After much searching, and 100% thanks to Tammy, I have finally come upon Big Tent, which is a site that is intended for managing groups like ours. (I had actually given up! You have NO IDEA how many sites are out there or how many ways there are to poorly design a group management website!)
The range of tools on Big Tent will allow us to control our email volume, invite multiple groups to the same events, create sub-groups for discussion or projects, create customized permissions for members, and continue to build our online community far beyond the range of the tools offered by Meetup.com, but still have all our events, news, and membership information on ONE SECURE website. In other words, our information would never be visible to anyone who wasn't a member, and even then there are controls. (And, glory, glory, glory, they have a function that will let you add things to your own calendar that shows up when you log in, so you can see ONLY the things you've said "YES" to!)
Tammy and I are still working on configuring the group, but if you want a sneak peak (or if you're interested in trying out the babysitting swap group), you can join via our website (www.joytroupe.com, if you didn't know) by going to the Join Us page. While you're there, check out the re-model I'm working on for the website! I still plan to add more photos and content, but the basic structure and overall look are in place.
Our target date for this right now is July 1. That is not etched in stone. If we are ready to go "live" before that, good, and if there are a few bugs, then we'll work on them until they're fixed, but the more of you who are able to jump in and help us test the waters, the easier the process will be- so thanks in advance to those of you who will be intrepid and give this a shot right away. If you would rather wait and join when there are other people who "know the ropes," then that's cool too!
Also, I have discovered that Zazzle will let us purchase our own 2009 Calendars! I have tested out the process by putting together one using my "picks" from my own files. NO WAY do all the great pix of our kids fit on one calendar, so in addition to "Oh, How We've Grown," which is the calendar I've created, I'll be putting together a "Yearbook" calendar which you will all get to contribute to and vote on! Look for more on this when I figure out the logistics, and be looking through your pictures of our events for some good shots to contribute! (Oh, and if you find any mistakes on the one I did, please let me know. I think I correctly identified all the babies whose names I put on, but they've all changed so much that it's hard to be sure!)
And hey, if we haven't seen you in a while, we definitely miss you. I do notice when familiar faces are missing for a while, and I look forward to hearing from some of you who maybe haven't been so active lately!
Go hug your kids!
Meghan
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