Admin Tip: How to change member forum notifications

As a group leader, you can easily view and change members’ forum notification preferences. When members first join your group their forums notification setting will default to daily message digest, unless they have selected another option during registration.

To change a member’s forum notifications, just follow these steps:

1) Go to my groups > [group name] > manage > forums.

2) Click “notifications” next to your forum of interest, to access a list of members’ current notification method.

3) Use the drop-down menu options to change each member’s notification settings.

4) Save your changes.

That’s it! Please let us know if you have any questions by leaving us comment.

Cheers,
The BigTent Team

Group Highlight: San Bruno Mothers Club

We’re excited to introduce to you our next group highlight, San Bruno Mothers Club!

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Tatiana Scanlon, President of the San Bruno Mothers Club about her group using BigTent and their goals for the future:

Q: How did your group start and how many members do you have?
A: The San Bruno Mothers Club was founded in 1991 based on the concepts of the book “Mothers Club, Nurturing the Nurturers” by Katie Williams. We offer support, information, and most importantly, fun and friendship to local moms and their families.  Our club has now grown to approximately 120 members.

Q: Why did your group choose/or switch to BigTent?
A: While the switch to BigTent was made prior to my becoming a member (SBMC has been using BigTent since 2007), BigTent has made the administration of our group a breeze. We have everything in one place, control over so many facets, such as membership forms and reports, and no longer need manual records of membership rosters and calendars. Accounting couldn’t be easier!

Q: What is your favorite BigTent feature?
A: I love the events and calendar section of BigTent and all of the customization options that have been added recently.  Our group prides itself on all the events offered to our members and BigTent allows us to keep track of these easily and see them all in one place.

Q: What are a few of the goals your group has for the future?
A: We want to continue to provide new and interesting events for our members. Create more playgroups to accommodate the busy and varied schedules of our moms. And, to become more of a presence in our community by providing service, particularly to families and children.  I am extremey proud of how our club comes together in times of need…whether for one of our members or our community as a whole.

Q: When you’re not busy with your group what are you up to?
A: I am very fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom to the four-year-old love of my life.

Thank you to Tatiana and the San Bruno Mothers Club for sharing their story with us!

Cheers,
The BigTent Team

New option for file privacy

You can now choose from several privacy options when uploading a file to BigTent. Selecting “private” will require members to sign in to download the file and “public” will allow members to download the file without signing in.

Follow these quick steps to use this enhancement:

1. Go to my groups > [your group] > files.
2. Click “add file.”
3. Enter the required fields and select the document.
4. Go to the file privacy section and select either public or private.

5. Click upload.

That’s it! An example of when to make a file “public” is when sharing a newsletter or form that you want members to easily download without logging in. An example of when to make a file “private” is when sharing sensitive documents such as a member roster or financial document.

If you want to require members to sign in to access an existing file on BigTent, then just go to the file and switch the privacy to “private.”

Please let us know if you have any questions about this new enhancement by leaving us a comment!

Cheers,
The BigTent Team

BigTent Update: Additional Event Times, Member Tip & How-to Video

Enhancement: More event start & end time options!

Great news! We’ve added additional time options to events. You can now set your events to start or end in 5 minute increments.

This is particularly helpful for school groups, who frequently meet 5 or 10 minutes after the hour or half-hour. Learn more about creating group events here.

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Member Tip: How to find your group’s forum email address

To find your group’s forum email address just follow these quick steps:

1. Sign in to BigTent: www.bigtent.com

2. Go to my groups > [your group] > forums and click on “Email a topic.”

3. Your group’s forum email address will display in the pop-up window. Add the address to your email contacts.

Now that you have the forum email, just send your message to that address and it will post to your group’s forum. Just remember to send the message from the email that you use to sign in to BigTent.

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How-to Video: Sending attachments on BigTent

Learn how to send attachments on BigTent in this quick tutorial video. Just click on the image below to watch:

We love to hear from you so please let us know if you have any questions or feedback by leaving us a comment!

Best,
The BigTent Team