Blog

Table Pro is here!

Watch the feature overview video or view feature highlights below.

Table Pro: Feature Overview and How-To from The Table Project on Vimeo.

Add a 1200x300 hero image to add visual branding to your Table platform
Coming soon - Customize CSS templates

Edit naming conventions to match your organization

Here are some examples:

Change Top level entity from "Church" to "Community"
Change Second level entity from "Campus" to "Satelite location"
Change Third level entity from "Group" to "Team"
Change User entity from "Me" to "Dashboard"

You are a unique organization and therefore have a wide-range of different types of groups, teams and sub-communities. 

Now edit the group categories on the Table to better allign with your organiztion's structure. 

Edit all the staff roles in your organization. You have uniqe positions and titles and we want the Table to reflect them. 

Instead of using our subdomain, such as mychurch.tableproject.org use a URL of your choosing. A custom URL represents your brand better and makes remembering your Table community address a little easier. 

The App directory is a collection of useful communication apps, blogs, podcasts and video streams. Now you have complete control of it.

Choose which apps are visable in the app directory, what categories they belong to and which ones are default for every page. 

Not a fan of the "Christian Post" as a default app on the "Me" tab? No problem, now you can change it.

Table Pro FAQS

How do I get it?

Currently, you must first create a free Table account before you can upgrade to Pro. Once you have a Table Account, go to the "Manage" section and you will see a "Go Pro" button along the main navigation. 

Why are you releasing a Pro version?

Over the last couple years, organizations outside of the church have been itching to utilize the Table software. Many non-profit organizations, ministry networks, schools, associations etc. are interested in connecting their constiuents, volunteers and employees on a social platform to encourage collaboration. Up until now, we have had to either say no, or put our focus on customizing one instance of the Table for their use. With Table Pro, these organizations can customize everything they need to without needing to interact with us. Table Pro will also be beneficial to churches that desire a greater level of flexibility than what the current free option offers. 

Table Pro will also help fund further developent of all facets of the Table Project. As a non-profit organization, generating revenue is secondary to ministry impact. However, we still want to be good stewards of our resources and believe that offering a "subscription" based product will put us in an even better position to serve the church long-term. 

Why isn't it free?

We still believe in the free model and will continue to focus on making the free verion of the Table better. With Table Pro, we recognized a win-win opportunity: build out functionality that would benefit a wider range of organizations and create a revenue channel to fuel continued growth. And we still made sure to price it so that churches could take advantage of the new features without a huge commitment.

Is the free version going to suck now?

The Table Project has always been commited to "gifting" our community software to churches and nothing has changed. We feel strongly about not polluting our free version with banner ads and such and continue to stick by that. We also are making the free version better than ever with recent updates such as the email digest, Discussion Board for iOS, calendar exporting, and future releases like the What's New app. We believe the addition of a paid version of the Table will only strengthen the free version in the future.

Will going "Pro" interfere with our F1 integration?

Upgrading to Table Pro will not interfere with any of your current integrations. It is a seemless process and your users will not even know it happened until they see the cool customization you have added. 

If we upgrade, will we loose any data?

No. Your data isn't effected at all.

Do I have to sign a contract?

No. We hate contracts. 

We are a large organization. After we pass 2500 users, is it really only $100/mo? What's the catch? 

No catch. We want our pricing packages to be easy to understand. There are only two levels: $50 or $100. And it is based on real users, not the "size of your organization". We rather have many organizations at a relatively low price point than going after a few big fish. If you want to pay more...we are a 501-(c)(3), so you can always donate if you think it is too cheap. 

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Posting Guidelines for the Serve App

We added a slick new feature to the Serve App you might have missed: You can now add your own custom posting guidelines.

You can give users specific directions about how to use (and not use) the Serve App. They show up on the bottom of the Post page, just as users are deciding which type of Serve item they're going to post.

We've provided some default text, but it's completely editable. Just click on the arrow to the right of the Serve App header and click "Edit Settings." Then you can tweak the default guidelines or add your own.

Now you can give clear guidelines about how your church uses the Serve App. Maybe you'll point people to your discussion board for job help or items for sale. Or encourage people to "share" their skills as well as their stuff. It's up to you. If you need more ideas, you can always point people to 100 ways to use the Serve App.

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New Videos for SuperAdmins

We recently created three new videos to help SuperAdmins get started.

How to Customize Your Table (1:44)

How to Invite People to Your Table (2:06)

How to Pre-populate Groups on Your Table (3:17)

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5 Ways the Table is Different

We've talked about why your church might see benefits in a private social network like the Table versus a public social network like Facebook. Now it's time to talk about why you should pick the Table as your private social network.

There are other private social networks out there geared for the church. We're happy to be working alongside them and thankful that we're not in this alone. But we think we have something better to offer.

Here are five things that set the Table apart:

1. Nonprofit - Being a nonprofit means we're about our users and mission first. We have no obligation to make a profit, which gives us the freedom and flexibility to serve our users first. This isn't meant as a slam on our competition—we realize they consider themselves ministries as well. But the difference is in the DNA. We're set up to serve a mission, and a business is set up to serve a bottom line.

2. It's a Gift - We offer the Table up to churches completely free. This isn't a low-level trial offer, this is a limitless, any church, any size, any usage for free. We like to call it "priceless." We wanted to eliminate any barriers that can keep your church from growing, and even $10 a month can be a big barrier for a cash-strapped church.

3. Open Architecture - If the Table isn't doing what you need, you can build something to do what you want. We're working on our open API that will allow you to develop your own app for your church—and, if you're willing, share it with all the other Table churches out there. To be fair, our API isn't available yet. But it's in the plan and we're working on it (sign up here to be notified when it's ready). Other church social networks aren't even planning on it.

4. Integrators - The Table is not about re-creating the wheel. If there's something better out there, let's work with it. That's why we integrate with Fellowship One. That's why we import blogs, podcasts and videos. That's why we connect with Facebook. There's no need to rebuild what already works. We can just be the social frosting that brings it all together for your church.

5. Flexible and Customizable - The way the Table is set up individual churches can customize the experience. If prayer is important for your church, you make the Prayer Wall the default home page. There are a number of other ways the interface can be customized and allow the Table to be flexible for different groups or campuses.

Learn more about our story, our guiding manifesto and who's behind the Table Project.

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Webinar: Populating Apps

This week on the Round Table webinar we covered how to populate apps. We'll show you how to add a video feed, set up a podcast and import an RSS feed. We'll also dive into the some of the unique features of our custom apps, like the discussion board. It'll be a practical, get your hands dirty kind of session.

You can watch the archived video here:

Watch: Populating Apps (27:11)

Don't forget to register for our upcoming Round Table webinars. We'll be talking about how to launch the Table for your church, Facebook integration, how to make the most of your profile and giving a tour of our coming iPhone App.

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Hello Serve App, Goodbye Apathy

The Table just took a giant leap toward enabling real life interaction. We just launched the long-awaited Serve App.

What's the Serve App?
Glad you asked. It's a simple application that makes it easy to match skills and items with people in need. Help is a click away. People can browse volunteer opportunities within their community or view items available to share. They can also post needs and offer up items they're willing to loan or give to the community.

The digital world meets real world. It's an echo of the healthy faith community found in Acts 2.

Apathy doesn't stand a chance.

Let's Take a Closer Look:

Volunteer Opportunities
So let's say your grandma needs someone to mow her lawn. You can post that need in the Volunteer tab. You can include how many people are needed for the job and a day it needs to be completed on or by.

You can also list specific tasks that people can sign up for. So say the Cortez family needs help after their new baby is born. You could list several tasks including provide a meal, babysit the older kids and give a ride to the doctor.

"I want to serve but don't know how," is a thing of the past.

Give & Share Items
In addition to volunteer opportunities, the Serve App also makes it easy to give and share items within the community. So if you have a baby crib in the attic you don't need any more, you could offer to give it away to your church community. Or maybe you have a table saw that doesn't get much use—you can make it available for fellow church members to borrow.

Remember sharing in kindergarten? The church can bring it back.

Building Community
And it all happens within your Table's intimate, authentic community. You're not sharing your beloved crockpot with the entire world—just your church community. There's a level of safety there you won't find when you post items to Craigslist. Sensitive volunteer needs don't have to be blasted across Facebook—you can limit it to your trusted church community.

It's feasible your church community could grow thanks to the Serve App. It starts with a neighbor asking to borrow a wrench and you tell them how your church shares stuff with the Serve App. Next they're visiting your church, joining the Table and posting items in the Serve App right along with you. No need to keep the Table (and your church) all to yourself. In the end the Serve App is just a tool and a conversation starter, but your faith community is the real attraction. (Note: We recommend loaning out that wrench without the Serve App. Don't make your neighbor go to church just to use your wrench!)

How Do I Get Started?
If you're a new church on the Table the Serve App will be installed by default. Churches that are already on the Table can add it from the app menu.

You can also add the Serve App to your My Page tab and it will serve up opportunities that match your location and interests. Serving your neighbor just got easier.

Our next Round Table webinar on April 13 will give a full tour of the Serve App's features. Register now for the guided tour.

What's Next?
We're super excited about the Serve App, but it's important to remember that it's only version 1.0. We've got lots of tweaks and improvements in mind that we'll roll out over time.

Yes, serving one another will get an upgrade. But for right now we wanted to get the basic functionality out there and let churchgoers begin serving their communities.

If you have ideas for features and improvements we should add to the Serve App, please share them in Get Satisfaction.

Big Picture
We may offer a high tech, digital tool, but encouraging local and authentic community has always been one of our goals. Connecting online is great, but getting people face to face is even better. That's one of the major bonuses of the Serve App. It's just a tool to help us connect in real life.

That's why we're so excited about it—the software fades to the background as we connect skills and resources with community needs. Mobilizing your church to serve has never been so easy. Hello Serve App, goodbye apathy.

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Webinar: SuperAdmin Training

This week's Round Table webinar covered SuperAdmin training. We talked about the role and functionality of the super admin, the set up and approval guru for your church's Table. We walked through how to delegate responsibility (yes!), change settings, promote events, edit information, customize the system and much more.

You can watch the archived webinar here. It's a long video (1 hour, 14 minutes), but super admin training is super cool.

Check it out:

Watch: SuperAdmin Training (1:14:47)

Be sure to register for our next webinar, when we'll say goodbye to apathy with a guided tour of the Serve App.

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