.