You’ve prepared for weeks to put your group performance before an audience, and to you it is nothing short of flawless. As you receive your grade back for what you perceived was something fantastic, you’re slightly disappointed with the outcome. What happened? Why isn’t your project number one? Well, from an audience perspective, there are many things that could affect your group’s project, and there are also ways to improve upon group projects, based on simple, focused tips.

Versatility

Versatility is a great way to catch an audience’s attention. You and your group shouldn’t let one idea or act become the sole purpose of your project. Come up with other ideas and don’t settle on one person’s point of view. Brainstorming helps your group explore other ways to show people that you really put effort into your project.

Communication

A significant reason to why groups may not be successful is lack of communication. Use GroupTable’s discussion boards to keep track of conversations. Create a sense of open communication, not only with the exchange of ideas, but also with constructive comments and ways to improve upon your performance. These constructive comments can contribute to a memorable act.

Stay on Task

Stay on task and try to get things done early as a group. Don’t leave the bulk of the work for one person. When a group doesn’t perform as one, your grade may suffer. There aren’t going to be three strikes; it could only be one, and your grade may be out of the race. A great way to keep on task is to set deadlines to when your group members should complete their assignment and learn their part. Incorporating a task list using GroupTable can help reduce clutter, and keep everyone on track.

Time Management

Showing the audience that your group has talent can be easily done by committing to a plan of action. Create responsibilities for each member of your group to increase efficiency. Try creating a task list and spread out the work so that nothing is left for the last minute. Leaving everything for the last minute is an easy way for your group to end up with an underperforming routine. Lack of patience and planning may end up showing in your presentation. Don’t let this create a missed opportunity to move onto the next round and get the grade you’re looking for.

There are many opportunities to make sure your group project comes out on top. With careful planning, good communication, and time management, your group won’t have to worry about whether or not you will get the grade you want.

Study Groups are proven to improve grades, however as with most group work, study groups can be challenging. Distractions can arise at meetings, schedule conflicts can occur between members and more. The semester is almost over for most students across the country and GroupTable.com a software for group projects and study groups has some tips that can help you get the most out of your study groups.

1. Instead of waiting to cram before a test, form your group early
2. Choose between four and six classmates for your study group
3. Share notes to see other perspectives
4. Minimize distractions
5. State objectives or goals
6. Be prepared-do your required reading
   
7. Take turns teaching one another
   
8. Stay on topic
9. Plan a weekly meeting
10. Manage your study group online

We hope these tips help.  By managing your study group online you have the ability get all the benefits of a study group, but on your own time.  Your group is no longer restricted to a specific time or place.   By using the tips above along with GroupTable you’ll do great on those upcoming final exams.

Good luck!

A few days ago Mashable, one of the top technology blogs on the internet did a review on GroupTable.  According to Mashable….

“The entire makeup of the service is quite impressive”

- Paul Glazowski

To check out the article yourself visit GroupTable on Mashable.  We’ll keep everyone updated… There are a lot of really cool things on the horizon for GroupTable that will come to light soon.  We look forward to sharing them with you.

Cheers,

Dave

Recently our development staff added some new enhancements to GroupTable.  We always like to keep all of you in the loop so below you can see what we have added:

1. The ability to see group member’s phone numbers:  We have heard feedback that it would be helpful to have all of group member’s phone numbers available in one spot.  You can make your phone number visible to your group members by adding your phone number on your edit profile page.    Once your phone number has been added your group members will be able to see it either on your group member’s tab, or on the specific group member’s profile page.
2. The ability to view documents in GroupTable’s frame:  This is a very cool functionality.  You can now open and view a document, power pt or other file directly in GroupTable’s frame.  To do this visit your group’s binder and click the magnifying glass.
3. The ability to delete your discussion replies: We heard feedback from some of you mentioning that when you reply to an existing discussion post and spell something wrong, or would like to change your reply there is no way to do so.  Well that problem has been solved.  From now on you can delete your personal discussion replies by clicking the delete icon under options.

We are constantly striving to improve GroupTable to better fit your needs and look forward to any additional feedback any of you have.

All the best,
David Brim & The GroupTable Staff

It’s the middle of the semester and you have that group project due in a few weeks.  Group projects can be very stressful, but have no fear GroupTable, a student group management software has some tips to help you and your group project team.

1. Communication is Key

Communication is a key for a successful group to function. Maintaining frequent contact with group members will help everyone stay in the loop. If someone says something you don’t agree with don’t criticize them. Seek to understand their point of view and then express yours.

2. Assign Tasks & Set Deadlines

Assign tasks based on the strengths of each group member. Tasks should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. Assigning tasks and setting deadlines will keep everyone in the group
on track, increase accountability and keep your group from procrastinating.

3. Make Everyone a Leader
If you notice something that can be done better in your group, take on a leadership role. It’s a great way to enhance your leadership skills and ensure that work gets done. Each member of the group should act as a leader from time to time. Keep Organized Typically groups have a lot of files and messages being sent back and forth. It can be very challenging to keep everything in order and make sure everyone has the most updated information. Using an online group collaborative tool can help you manage everything.

4. Go Virtual
Sometimes it can be very challenging to get all group members together at the same place and time. Meeting online through chat or using a group discussion board can really make life easier.

Try GroupTable.com to manage your group projects and study groups.  GroupTable will save you and your group from a lot of stress.

Good luck the rest of the semester!

Attention All,

Lend me your ears

I proclaim that Labor Day, 2008 be forever remembered as “Landing Page Replacement Day!” Put it in the history books…

A small step for GroupTable, a giant leap for our conversion rates.  Sorry Old landing page…you tried, but your timid and uninformative ways didn’t drive enough action.  The old must let go and move aside to make way for the new.  Also tell your friend “YouTube GroupTable Demo May edition” that we no longer need his services.   Landing pg V2 will be a good page…The New and Improved Landing page- The sugar and the spice, the plate of chicken wings with just right amount of hotsauce (That ones for Carl), the super sundae with rainbow sprinkles…I apologize where was I…Oh yeah

Effective 1:00 pm your contract is terminated and you will be replaced.  We don’t care where you go, but you gotta get the hell outta here.

Deepest sympathies…The job market is tough

As for you GTV2 Landing page…you’ve been training hard, now is the time to shine… Lace up your boots your up!

Old Landing Page

ps…Feel free to leave your comments for GroupTable’s old landing page or words of encouragement for Landing page V2

Visit http://www.grouptable.com to see the replacement landing page…Book mark this post if it made you laugh

Our team has been working really hard over the last few weeks and GroupTable V2 should be ready to go very soon.  It’s going to be awesome!  In the mean time I just created a GroupTable Fan page on Facebook and you can become a fan!  It would really help out with our movement and your support would mean a lot to me personally as well.

So if you haven’t heard, we are creating a new version of GroupTable that we have dubbed “GTV2″ (I know we’re sooo creative).  We have been working hard on GTV2 based on your feedback and visions we have as well.  GTV2 will have an enhanced design, additional features, better usability and a stronger backend.  Today we had a very productive day and some great progress with GTV2.  Here’s a picture of Zach & Carl discussing Geek stuff.

Our design is nearly complete and Zach & Carl were discussing how they plan on bringing GTV2 to life.  Scott was in South Florida building relationships with organization heads and introducing them to GroupTable, but spent some time conferencing with me about cool things we are adding to our strategic plan.  In addition to that I worked on creating content for certain pages that will be used on GTV2, as well as putting a time-line together for certain initiatives.

After our meeting we decided to celebrate a day well spent and went to grab some grub & drinks at Chilli’s…MMMM

Anyways, we look forward to sharing everything we have been working on for GTV2 with you guys in the Fall…Your gonna love it!

Cheers

With the help of several professors, the GroupTable staff has put together a list of tips that we hope will help your group project team this upcoming semester. Here they are:

We’re working hard to enhance GroupTable for all of you and hope these tips combined with our software will help you save time and get better grades. See you in the Fall!

Today an article about GroupTable was published in the Central Florida Future by Jillian Krotki. The article discussed our promotional event, upcoming enhancements to the site and some future plans. You can read the article here: GroupTable Article

Here is a snippet from the article:

GroupTable.com is an online collaboration tool created to assist student groups with document management, communication, organization and project planning. It was founded by UCF students David Brim, Carl Henderson and Scott Wall.

Being business majors, these students quickly learned how difficult it is to bring groups of people together to work on projects and group assignments when everyone is running on a different schedule.

“It’s a challenge to bring everyone together, and often times when you do there are a lot of distractions and nothing is accomplished,” Brim said, the co-founder and product manager for GroupTable.com. The statewide launch of the product will take place this fall and by spring the team plans to spread nationwide.

On the site, groups are able to create to-do lists and share ideas through messages and chat rooms. Files can be uploaded and shared and deadlines can be assigned for different aspects of the workload to ensure that everyone is doing their part. All of the files and folders are stored in one location, which allows all members of the group to stay organized.

To read the full article click here

Stay updated…Lots of good stuff coming