This year another fun tradition was born at our annual event – TheCR Connect – our first presentation of The Community Roundtable Awards! The winners were announced at the live event, and now we are excited to share the news with everyone online.
Why Awards?
We want to showcase the amazing work members are doing. Our team sees the many ways members are advancing the discipline of community management in their work as well as contributing to TheCR Network in valuable ways. We want to acknowledge and highlight your efforts
and…
It’s fun. There’s no way around it — handing out awards and amazing trophies (wink, wink . . . see below) is a delightful way to . . . well, surprise and delight. And as we all know hard working community practitioners can use a little more fun in our lives.
Without further ado, here are The Community Roundtable 2016 award winners!
The Cheerleader Award
You keep up with TheCR Network like it’s your job and never fail to cheer everyone on whether it’s liking, sharing, or responding with support.
The 2016 Cheerleader Award goes to Marjorie Anderson, Community Engagement Specialist at the Project Management Institute. From day one of her membership Marjorie shows up. She makes visible and valuable contributions to the network. We can count on Marjorie’s engagement to keep the network vibrant and alive. Thank you Marjorie!
The Journaler Award
You check-in regularly to update us on your work and progress. Your documentation helps all of us better understand what it’s like to be a community practitioner and helps us understand where notable milestones exist. Self-reflection is wisdom earned.
If you work out loud with us regularly you know why this award goes to Lori Harrison-Smith, Enterprise Community Manager at Steelcase. Lori has diligently documented her weekly progress every. single. week. in 2016. When we document a successful collaboration in the weekly Work Out Loud thread she’s almost always involved. Congrats Lori!
The Detective Award
Who? What? When? Where? Why? Your curiosity and questions help the network get to the bottom of things. Without you how would we get to the bottom of community management’s most difficult challenges?
This TheCR member asks questions about questions! Jeff Merrell, Associate Director at Northwestern University M.S. Learning and Organizational Change, puts a lot of thought in exploring meaningful discussions in the Network that allows us all to learn together. He leads the charge in unpacking how people learn and influence organizational change. Well done, Jeff!
The Explorer
You’re willing to go where no community practitioner has gone before. Boxes are not in your vocabulary. You walk to the end of the map of everything that is known about community management and dare to take another step further.
Can anyone find J.J. Lovett, Director, Communities at CA Technologies? We fear he’s fallen off the map. Oh no worries, he’s just discovering and implementing new ways to apply our research and models. J.J. is one of those members who pushes us to evolve our work by applying it and reporting back how he’s using it. Thank you J.J.!
The Social Butterfly
The social butterfly shows up. No matter the event, in person or online, the social butterfly is busy making connections and building a thriving network.
Nothing beats showing up to events, online and in-person, to learn, network and collaborate together and we have one member who makes this an art form. Kirsten Laaspere, Community Manager at Akamai Technologies has been a member since 2014 and helps us make TheCR Network events valuable and fun. When I ask a question on a call and get silence in return she’s there to help spark conversation. She holds a wide network and is generous with her connections. Keep on, keeping on Kirsten!
The Super Geek
This squishy community talk is great, but let’s get down to the data. Numbers quake in your presence and excel spreadsheets are putty in your hands. You know that you can prove the value of community and you are on a mission to make it happen.
Is there even a contest here? Ted Hopton, Director of Social Business at McGraw-Hill Education, walks away with one bedazzled calculator to represent all the incredible work he’s been doing by wrangling community metrics, experimenting with data visualization, and generously sharing his work as he learns so we can all follow along. Great work, Ted!
The Host(ess) with the Most(est)
You are warm and welcoming and help new and returning members feel like they are seen, heard and valued at TheCR Network. You make the network a much better place to learn and work.
I used to diligently welcome new members and tried to encourage other members to join in and help make TheCR Network a welcoming place. It didn’t really take off until Aaliyah Miller, Communications Consultant at Aetna, joined and became a champion of new members. Whether it’s in our main intro thread on individual groups she always takes the time read, acknowledge, and welcome people. We’ve watched her thoughtful participation ripple out and encourage others. Well done, Aaliyah!
The Pack Leader
You rally members around a good cause. When you speak people listen, but you also know a good leader listens and empowers a group. You are generous with your knowledge.
We’re proud to present Jeff Ross, Community Manager at Humana, with The Pack Leader Award for his continued work championing ESNs (enterprise social networks). He saw a gap, organized, distributed leadership and continues to curate knowledge and share generously with all interested. We’re proud of you Jeff!
The Community Manager’s Award
TheCR team has your number on speed dial. You answer our emails, quickly, and are always willing to help. You are dedicated, thoughtful, and supportive and our team relies on you.
We’ve known Claire Flanagan, Director of Social Business Value at Jive, for a long time and we lovingly refer to her as one of our original “cheeseheads”. She’s been a strong advocate and never hesitates to respond with our requests for feedback or strategic advice. An original member of our Member Advisory Board we’re grateful for the way she supports us. Way to go Claire!
