Community - It's What You Make of It

I had a really interesting call today with a group we’re hoping to do some work with. At one point during the conversation, I stressed the point that “we’re about creating real communities that persist, not just relationships that can be monetized”. That might sound crazy since you would assume one couldn’t happen without the other, but it does.

There are quite a few players in the event technology business that ring the community bell - we’re certainly not the first. The more telling information, however, is really just what “passes” as “community”. It all depends on the circles you run with and how stringent you want your definition to be.

I would argue that simply aggregating a collection of people with seemingly similar interests and/or needs does not a community make. I’d also argue that simply generating “leads” fails to truly embrace the potential for monetizing communities.

As the conversation carried on, I stumbled upon another Gregism. I observed that the event industry, from my experience and research, really has heralded community as one of their cornerstones - but they’ve mostly bastardized the concept (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). They have indeed taken the points of view just mentioned, only now realizing just how much they could have had (as attendance and satisfaction level or decline). A good strategy must take both a short and long term view. For some, it very well might be too late to re-invent as other forces have already consumed the glue that once held the group together. For others, it’s a wonderfully promising time.

Fortunately, we’ve been finding more and more groups and individuals that share our vision and desire the same things. How’s that for an early Christmas present?