Connect 2023 was part community reunion, part unconference. 100% designed for you.
Connect blends expert community builders with unique networking, collaboration, and learning opportunities for every level of community leader. Participants walk away with meaningful new connections and ways to improve your community program immediately.
WHY PARTICIPATE IN CONNECT?
AGENDA
Connect is unlike any community event you've attended before (unless of course, this isn't your first Connect!)
The first day of Connect (the Community Technology Summit) focuses on online community management tools and technology, including strategies for building effective communities, maximizing your community platform, and measuring community success. If you're in the market for a new community platform you can meet with a hand-picked group of the most innovative technology and service providers in the community industry.
Even if you're not kicking the proverbial tires, you'll get ideas for extending your current platform, and learn platform-agnostic ways to leverage technology-based ideas in your community. The Community Technology Summit is open to all online community practitioners, and we cap registration at 135 participants to ensure meaningful conversations and connections.
Attendees have the opportunity to network and collaborate with their peers, exchange best practices and ideas, and get feedback from industry experts. Connect is a unique opportunity for online community professionals to learn from the best, connect with their peers, and develop the skills they need to succeed in the rapidly-evolving world of online community management.
You can review the 2022 agenda here and keep scrolling to read the full 2023 agenda.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
| 9:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM |
| 10:15 AM |
| 11:00 AM |
| 12:00 PM |
| 1:15 PM |
| 2:00 PM |
| 2:30 PM |
| 3:00 PM |
| 3:45 PM |
| 4:15 PM |
| 5:00 PM |
| 5:15 PM |
| 7:00 PM |
| Registration // Breakfast |
| Welcome Session Jim Storer, The Community Roundtable |
| Keynote: Richard Millington, Feverbee |
| Community Case Studies from Analog Devices, Inc. and PTC |
| Networking // Lunch |
| Panel: Building an Engaged Customer Ecosystem |
| Break // Networking |
| Case Studies from AARP and Jazz Pharmaceuticals |
| Break // Networking |
| Panel: Secrets of a Successful Platform Launch (or Migration) |
| Community & AI Hans Scharler & Chen Lin, MathWorks |
| Closing Remarks and Questions |
| Reception and Networking |
| Optional Partner Dinners |
Thursday, October 5, 2023
| 8:00 AM |
|
9:00 AM
|
|
9:30 AM
|
| 10:30 AM |
|
11:00 AM
|
| 12:00 PM |
|
1:00 PM
|
|
2:00 PM
|
| 2:30 PM |
| 3:00 PM |
| 3:30 PM |
| 4:30 PM |
| 5:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM |
| Breakfast and Networking |
|
Back Together! Welcome & Icebreaker Jim Storer, The Community Roundtable
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Building a Community-Led Organization Lisa Tallman, Community Food Navigator, in Conversation with Rosemary Tietge, Claris
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| Morning Break and Networking |
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Group Exercise: Practicing Resilience Sean Marlin,The Community Roundtable
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| Birds of a Feather Lunch |
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How to Win Support and Influence the Enterprise Allison Brotman & Hillary Boucher, UKG
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Connecting Offline Events to Online Community Laura Naylor, Sage Services
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| Total Community Becky Scott, JumpCloud |
| Afternoon Break and Networking |
| Workshops: Community Skills Assessment or Building a Playbook |
| Presentation of the Community Leadership Awards |
| Closing and Group Photo |
| Community Cocktail Party The Point |
Thursday, October 5, 2023
| 8:00 AM |
| 9:00 AM |
| 9:30 AM |
| 9:45 AM |
| 10:00 AM |
| 10:15 AM |
| 10:30 AM |
| 11:00 AM |
| 12:00 PM |
| 12:30 PM |
| 1:30 PM |
|
Breakfast and Networking
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Ahas and Intentions
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Growing and Developing a Community Management Team Sarah Mahon, AECOM
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Something for Everyone Programming & Content with ESRI Michelle Mathias and Jesse Cloutier, ESRI
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Knowledge Networks at Merck - Getting Leaders to Share Value Cyndy Wynne, Merck
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Dead on Arrival: Resurrecting a Failing Community Andrew Mishalove
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Morning Break and Networking
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Getting the Green Light - Build messages people say YES to Tamsen Webster
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Wrap-Up and Thank Yous
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Birds of a Feather Lunch - Technology Platforms
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| Co-Working |
SPEAKERS AND SESSION LEADERS
Community Food Navigator
Feverbee
MathWorks
MathWorks
UKG
UKG
Trish of All Trades
Social Edge Consulting
Social Edge Consulting
Jumpcloud
iTalent Digital
Khoros Communities
PTC
Verint
Analog Devices, Inc
Merck
AECOM
Claris
ESRI
Sage Services
ESRI
The Community Roundtable
More speakers coming soon!
SESSIONS
- Reimagining community and engagement
- Co-creating and co-designing with constituents
- Shifting approaches to building trust
Practicing Resilience
Return to office demands, reorganizations, shrinking budgets and shrinking teams. Even though it isn’t grabbing headlines anymore somehow the pandemic’s effects won’t go away.
We wanted to do two things with this session. One, take a moment and recognize all the resilience that this room has showed through the last three years. *pause for a moment of self congratulation* And two, focus on how we develop that skill of resilience. With that we have three exercises for us to work through today, each should help us hone in on both our inherent and learned resiliency.
How to Win Support and Influence the Enterprise
Allison Brotman & Hillary Boucher (UKG)
In 2019, “communities” was a page of groups hidden in a customer portal with one dedicated resource and low awareness and support from the organization. Three years later, UKG’s CEO chose to highlight community as one of the top things he was excited for in 2023 on the main stage at our customer conference. The team has grown by dedicated and distributed resourcing and in 2024 hundreds of employees will align their work and projects to strategic community goals.
In this session, Allison and Hillary reflect and share some of our lessons learned as they won support for community and influenced the enterprise to have a community mindset.
A Community Migration Story
Peter Broadley (CSA Group)
Last year. Peter was in the “hot seat” at Connect 2022, listening intently as Becky (Jumpcloud) and Michelle (ESRI) shared their tips and tricks for a successful community migration.
Well, he’s back to share what’s happened in the last 12 months - the good, bad, and ugly. You won’t want to miss this session if if have advice to share or are facing an upcoming launch or migration.
Connecting Offline Events to Online Community
Laura Naylor (Sage Services)
In person gatherings can be community accelerators. They can be used for recruiting new members, strengthening engagement among existing participants, demonstrating appreciation, and advancing feedback and productive outcomes.
In this session, Laura will share actual examples
from across the spectrum and discuss the strategy for why offline was considered and how it
was incorporated.
Total Community
Becky Scott (Jumpcloud)
Yesterday we heard from Rich Millington about “community everywhere” and this session is all about what works (and what doesn’t) when you deploy this in the real world.
Join this session to learn how JumpCloud uses a holistic, omnichannel approach to “community everywhere” and what that really means in practice.
Community Skills Assessment
Sean Marlin and Erin Flynn (The Community Roundtable)
The Community Skills Framework™ includes five skill families with ten skills in each family, prioritized based on what we learned from our extensive community management research.
In this interactive workshop you'll complete our Community Skills Assessment, identifying both personal strengths and the strengths of your team/resources (if applicable). Then we'll explore gaps and how to fill them.
This session is designed for anyone interested in a thoughtful approach to their career in community management, is tasked with growing or leading a team, or needs guidance on how to successfully prioritize resources.
Building a Community Playbook
Emma Nicholas and Claire O'Brien (The Community Roundtable)
A well-thought out community playbook gives the members of your community team a sense of their options in various scenarios. How do you manage standard problems? How do you hold a consistent tone with your community? How do you handle a crisis situation? These are all critical questions, and you want the answers to be the same for every member of the team.
Explore our robust community playbook template and start drafting your own playbook in this interactive workshop.
This session is designed for anyone who wants to start a community playbook or has a playbook they want to take to the next level.
Lightning Talks
Join community practitioners for this round of lightning talks. In just 15 minutes, each session will cover a different community topic, and connect you with five fantastic community peers to connect with to learn more.
Getting the Green Light - How to build messages people say YES to
No matter your role, you’re often in the business of changing behavior. Often that means you need to change beliefs first. Or do you? What if some of the age-old wisdom around driving action actually works against creating real change?
By the end of this keynote, you’ll be able to:
- Analyze your messages for the “red lights” that lead to “NO”
- Identify the three key concepts every message needs to get a “YES” (and know how to find them in your own)
- Tie those concepts to the “green lights” your brand is built on (and connect your audiences more tightly to them, too)
Part strategist, part storyteller, part English-to-English translator, Tamsen Webster helps experts drive action with their ideas. Tamsen honed her trademark Red Thread approach in and for major organizations like Johnson & Johnson, Harvard Medical School, and Intel, as well as with hundreds of individual founders, academics, and thought leaders. She's a former TEDx Executive Producer and current Idea Strategist. Most recently, Tamsen was named to the Thinkers50 Radar thinkers to watch class of 2022. She's also the author of Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible.
REGISTER
Connect 2023 registration is open to members of TheCR Network and their community teams and stakeholders. A limited number of tickets are available for non-members. Please email us if you are interested in attending or have been referred.
Registration includes all on-site activities, lunch, breaks, and networking events. Yes, there is unlimited coffee.
Registration for this event is closed. Please join our mailing list to learn about upcoming events.
FAQ
When is Connect this year?
Connect will take place on October 4-6 in Boston, MA.
What does registration include?
Registration includes all on-site activities, lunch, breaks, and networking events. Yes, there is unlimited coffee.
I work for non-profit, is there a special rate?
Yes! We offer exclusive pricing for non-profit, education, and government community leaders. Email us to learn more.
Is Connect at an accessible location?
Yes! The Convene Boston is ADA-compliant and has a dedicated hospitality team. If you have accessibility questions or requests please let us know.
Where is Connect this year?
Connect is located in downtown Boston, MA at Convene - One Boston Place.
What if I just want to go to the Community Technology Summit?
You can! Community Technology Summit registration will be available shortly.
How can I be a speaker at Connect?
The majority of our speakers are taken from our member attendees.
If you are currently a member you'll be asked to indicate your interest when you register. If you aren't a member you can join TheCR Network here.
How can I pitch Connect as a great investment to my stakeholders?
Download our Connect 2023 Justification letter and share the powerful reasons Connect is a great investment for any online community professional.
SPONSORS
Connect (and the co-located Community Technology Summit) partners with a small group of innovative technology and service providers. Space is extremely limited and we've sold out the past four years.
If you'd like to sponsor Connect and attend the Community Technology Summit please contact us ASAP.
