The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

How To Build A Community From The Ground Up

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We learn so much from our network and enjoy sharing that information.  It is what we do, after all, advance the business of community for everyone in our circle.  Many have come to us asking how to get started, or do we think their community might work, or what they might do better. Here … [Read more...]

SXSWi Advice in Small, Snackable Bites

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There will be ~286,450 blog posts coming out in the next 36 hours on how to do SXSWi right. While we probably don't need 286,451, I promise to make this one chock full of fiber and easy to consume. After three years at SXSWi, I have a few tips and will keep them short to make them easy to … [Read more...]

Six Risks of Not Having Community Management

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Community management is one of those things that, when working well, often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. It's a bit like that hostess that always has fantastic parties but no one really understands the hard work that went into the party itself. However, when community management is bad or … [Read more...]

Getting Executives to Say Yes to Social

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There are many executives who are curious and interested in this whole social business phenomenon.  They want workers to try it, test it and see what it can do for the business bottom line...but what about participating? That is often where the process slows down or comes to a screeching halt … [Read more...]

How Community Management is Like Personal Finance

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Would you invest your money without the support of someone who understands the current marketplace, knows where trends seem to be heading and what strategy will be best to maximize that investment?  Many of us wouldn't.  And yet companies are often throwing open the door to community initiatives … [Read more...]

Review: Online Community Management for Dummies

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  I was lucky enough to read and review Deborah’s Ng’s book Online Community Management for Dummies. This book is a great go-to resource for both aspiring and practicing community managers and it’s earned a spot on my office bookshelf. Deborah nails it and I recommend this book for a few … [Read more...]

Inside TheCR Network: 3 Questions

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  We get great speakers on our member Roundtable calls for TheCR Network and they all speak wonderfully about their area of expertise.  But one hour is not really long enough to get to know them better.  So we're starting a new series where we ask them 3 questions.  Not about their expertise … [Read more...]

A Need For Social Architecture

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Last week, Mark Bonchek, senior vice president of communities and networks at Sears Holdings, led a roundtable discussion with TheCR Network members on using the principles of network-centric warfare to steer large-scale change in community management. At first glance, it seems like a big leap from … [Read more...]