How to Shop for Free featured on Good Morning America

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

Slides and audio available for How to Grow Your Group webinar

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

New at BigTent: Submit Classifieds listings over email

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

Rubbermaid connects and organizes through BigTent

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

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

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

Slides and audio available: How to Organize Your School Online

Missed our free webinar for school group leaders? No worries, the slides and audio are now available:

PDF copy of the webinar slides. View and download all 10 tips in one easy document.

Audio recording of the webinar. Listen in at any time. Please note, it may take a couple of minutes for your browser to open up the WebEx Network Recording Player.

Thanks for your interest in our webinar, How to Organize Your School Online. It’s great to connect with other dedicated school leaders like you. As volunteers, we often don’t hear thank you enough. So, I thank YOU for your part in connecting people for the benefit of children.

To help you share the 10 tips we discussed with friends and fellow volunteers, I’ve uploaded a couple of resources:

PDF copy of the webinar slides. View and download all 10 tips in one easy document.

Audio recording of the webinar. Listen in at any time. Please note, it may take a couple of minutes for your browser to open up the WebEx Network Recording Player.

Several great questions and tips came from our webinar audience, ranging from ideas on collecting family information online to methods for improving access to school communications.

BigTent and I welcome any additional questions, feedback, or ideas for future webinars that you may have.

If you’d like to start a group on BigTent, keep in mind that it’s free and we offer great coaching resources.

Good luck with your group!

Best,

Monica

It’s great to connect with other dedicated school leaders like you. As volunteers, we often don’t hear thank you enough. So, I thank YOU for your part in connecting people for the benefit of children.

BigTent and I welcome any additional questions, feedback, or ideas for future webinars that you may have. Good luck with your group!

Best,

Monica

Croce PTA volunteer & BigTent expert

Grandmas Go Ga Ga for BigTent

Donne Davis is absolutely “ga ga” for her two granddaughters, ages 6 and 2. Since 2003, the Silicon Valley grandma has been busy building a social network for other grandmas who share her passion for the little ones in their lives. Today, the GaGa Sisterhood connects over 70 members in California, Utah, and beyond.

Shortly after the GaGa Sisterhood moved to BigTent, we got a chance to speak with Donne and learn more about her and her one-of-a-kind group:

Q. Why did you switch to BigTent?

A. We chose BigTent to automate the bookkeeping necessary to manage membership dues.

Q. What types of events does your group host?

A. Every other month, we meet at members’ homes for a couple of hours. Our members share about their passions — traveling, gardening, visiting museums, volunteering — and bring their grandchildren, too.

Q. What is your favorite part of GaGa Sisterhood?

A. What strikes me most is the joyful energy generated by this amazing group of multi-faceted women.

Q. Are there any challenges to running your group? How do you tackle them?

A. Our biggest challenge is getting members to come to meetings. Believe it or not, grandmas are even busier than moms! We’re often taking care of our aging parents, as well as our adorable grandchildren. Many of us work full time.

In addition, we also have to coax some of our members to try new technology. Luckily, I’ve gotten some great training, support, and encouragement from my BigTent Coach, Jaine.

Q. In your free time, what else are you up to?

A. I love walking and yoga. Practicing yoga for over 20 years has helped me keep up with my granddaughters.  I also love to sing, and have been hosting Womansong Circles since 2001.

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

Join our FREE Webinar: How to Organize Your School Online

Hello school community leaders!

Are you looking for ways to build a thriving online home for your school? Sign up for BigTent’s latest webinar, “How to Organize Your School Online.”  This session is geared towards PTAs, PTOs, preschool groups, and all other school communities.

During this webinar, I’ll share 10 tips and tricks on how to combine online and in-person activities to strengthen your school community. Tips include:

-How to improve communications

-How to delegate responsibilities

-How to get more parents involved

Here are the details:

How to Organize Your School Online
Tuesday, October 13 @ 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern
Register for FREE: bigtent.webex.com – click on “How to Organize Your School Online”

I have used these tips in my own school community. I am an active volunteer for Leo R. Croce Elementary PTA (www.crocepta.com), and I’m proud to say that we have enrolled over 200 members in our BigTent group.

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

Best,

Monica, PTA Volunteer & BigTent Expert

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