THE CONVOS BLOG

Two weeks ago, we added the Subgroup functionality to Convos.  It's a really powerful addition and I thought I'd talk about it some more.  We know that all organizations operate differently and have different structures.  These structures, like departments, committees, project teams, and membership levels, are what really empowers an organization.  Too many solutions I've used before didn't allow me to organize members the way they needed to be.  In most cases, you only get one big group which is terrible for trying to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with subsets of members.  

With Convos, we knew that the application needed to be flexible enough to adapt to different kinds of organizations while keeping the experience as user-friendly as possible.  You can check the Convos Help Center for an in-depth overview of managing subgroups.

Now here are six reasons why your organization should start using subgroups in Convos.

1. Subgroups promote collaboration and interaction

Organizations get things done in smaller groups.  When you break things down into committees, project teams or leadership boards, you're facilitating productive interaction with members in those subgroups.  Not only is it easier to manage smaller sets of people, but decisions are made more quickly and goals are more easily shared.

2. Convos subgroups have all the functions of a regular group

A lot of other online group tools simply have subgroups that act as mailing lists.  Those kinds of subgroups don't empower the members in them to work together, share files, and plan their own events.  In Convos, all subgroups have the same available functions of a regular group.

3. Subgroups can be used for any part of your organization

There are a wide range of uses for subgroups.  Here are a few ideas:

• Board of directors and advisory boards
• Committees
• Departments
• Geographic regions and chapters
• Project teams
• Alumni groups -  split them by year, occupation, or affiliation
• Membership tiers or levels - e.g., Platinum, Gold, Silver members
• Major events
• External relations - collaborate with people outside of the organization (see this post) 

4. You can create as many subgroups as you want

Whether you have three committees or 158 district chapters, your organization can create as many subgroups as it needs.  By not placing a limit, organizations can set up their groups to adapt to their organizational structures.  

 
5. You can send more relevant and targeted messages to specific members

Sometimes a subgroup doesn't need all of the group functions it provides.  Administrators can simply use subgroups as a means of distributing messages, event invitations, and feedback requests to specific individuals.

Some organizations I've been involved with have had problems with heavy listservs where too many messages are sent out.  You can actually use subgroups to prioritize messages that allow members to easily be alerted to important announcements.  One subgroup can be used as the heavy listserv for general discussion and a second subgroup can be used for important messages, events, and feedback requests.  

6. Members don't have to be re-invited

I mentioned before that other tools only give you one group to work with.  If you want to have subgroups on those tools, then you'd have to create new, but disconnected groups.  This doubles up the invite process.  

On Convos, all members just need to be invited to the main (top-level) group.  Once they're in, administrators of subgroups can simply just add them.