The Community Roundtable

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

Announcing TheCR Connect 2016 – The Workshop for Community Pros

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By Hillary Boucher, Director of Networks at The Community Roundtable

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I am beyond excited to get to share this news with you – we’ve set the date for our annual community workshop this Fall!! TheCR Connect 2016 will take place on October 26-27, 2016 (that’s right – TWO days!) at the Babson Executive Conference Center located just outside Boston.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend the first two Connect events we’ve held – and I have to say, the best part of my job is getting to work with and for amazing community people. And getting to hangout with them in person, hear their amazing stories and solve community challenges in real time? Winning!!

If you’ve attended a Connect in the past you should definitely join us this Fall – we’re planning even more awesome content – this time over a day and a half of interactive sessions, tactical roundtables and community case studies. We heard your feedback that even more connecting and networking time was needed so we’ve built that (and a great happy hour and dinner!) into the agenda.

If you haven’t attended TheCR Connect in the past I can’t encourage you enough to consider attending. I obviously love online community building – but there really is something special about getting together with a room full of people that get the challenges you face, that have solved problems just like the ones you deal with and that can benefit from your expertise as well.

I can honestly say I’ve walked away from each previous event energized and excited – and came back to our community with new ideas and strategies that have made me a better community manager for you. That doesn’t even take into account the fact that getting to know you in person is the icing on the cake!

You can learn more about TheCR Connect here – or if you’re ready to register you can sign up here.

To Event or Not to Event? TheCR Connect!

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By Jim Storer, Principal & Co-Founder, The Community Roundtable

I have a love/hate relationship with events. It goes back a few years, when I worked as a program director for an events management company. I loved being the guy who focused on bringing together all these super smart people to engage and discuss important topics. It’s exhilarating when it all comes together and the vendors, speakers and attendees start connecting on the show floor, in the conference rooms. But the internet came along and changed the game. Face-to-face events were no longer the only way to meet, learn from and build relationships with like-minded people. Attendance shrunk and vendors grew upset with the dwindling numbers on the show floor. Building events became less a labor of love and more a thankless pursuit.

I shifted my focus to online communities and occasionally thought about face-to-face events, usually when attending one on my own. There were smaller rooms, fewer parties and more games to get attendees to visit the vendors. For the most part it made me sad, knowing how hard people worked to pull it all together for that result.

When Rachel and I started The Community Roundtable I admitted my disdain for the current state of events and suggested we should only host one if it was “different.” Over the last six years we’ve attended a lot of events that focus on community building – put on by independent third parties or vendors in the space – and there have been bright spots. Over the last year or so we’ve contemplated what a CR event might look like and in the last six months we began planning in earnest.

TheCR Connect is our attempt to mimic in an offline space what we see happening online every day in TheCR Network. We’ve collaborated with members to create a safe, fun space to share, learn and connect with like-minded peers. We’ll practice the online art of “surprise and delight” and do our best to make sure everyone is able to create long lasting relationships with the people they “need to know” in the audience. I’m excited to be jumping back into the event business… more excited than I’d ever thought I’d be.

I hope you can join us early next month in Boston or at one our locations in 2016.

 

Five Reasons You Should Attend TheCR Connect

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Our first live event is in less than 30 days – and registration is closing soon (this Friday, to be exact!) and there are only a few spots left!

We know committing to a full day event can be tough so here are five reasons TheCR Connect is worth it:

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Register

In order to insure a diverse group, we respectfully ask that you limit registrations from one organization to three people.

The cost for non-members $600. Non-members request an invite here. Members register here.

Registration closes on 9/18/15.

 TheCR Connect is made possible thanks to our partners.

TheCRConnect_Partners_AkamaiTheCRConnect_Partners_JIVE

 

TheCR Connect Agenda

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TheCR ConnectBy Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

TheCR Connect is the inaugural workshop in our regional events series. Kicking off in Boston this Fall, TheCR Connect is an event exclusively for community practitioners – those engaged in the development, implementation, management and measurement of community initiatives. You might be a community manager for a 5,000 person internal community, the community specialist at a start-up, or the director of community for a Fortune 500 brand. Learn more.

With just seven weeks left until TheCR Connect Boston I’m excited to share the full agenda*. Without further ado:

8:00am – Breakfast

8:45am – Welcome from TheCR

9:00am – Keynote: Community Inspiration with JJ Lovett, CA Technologies

10:00 – Community Case Study: How to Win Friends & Influence People – the Community Edition Presented by Akamai – Whether you manage an internal or external community we have all experienced some of our biggest challenges negotiating internally. We have to weave our way through a maze of opinions and / or corporate policies to achieve the goals we have established for our community. This session will facilitate a discussion around the following; How to Prevent, How to Avoid, How to Accept, or Run Around It while influencing people and winning friends.

10:30am – Break/Optional Tour of Akamai’s Command Center We couldn’t visit Akamai without getting a look the famous Network Operations Command Center (NOCC).  The NOCC’s proactive stance and unique view ensures a seamless response to network conditions – enabling Akamai to deliver rich media content and applications, regardless of network traffic volume. The NOCC is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by expert network operations personnel.

11:00am – AMA with Community Experts We’re putting community experts in the hot seat to answer your most challenging questions. Featuring Patrick Hellen, DeepIS, Luke Sinclair, AMEX, and Lauren Vargas, Aetna.

11:45am – Office Hours w/ Community Superheroes We believe every community manager has a superpower. We’ve rounded up a group of these community superheroes including Welcome Wonder Woman, the Executive Engager and more to answer your questions and get your community programs on track.

12:30pm – Lunch & Matched Networking Groups Sometimes it’s hard to find the person you need to meet the most. We’ll take the guess work out of connecting with the participants that can make a difference in your community and career.

1:30pm – Interactive Roundtables Dig in and dive deep on a community challenge that you’re working on. We’ll break into small groups and expert facilitators will share advice and guide you to actionable plans and tools for community success. Roundtable topics may include: Defining Community Value, Sharing Your Community Success and Building Your Community Dream Team.

2:30pm – Break

2:45pm – Community Case Study Stay tuned! Our second community case study will be announced shortly.

3:30pm – Creating a Culture of Yes: Improvisation for Community Management Improvisation is about more than being funny. It involves active listening, confidence, creative thinking, flexibility and working as a team. We are thrilled to host a team from ImprovBoston for a look at how the principles of improv can be successfully applied to community management.

5:00pm – Closing remarks

6:00pm – Happy Hour After a busy day we’ll decamp to nearby Mead Hall for tasty drinks, delicious food and more great conversations.

Want to join us? Members register here, non-members request an invite.

* This Agenda is subject to change at any time.

TheCR Connect is made possible thanks to our partners.

TheCRConnect_Partners_AkamaiTheCRConnect_Partners_JIVE

Sneak Peek: TheCR Connect Agenda

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Today I’m excited to share the first look at the agenda for TheCR Connect – our first live workshop happening this October in our hometown. Without further ado:

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The early bird cost for non-members who register before 7/31 is $550. Any tickets remaining for TheCR Connect (and we do anticipate the event selling out) after 7/31 will cost $600. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind event – non-members request an invite here.

Friday Roundup: Calling All Early Birds

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.TheCR Connect Boston

Hey East Coast early birds, don’t forget: early bird registration for TheCR Connect ends next Friday – and half your registration fee can be applied to a membership in TheCR Network!

If you’ve been thinking about joining now is the time the see how we can help you advance your community and your career! And, stay tuned for the first look at the agenda on Monday!

Things We Are Reading This Week

State of Community Management 2015 Monday Fact #6: Community Strategy Needs Resources – We’ve said many times in this space that having a community strategy is a critical part of getting your community to succeed. Strategy is critical, but it’s just the first step in the process of building a successful community. It needs to be coupled with a roadmap and the resources to execute on that roadmap for your community to succeed.

Activating Knowledge Sharing at DLR Group –  Video about creating engagement from Christopher Parsons from KA Connect

Best Practices for Selecting a Community Platform – Q: What’s the difference between buying a new home and selecting a community platform? A: One is a major expense, fills you with angst and forces you to move all your stuff. The other changes your address.

Why won’t people ask questions in the open?  – When someone needs to find the answer to a question, what do they tend to do?

  1. Try searching their hard drive, an FAQ database, or the Internet
  2. Turn to the person sitting next to them
  3. Call or instant message a trusted colleague
  4. Send an email to a few people or a distribution list
  5. If the first four options don’t work, give up

A Guide to Social Collaboration and Learning – What is social collaboration and learning? How can organizations benefit from using these? How do you calculate ROI? We get the answers from James Tyer.

The Web We Have to Save – The rich, diverse, free web that I loved — and spent years in an Iranian jail for — is dying. Why is nobody stopping it?

New Social Media and Community Jobs

  1. Technical Marketer – Godaddy – Sunnyvale, CA
  2. Senior Social Business Strategy Consultant – East Region – Jive Software – Boston, MA
  3. Social Media Director – iTalent – Miami, FL
  4. Social Media Manager, Glamour – Condé Nast – Entertainment and Media Industry – New York City, NY
  5. L’Oréal Paris – Director, Social Media – – New York City, NY 
  6. Director, Social Media – Celebrity Cruises – Royal Caribbean International – Miami, FL
  7. Sr. Social Media Manager, Traffic Strategy – Birchbox – New York City, NY
  8. Social Media Manager – Full Time Exempt – Herschend Family Entertainment – Pigeon Forge, TN
  9.  Director of Network Relations – Scion Staffing – Stanford, CA
  10. Director of Digital Content – Sinclair Broadcast Group – Las Vegas, NV
  11. Director of Digital Marketing – Mondo –  Los Angeles, CA
  12.  Community Manager  – YEC – Boston, MA
  13. Community Manager  – Lifesize – Austin, TX
  14. Community Manager – WeWork – Portland, OR
  15. Community Manager – R/GA – Austin, TX
  16. Community Manager, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer – American Cancer Society – Fresno, CA
  17. Content and Community Manager – PI Worldwide – Wellesley, MA
  18. Community Manager – Cimpress – Lexington, MA
  19. Online Community Specialist – Sony Computer Entertainment of America Inc. – San Diego, CA
  20. Marketing Community Manager – Cultura Technologies Inc – Minneapolis, MN

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Want the chance to contribute to our research and content? Members of TheCR Network get exclusive professional development opportunities like this and more! Join us and let us help you grow your career as a community manager.

Friday Roundup: TheCR Connect

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

TheCR Connect

Have you ever wanted to crawl inside your computer and meet up with all the amazing community folks you know to chat about your challenges, vent your community frustrations and walk away energized and inspired by their stories?

Well now you can – sort of.

This week we announced our new workshop series – TheCR Connect, coming soon to a city near you. We’re kicking things off in Boston this Fall. To learn more visit TheCR Connect and join us this October!

Things We Are Reading This Week

The Parable of Reddit or How Traditional Business Models Fail Communities – If you work in the community or digital space, it’s been impossible not to follow the turmoil at Reddit during the last week. It is cause for a lot of anxiety in the community space because until this turmoil hit, Reddit was viewed as community success story – growing geometrically over the years. If Reddit can’t make community work, than who can?

SOCM2015_FunFact4_EngagedExecutives

State of Community Management Monday Fact #4: Executive Engagement – Getting executives engaged in community has been a challenge for community managers since the beginning of community management. For every social CEO out there, there are dozens of C-suite members who “don’t have time,” “don’t feel the need” or “don’t see the point.”

Engagement and Community Architecture – Most of us who drive cars stick to driving on roads. Why? They helps us get where we are going faster – even though the route is rarely a straight line between where we start and our destination. We could try and take a more direct route but at a minimum it would involve driving over uneven ground – at worst we would have to remove barriers like trees, houses, rocks, animals, etc. That would be slightly, um, crazy – even if there were someone that was encouraging us to do so and helping.

Announcing TheCR Connect – A Workshop for Community Managers – TheCR Connect is technically a workshop for community professionals, but our goal is to have it be much more that that. By bringing together an intimate group of community practitioners we want to facilitate conversations, share knowledge, solve problems, inspire action and provide the tools participants need to go back into their communities and create real, meaningful change.

New Social Media and Community Jobs

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Looking for a new community event to connect with peers, get hands on community training and workshop your biggest challenges? Join us for TheCR Connect – a workshop for community professionals.

Announcing TheCR Connect – A Workshop for Community Managers

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

TheCR ConnectAfter over six years of connecting community folks online we are taking this show on the road! I am thrilled to announce our latest venture – TheCR Connect! TheCR Connect is technically a workshop for community professionals, but our goal is to have it be much more that that. By bringing together an intimate group of community practitioners we want to facilitate conversations, share knowledge, solve problems, inspire action and provide the tools participants need to go back into their communities and create real, meaningful change. Basically, TheCR Connect is what our online community – both here and in TheCR Network,  would look like if we were all sitting around a big roundtable in a room together, instead of behind our computers and devices.

Our first event takes place on October 1 in our hometown – Boston, MA. You can join an intimate group of people who live and breath community for this day of inspiring speakers, actionable planning sessions, engaged networking and expert case studies – plus some fun surprises.

Participation is limited to just 50 community enthusiasts to ensure that real conversations happen, that every participant can contribute and that everyone walks away with the connections and inspiration to create real change.

If you’re not close enough to Boston to make it in for the event don’t worry – we are targeting a West Coast event in the Winter, and a Mid-West event in the Spring. Stay tuned for a full agenda in the coming weeks.

I hope we’ll see you there, and that you’ll bring your enthusiasm for community building, your passion for connecting with others and your sense of humor! To learn more visit TheCR Connect or request an invite now!

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Did you know TheCR has a facebook group? Join us to chat about current community issues, share advice and connect with other community professionals.