Twins Club: Extreme Makeover audio and slides now up

Twins club leaders! In case you weren’t able to attend this morning’s webinar with twins club expert, Natalie Diaz, we now have a recorded version of the session and a PDF copy of the slides available:

• Webinar recording
• PDF copy of slides

Be sure to stay tuned for an upcoming webinar in March, where Natalie will focus on fundraising tips for your groups. As leader of the 800-member Manhattan Twins Club — the largest club in the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs — Natalie has a ton of experience to share!

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

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

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

Flying with BigTent: slides and audio available

Missed today’s BigTent webinar? Not to worry. The slides and audio for today’s session are now available:

• Download a copy of the PDF slides.
• Tune into our recorded webinar.

It’s always rewarding to help BigTent users get more out of our site. We hope this session helps you all interact more meaningfully with FlyLady and other FlyBabies. And if you have any questions about using BigTent for other groups you’re involved with, pleased let us know!

Best,

Mia & the BigTent team

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

BigTent discusses marketing trends at Mom 2.0 Summit

BigTent CEO Donna Novitsky and Account Executive Allison Talamantez are headed to Houston this week for Mom 2.0 Summit – An Open Conversation Between Moms and Marketers. Both are excited to connect with hundreds of other brands and mom bloggers to discuss the latest trends.

On Saturday, Donna will be part of a breakout session, “Using Your Right Mind to Market,” and will share her insights on how BigTent is giving advertisers revolutionary new ways to connect with chief household officers.

“BigTent has a unique engagement marketing model where we create high value programs connecting brands with women in mutually beneficial ways,” says Donna. “For example, we are doing a ‘Key Influencer’ campaign for Calphalon that sends a set of pans to hand-picked “Cooks with Style” for their review. We also helped Shutterfly roll out their new line of holiday cards with a “sneak peak” campaign that gave BigTent members a chance to vote on their favorite designs.”

If you’re attending the conference, we look forward to seeing you there! If you can’t make it, be sure to follow @BigTentDonna and @mom2summit on Twitter for the latest updates.

BigTent adds Facebook forums

BigTent is expanding the ways in which we support community groups! Our on-site features can streamline even the most complex group tasks, including membership renewals and dues collection.

We know that some groups are more informal than others, so now we’re offering Facebook-hosted conversations for all lightweight groups out there. We’re rolling out this feature in stages, so our current version only allows you to participate in forums that are created by employees.

We already have several forums to pique your interest, including Project Runway, a Recipe Swap, Bay Area Eats, and Olympic Trash Talk.

If there’s a forum you’d like to create that isn’t on the list, just post a comment and we’ll get it started. Hope to see you on the forums soon!

Best,

Will & the BigTent team

Could your twins club use an extreme makeover?

Calling all twins club leaders! BigTent is excited to announce the return of our twins club webinar, Twins Club: Extreme Makeover.

Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time: 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern

Registration is FREE

Hosted by Twiniversity founder and twins expert, Natalie Diaz, this free webinar will inspire you help your twins club save time, raise awareness, and provide even more support. Natalie will share 10 tips that she’s used for her own club, Manhattan Twins Club. Tips include:

• How to manage memberships online
• How to delegate volunteer responsibilities
• How to plan awesome events

Sign up today and reserve your virtual spot with Natalie. I’ll be your emcee and will help field questions during the session. We hope to see you there!

Best,

Mia & Natalie

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

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

Encore presentation of Flying with BigTent

Did you hear? BigTent is hosting another free webinar to give you 10 useful tips for getting the most out of FlyLady’s and other groups on BigTent. Tips include:

• How to leave comments on FlyLady news posts
• How to update your profile
• How to join or start other groups of interest

There will also be time during the webinar to answer any questions you may have. Register for FREE today!

All you need is Internet access and a phone/computer headset to attend. We hope you can join us.

Best,

Rufus & Mia @ BigTent

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

Motivate your kids to read and win $5000 for your school

Looking for a great way to raise money for your school?

We’ve partnered with the International Reading Association and Parents magazine to sponsor the Raise a Reader program, which allows students to log their reading minutes as they devour books throughout the spring. The school with the most minutes read per student enrolled at the school will receive $5,000 for their library. Individual readers are also eligible for great prizes.

Get more info and sign up your school for the program today! Entry for schools ends February 28 and the reading begins March 8. Visit the Raise a Reader School Challenge registration page to get started.

Best,

The BigTent Team

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

Admin notifications and Blink improvements land at BigTent

Yesterday we rolled out two much-requested features that are sure to improve the way you receive updates about your BigTent groups:

1. Admin notifications. We’ve set things up so that any admin who manages part of the enrollment process (membership approval, payment processing) can now receive email alerts each time a new member joins, declines to join, or needs approval to be admitted to the group.

By default, we’ve turned on these notifications for admins. There’s a link in each email to adjust your notification preferences.

2. Blink delivery options. When we switched the Blink — a system message that provides summaries of group news, events, member, and photo activity — to a weekly delivery schedule last month, a ton of feedback poured in that made us realize that many groups rely on day-specific messaging to stay in the loop about group events.

Based on this feedback, we’ve reinstated options to receive your Blink daily or on a certain day  of the week.

It’s always our goal to develop features that improve the lives of group leaders and members, and we hope you’ll enjoy these recent upgrades. Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

Best,

The BigTent Team

BigTent celebrates National Wear Red Day

Today is National Wear Red Day — are you wearing red?

Since 2004, the holiday has existed to help raise awareness of heart disease in women. Heart disease is the #1 killer of American women, and one in four women dies from the disease.

BigTent has joined the movement, and we’re a proud media sponsor of the 2010 Go Red for Women movement in the Greater Bay Area. If you tune into our Twitter channel, you’ll notice that we’ve changed our background and we’re tweeting heart health tips every day for the month of February.

BigTent also hosts several groups to help you eat better, relax, and get into shape. Here are a few you may be interested in:

No Excuses Workouts — get free daily inspiration and workout tips from your Virtual Personal Trainer, Jonathan Roche

Saving Dinner — learn how to save money and eat healthier by planning your meals in advance

The Hatched Egg — provides support to help members overcome anxiety, panic, and stress

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