Top Links and Tools for Any Club, Group or Organization to Get Organized and Have Fun

<h1>Top Links and Tools for Any Club, Group or Organization to Get Organized and Have Fun</h1>Author: <a title="Andrew Yang" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/andrew-yang/97862.htm">Andrew Yang</a> As a frequent organizer of groups and as founder of a company devoted to bringing groups online, I decided to round up my top favorite tools that I use to help get my group organized and online. Not all of these solutions are for everybody but they might be open up your eyes to some of the possibilities of using digital technology to help make your life easier and to enrich your group’s experience. I personally manage several groups including several room parent groups, playgroups and a local mother’s club. Here are just some of the tools that we’ve settled on using. Blurb (<a href="http://www.blurb.com)." target="_blank">www.blurb.com).</a> Creating picture books are a great way to capture the spirit of the group or a specific event. These books also don’t necessarily need to be pictures – you can print text like in book style. It’s a great way to inexpensively publish a paper or hardcover book. They make both a great gift as well as can help with fundraising activities. We’ve found Blurb to be of sufficient picture quality but what differentiates them the most is that they are inexpensive. If you want to go higher end, Shutterfly (<a href="http://www.shutterfly.com)" target="_blank">www.shutterfly.com)</a> has a nicer picture quality but they cost a lot more. Youtube (<a href="http://www.youtube.com)." target="_blank">www.youtube.com).</a> While most people go to Youtube to entertain and be entertained, Youtube can also be a great way to distribute videos. You can create channels for a series of videos. For my son’s playgroup, we published additional teaching aides for the parents. The teachers love producing the shows (we use a Flip Camcorder because it’s the easiest solution, with decent picture quality at an inexpensive price), the kids love watching it and everybody wins. Smugmug (<a href="http://www.smugmug.com)." target="_blank">www.smugmug.com).</a> There are many picture sharing services out there but we have settled on SmugMug. They have great slideshows and people can download the originals if they want to publish some pictures. eScrip (<a href="http://www.escrip.com)." target="_blank">www.escrip.com).</a> Turn your purchases into dollars for your non-profit group. It’s free and it can help supplement those tiny budgets with more money with almost little effort. Members need to just link their credit card/debit card/loyalty cards to the eScrip account and money will begin accruing in the account when purchases are made. Historically, I haven’t found it to be a lot of money but every little bit helps. SurveyMonkey (<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com)." target="_blank">www.surveymonkey.com).</a> If you want to poll your group, Survey Monkey is a great, easy-to-use tool to get a sense for what your group is thinking or wants. You can set up the surveys in many different ways and it walks you through the process so that you can get it right quickly. They also have a free option that is limited to 100 survey responders and up to 10 questions. Blogger (<a href="http://www.blogger.com)." target="_blank">www.blogger.com).</a> We tried a lot of blog tools out there and Blogger is the easiest for us. It’s simple and intuitive and is a great way to publish your thoughts, ideas and news to you and others. For those enterprising members, they can subscribe to your RSS feed so they can always see the latest and greatest. Qlubb (<a href="http://www.qlubb.com)." target="_blank">www.qlubb.com).</a> I am a bit biased towards Qlubb as I founded the company to help groups get online. If you are already using Evite, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups or any other similar type of group collaboration tool, you may wish to look at Qlubb. We have all of those features (like group email, invitations and RSVP’s, event calendar, photo sharing, file sharing and much more) but in a much easier to use package and that is more intuitively integrated. I encourage you to try it out – it’s free and very easy.About the Author: Sophia Chiang works for <a href="http://www.qlubb.com">Qlubb</a>, a provider of social collaboration Web tools for real-life groups.Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/gadgets-and-gizmos-articles/top-links-and-tools-for-any-club-group-or-organization-to-get-organized-and-have-fun-658332.html" title="Top Links and Tools for Any Club, Group or Organization to Get Organized and Have Fun">Top Links and Tools for Any Club, Group or Organization to Get Organized and Have Fun</a>

As a frequent organizer of groups and as founder of a company devoted to bringing groups online, I decided to round up my top favorite tools that I use to help get my group organized and online. Not all of these solutions are for everybody but they might be open up your eyes to some of the possibilities of using digital technology to help make your life easier and to enrich your group’s experience.

I personally manage several groups including several room parent groups, playgroups and a local mother’s club. Here are just some of the tools that we’ve settled on using.

Blurb (www.blurb.com). Creating picture books are a great way to capture the spirit of the group or a specific event. These books also don’t necessarily need to be pictures – you can print text like in book style. It’s a great way to inexpensively publish a paper or hardcover book. They make both a great gift as well as can help with fundraising activities. We’ve found Blurb to be of sufficient picture quality but what differentiates them the most is that they are inexpensive. If you want to go higher end, Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) has a nicer picture quality but they cost a lot more.

Youtube (www.youtube.com). While most people go to Youtube to entertain and be entertained, Youtube can also be a great way to distribute videos. You can create channels for a series of videos. For my son’s playgroup, we published additional teaching aides for the parents. The teachers love producing the shows (we use a Flip Camcorder because it’s the easiest solution, with decent picture quality at an inexpensive price), the kids love watching it and everybody wins.

Smugmug (www.smugmug.com). There are many picture sharing services out there but we have settled on SmugMug. They have great slideshows and people can download the originals if they want to publish some pictures.

eScrip (www.escrip.com). Turn your purchases into dollars for your non-profit group. It’s free and it can help supplement those tiny budgets with more money with almost little effort. Members need to just link their credit card/debit card/loyalty cards to the eScrip account and money will begin accruing in the account when purchases are made. Historically, I haven’t found it to be a lot of money but every little bit helps.

SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com). If you want to poll your group, Survey Monkey is a great, easy-to-use tool to get a sense for what your group is thinking or wants. You can set up the surveys in many different ways and it walks you through the process so that you can get it right quickly. They also have a free option that is limited to 100 survey responders and up to 10 questions.

Blogger (www.blogger.com). We tried a lot of blog tools out there and Blogger is the easiest for us. It’s simple and intuitive and is a great way to publish your thoughts, ideas and news to you and others. For those enterprising members, they can subscribe to your RSS feed so they can always see the latest and greatest.

Qlubb (www.qlubb.com). I am a bit biased towards Qlubb as I founded the company to help groups get online. If you are already using Evite, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups or any other similar type of group collaboration tool, you may wish to look at Qlubb. We have all of those features (like group email, invitations and RSVP’s, event calendar, photo sharing, file sharing and much more) but in a much easier to use package and that is more intuitively integrated. I encourage you to try it out – it’s free and very easy.

Sophia Chiang works for Qlubb, a provider of social collaboration Web tools for real-life groups.

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