Note: We’ve reimagined our annual community conference, TheCR Connect, to be a month-long community celebration. To learn more about Connect 2020, and our nine community-focused learning tracks visit the Connect 2020 page.
While the world readjusts to the impact of COVID-19 many organizations are finally recognizing the immense power of online communities. Many of us who have worked as online community builders for a long time are realizing that the knowledge and best practices we take for granted as community table stakes aren’t so obvious to new practitioners.
To make Connect 2020 a meaningful and relevant experience in 2020 we thought we should go back to the well. Literally. The WELL is widely recognized as THE original online community, where Howard Rheingold first coined the term “virtual community.”
We are thrilled to announce our first community keynote for TheCR Connect 2020: Lessons from The WELL: A Conversation with Nancy White and Gail Williams.
In 1990, my life tumbled into The WELL, deep, and cool. I found myself reinventing myself from scratch, word by word, in a place made of pure expression. OK, actually it was a bunch of people typing into a machine, in a text-based asynchronous conferencing system. But I was entranced by the richness of the conversation, soup-thick with meanings. I love how we make brilliant collaborative word pictures.
Gail Williams
When Gail wrote those words about The WELL in 1994 the internet was in its infancy, and she embraced the role of innkeeper for like-minded people around the world. Today, Gail writes and consults in the realms of Community, Conversation, and Craft Beer from her home in Northern California.
Nancy White, a long-time friend of The Community Roundtable, will join Gail for a conversation about how the lessons she learned at The WELL are still relevant, and often revolutionary today.
This session will take place under our Inspiration Track, a collection of events at Connect 2020 designed to inspire participants in both their personal and professional lives.
Learn more about the Connect 2020 Tracks (and Track Chairs!) here and learn more about how we’ve reimagined Connect 2020 as a wholly virtual event here.
