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- Effective community, quickly
It’s Wednesday, January 3rd, and today we’re talking about the urgent need for minimal viable communities.
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Effective Community, Quickly
Well, happy freaking new year, folks. After some much-needed rest these past few weeks, I am genuinely excited about the year ahead.
Part of that excitement stems from some deep thinking I've been doing about community. It's always on my mind, but recently something has felt... off. I'd been too busy to sit with it long enough to figure it out, but over the holiday break, the unrest started to take clearer form.
I'm uneasy with the state of the community. More specifically, with two aspects:
We've become too pedantic.
The bar is pathetically low.
I've got real gems to share with you in the coming issues, but to level-set, I want to offer some encouragement and tactical insight.
Let’s get into it.
Let's all just chill a bit.
I've been pretty vocal about my disdain for the flash-in-a-pan approach to community. It's not something to be taken lightly. But there's a danger in not talking about the other side, which is that sometimes, a tiny bit of impulsive community is the perfect choice.
It comes down to one thing: the promise.
Let's say I am going to invite ten local leaders to a curated dinner and promise them delicious food and thoughtful conversation. There are two pieces to observe here:
I need to be able to confidently deliver on that promise.
I didn't promise anything more than a dinner.
Ultimately, I may wish to launch a community for local leaders, but this approach allows me to do a few things:
Get to know them in a casual, intimate setting.
Listen, listen, and listen some more.
Test my theory that these are people I want to serve.
Start to build a rapport.
It sure beats the main two ways I see people approach community, which is to become paralyzed by strategy or immediately pull the trigger on a long-term promise they have no idea how to keep.
The whole world of community is feeling a bit pedantic these days. Every day there's pushback on something new...
Don't call them lurkers, it's rude.
Don't call it onboarding, they're not employees.
Don't call it marketing.
But like anything else in life, the answer is usually "It depends."
Lurkers is widely accepted language, which gives us a shared understanding, and anecdotally, I've never heard members say they mind the term. I’ve only heard community managers say it.
While onboarding is technically the familiarizing of a new employee to the company, the term was adopted by the community and is a perfectly fine description.
Community, for a lot of companies, is marketing. Like it or not, companies like Glossier moved from a blog to a billion-dollar company because of community-centric user-generated content.
You may disagree, to which I say "cool!" I don't mind that you want to use different words or a different approach. My point is this: it's silly to constantly encourage the world to build more community and then give them a bunch of rules and obstacles.
Sometimes, dare I say often, you don't need a lengthy strategic plan and timeline: you just need to get some people in a room together and start building relationships.
Not to mention that...
The bar is embarrassingly low
In the last two weeks, I had two lame experiences I can't stop thinking about:
First, I attended a big networking event in Boston that I stayed at for a whopping 45 minutes before getting on the train back home.
The main issue was the press around this event: the organizer has been featured in multiple publications as throwing "tech's hottest parties". The landing page talked about how uniquely good these gatherings were, including language like
"a private social curated with some of the most brilliant founders, builders, and tech leaders"
and
"meet the other remarkable tech leaders and change-makers in Boston. You'll be in good company."
It was invite-only with a waiting list.
I was pretty damn excited to go. Nothing makes me happier than a curated, quality gathering of people.
To say the experience was underwhelming is an understatement. There were a ton of people crammed into an awkward and small space. The event took place during dinner hours, but there was a bowl of chips, hummus, and salsa that quickly ran out. I don't often drink and couldn't find any non-alcoholic options.
Worse than the logistics was the culture. We were given name tags, and that's where the thoughtfulness ends. There was no programming or structure that gave the event shape or set it apart as "uniquely good" in any way.
I had several conversations with people and couldn't find any parameters for the supposed curation. Most conversations were people finding out I mentor with Techstars and thinking I could somehow get them in. Oh, and one guy who told me he was "wicked hungover" and slammed an entire beer as I watched.
I left after 45 minutes. The marketing didn't remotely resemble the experience.
A few weeks later, I took a dance class at a new studio. I walked up to the front desk and had the following exchange:
Person at desk: "What class are you taking?"
Me: "Intermediate hip hop?"
Person at desk: "What's your name?"
Me: "April MacLean"
Person at desk: "K. You're checked in" doesn't look up
Me: "...ok...where is the class?"
Person at desk: "Over there" points to the studio
Me: "It's my first time here, where is the restroom?"
Person at desk: "Over there" points the other way
Maybe it's because I owned a studio for so long, but the experience was so cliché and disappointing. The odds of me returning? Zero. The odds of me returning had I been made to feel welcome? 100.
We are living in a Courtney Michelle world, friends.
It's aggravating. It also means that it only takes a little bit of thoughtful planning and attention to detail to stand out from the rest.
Breaking Down Barriers: Tactics vs. Theory
I'd love to see those of you who are hoping to build community dip those toes in with a small, well-run test. I guarantee you that you'll walk away with critical insights.
Here are some things to consider:
1. Connect Before You Invite: Cold invites to people you don't know don’t work well. Choose people who at least know you exist or include a good, contextual intro to your invite.
2. Micro Wins for Macro Success: Instead of aiming for the grandiose, start small. Host a micro-event, maybe a virtual coffee chat or a local meetup. These bite-sized initiatives are manageable, help you learn quickly, and create a ripple effect for larger successes.
3. Language Matters: Skip the jargon. Your community isn't impressed by fancy terminology. Craft your messages like you're talking to a friend. Clarity over complexity, every time.
4. The Art of Inclusivity: Want a vibrant community? Make all kinds of people feel welcome. Encourage diverse voices and actively listen to what your community is saying. Inclusivity is not just a buzzword; it's a perspective-changer.
Wow 'em
As a bonus, if you want to wow your attendees, consider the following:
Pre-game it: Nah, not like that. Create a short, easy survey for attendees that tells you a bit about who they are. Memorize the answers.
Be the connector: Stay at the table or work the room. Use the info you gathered to make strategic introductions or gas up your guests.
Be armed with conversation starters: Have a few great questions on hand to help guests avoid the "what-do-you-do-my-what-strange-weather-we're-having” blues.
Psychological rule-of-three: Attendees are more likely to have an outstanding experience if they:
Meet someone interesting
Learn something interesting
Contribute something
Logistical rule-of-three: If nothing else, cover your bases here:
Music: My go-to for mellow/classy events is vocal jazz. For energy, I play funk. For some reason, it pleases everyone 🤷🏻♀️.
Climate: when people are too hot or cold, they're not relaxing and enjoying themselves. Have a plan for climate control.
Food: If you're going to have an event during standard meal hours, feed people and don't run out of food. Regardless of the plan, cover the plan food in your invitation. They should know exactly what to expect.
In the coming weeks, we have some good stuff, including:
Five community monetization models
How to leverage community newsletters for growth and engagement
Death of the 90-9-1 rule (and other outdated frameworks)
Five tactical case studies on high ROI communities
Showing my work: a messy, public look at the IRL community I am attempting to build from scratch
See ya then 👋🏼
Onward,
April
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