Episodes
-
In this episode of Masters of Community, our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, hosts a solo episode where he discusses why he is stepping down from CMX and Bevy, his future plans, and what he thinks will happen with the CMX community.
Who is this episode for? CMX community, Bevy community, community builders, community managers, community leaders, and community members.
Timestamps:
(00:48) - I'm stepping down...
(03:35) - I'll still be present in the CMX community
(05:01) - Pausing the Masters of Community podcast
(07:06) - My feelings and thoughts about CMX
(11:21) - What's next?
(14:35) - Leave me feedback about the podcast
(18:03) - Why should you take pauses in your life?
(22:44) - Thank you all for your love and support, and see you soon
Notable Quotes:
“I'm really excited for the first time in my career to take a real step back, to take a breath, to see what the universe has to offer, and just learn more about myself”
“I think that's the hope for a lot of community builders that it becomes sustainable, you build a great community, and it will live on without you needing to pour your energy into it”
“I believe that CMX is set up to continue to grow and be really successful without me. And I can still play a role, just in a different way.”
“I just think it's important to be able to take pauses in your life” -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with SJ Morris, Senior Manager, Developer Community at HubSpot. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
For the past fifteen years, SJ has been growing and nurturing developer communities at various stages of growth, like Context IO, Keen IO, Shopify, Intel, and Mailchimp. Now, she leads Hubspot's broader developer community strategies.
Today, SJ shares what she's learned from working with these brands and the differences between the different kinds of developer communities that she's built. She also talks about how to get started in a community role, DEIB in building developer communities, and the balance of community capitalism.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, developers, and developers advocates.
Timestamps:
(00:49) - Intro to SJ and her experience with developer communities
(12:31) - Building a community from the ground up versus managing an existing one
(16:55) - The difference between a developer community program and a developer advocacy program
(19:06) - Setting up a healthy developer community based on context and the company
(24:28) - How the developer community program at HubSpot stands out
(28:18) - Why the community team should be the guiding light
(35:00) - Auditing and improving a developer community program
(48:33) - Working in a community in the world of capitalism
(52:46) - Investing in DEIB in developer ecosystems
(59:03) - Rapid-fire questions
Notable Quotes:
“The first question you need to ask is: does the developer community even make sense for this company?"
“I feel like the community strategy is more about enabling developers to connect with each other, creating the spaces and clear pathways for that to happen. But, also understand what are the actions that you want to see developers taking in your community to get them more value and to bring more value back to the company.”
“When the customer is the driver of the narrative, it's very hard to plug developers into that. But I think once you find that sweet spot and start to tell stories about how developers are impacting our customer's businesses, they love that too.”
“I think community plays a big role in making things more equitable across the company because you're representing a good experience and a good journey for anyone in the community”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
The Business Value of Developer Relations by Mary Thengvall
What's a community product you wish existed?
Slack for communities.
Who in the world of the community would you most like to take to lunch?
Evan Hamilton, Director, Community and Customer Experience at Reddit
What habit has had the most positive impact on your life?
I think the habit of knowing when I'm done for maybe not the day, but at least for the hour. And just like slapping that laptop closed, stepping away, getting a break, drinking a glass of water.
What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
So, I don't know if this is weird, but the way I kind of went about it was weird. So this is like 2002. I had been in love with pugs my whole life and I never had one. So I established the Montreal pug meetup group.
What's one community engagement, tactic, or conversation starter that you like to use in your communities?
“Where are you from?”
If you could condense all of your life lessons into one Twitter-sized piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
Care less about the things that you don't need to care about as much. Care about what matters because you only live once. -
Missing episodes?
-
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Jason Hitchcock, Founder, and GP at 4 Moons. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Jason is known as a "crypto sensei" and was among the few to be early to Ethereum, Helium, CryptoPunks, and Alchemix. Today, we talk about crypto, Web 3, and DeFi, so that you can understand them, how they work, and how you might be able to get more involved.
Also, Jason shares how he built Yieldopolis, a DeFi and NFT community, and how you might be able to find a community like that for yourself.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, DeFi, crypto, and Web 3 enthusiasts.
Timestamps:
(00:48) - Intro to Jason and his experience with crypto and DeFi
(08:22) - How the Yieldopolis community can teach you about DeFi and NFT
(17:08) - Why you should be an active stakeholder to understand a community
(21:26) - What is DeFi
(26:14) - Top 3 blockchain tools and applications
(41:54) - What are the DeFi community dynamics
(44:06) - Rapid-fire questions
Notable Quotes:
“I also think one reason why Yieldopolis is successful, it has always been self-serving for me. Like, I need this to be useful for me a hundred percent. And making it useful to me, it became useful to everybody.”
“When I'm referring to DeFi and like NFT investing, I think there's just a more nuanced, practical, realistic conversation. It doesn't feel like hype.”
“I don't think you can understand communities without being a stakeholder yourself”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
All Star Superman by Grant Morrison
What's a community product you wish existed?
We need a directory of some sort that populates easily and is rich with information so that people in a chat that's growing big or a discord that's growing big can have more context on who's there.
What habit has had the most positive impact on your life?
I think just showing up for things like bringing my passion along with me on things I'm passionate about.
What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
There is a Facebook group I'm in where everyone pretends to be ants.
What's one community engagement, tactic, or conversation starter that you like to use in your communities?
Sometimes I will have a really interesting thought, and it's completely isolated on its own. And I don't know how to talk about this or even have a conversation about it. And so I will sort of say, I've noticed that people like this on Twitter or Discord, I will put my complete thought that is standalone. And then I'll tell people the thought that led to me thinking that, and then I'll ask them, like, what would you think about this?
If you could condense all of your life lessons into one Twitter sized piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
Being a snob will not benefit you. And if a lot of people are excited about something, you should check it out. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Austin Robey, the co-founder of MetaLabel and Ampled. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Austin shares what co-ops and DAOs can learn from each other and the pros and cons of co-ops and DAOs. He details the background of co-ops and their roots in civil rights and agriculture. Austin also talks about his work in going from co-ops and experiencing the challenge of fundraising for a co-op and making it financially sustainable.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, and co-ops and DAOs enthusiasts.
Timestamps:
(00:49) - Intro to Austin and his experience with FWB
(08:55) - What is a cooperative and how you can start one
(19:30) - 5 examples of successful co-ops
(22:26) - When co-ops meet DAOs
(31:49) - Solving co-ops problems from a DAO perspective
(38:28) - What are some effective DAO models?
(41:09) - Understanding the role of community managers in DAOs
(43:49) - Setting up a practical co-op or DAO strategy
(47:56) - Rapid-fire questions
Notable Quotes:
“I think a cooperative model is flexible, but it's also very simple. One of the key defining characteristics of a cooperative is one member, one vote.”
“At a core level, the reason for starting a cooperative is different from a traditional company.”
“Ownership drives the interest, and interest of an investor who owns a startup is very different from a community using a product or service. And ownership is what drives incentives, which drives behaviors.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
Ours to Hack and to Own by Trebor Scholz
What's a community product you wish existed?
Tools like the Mirror and XSplit
What habit has had the most positive impact on your personal life?
I adopted a dog, which I like and there are many habits associated with it.
What's one community engagement, tactic, or conversation starter that you like to use in your communities?
What I did with Ampled was to give everyone my phone number and tell them to call whenever they want.
If you could condense all of your life lessons into one Twitter sized piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
Having the guts to do cool stuff results in cool stuff happening. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Hope Wollensack, Executive Director of Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
In addition to her role at Georgia Resilience and Opportunity fund, Hope leads a program called In Her Hands, which aims to help black women rise out of poverty and empower them in personal and professional decision-making. She describes how her team developed the program, its purpose, and its impact on the community it serves. We also dive into building more diverse, inclusive, and equitable communities.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, community facilitators, and black women communities
Timestamps:
(00:48) - About Hope and her community building experience
(07:18) - In Her Hands: helping black women thrive and grow supportive communities
(13:49) - How to identify the right solution for your community
(19:37) - How to determine the success of a community program
(24:13) - Start defining and developing your program
(31:31) - Making a community more inclusive
(38:16) - How to set up and manage the task force
(47:10) - Next steps, plans, and goals
(48:56) - Rapid-fire questions
Notable Quotes:
“What are the root causes of economic insecurities, and what can we do about them?”
“So many times, decision-makers are the ones farthest from the problem. What if the ones closest to the problem would become the decision-makers?”
“When people have additional cash, they can explore saving and investing tools, homeownership, and job opportunities much better. So we view cash as the ultimate choice mechanism.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks
What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
Flashmob dancing crew
What did education teach you about community?
The process is just as important as the outcome. There is no problem that we collectively can’t solve.
What's a community product you wish existed?
A tool that would enable people to talk about what’s happening in their community.
What habit has had the most positive impact on your personal life?
Adaptability
What's one community engagement, tactic, or conversation starter that you like to use in your groups?
“What is the meaning behind your name?”
If you could condense all of your life lessons into one Twitter sized piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
What we can do is done if we’re committed to doing the work it requires. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Douglas Ferguson, President at Voltage Control, a change agency that helps enterprises sustain innovation and teams work better together with custom-designed meetings and workshops, both in-person and virtual. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
They discuss the structure and various kinds of meetings, how to facilitate effective meetings, and what people are doing wrong when they run them. This will be useful for those who manage people or run meetings within a company or community.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, community facilitators
Timestamps:
(03:04) - Douglas' intro
(07:02) - What is a meeting?
(10:39) - How to build a practical meeting artifact
(19:40) - Start reviewing your calendar and prioritizing meetings
(25:49) - How to drive collaboration across different teams
(33:37) - How to effectively run various facilitated meetings
(43:20) - Why should every meeting begin with a clear purpose?
(54:50) - Rapid-fire questions
Notable Quotes:
“A meeting can be when we're gathering to accomplish something or solve a problem”
“Do not be a slave to your calendar. You are a sentient human being, and you should be the boss of your calendar.”
“You need to have a solid vision and purpose of why there should be a community and how people are going to benefit from it. And so meetings are no different.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
A More Beautiful Question
2. What's the most obscure group you've ever facilitated a workshop for?
Noise rock
3. Should people be on or off mute in their meetings on Zoom?
We need a culture for people to feel vulnerable and have psychological safety to unmute and speak at any time. And a facilitator should have the freedom to mute everyone and not have anyone get upset or feel uncomfortable.
4. What habit has had the most positive impact on your personal life?
Consistency
5. What's one community engagement, tactic, or conversation starter that you like to use in your groups?
Asking people to tell stories about stuff that resonate with them from a place of appreciation.
If you could condense all of your life lessons into one Twitter sized piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
Stay curious -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, Author of Decide & Conquer, and Host of the Keep Connected podcast. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
They discuss the best practices and values for CEO and community leaders in decision-making.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, and CEOs.
Timestamps:
(05:43) - David's intro and his current role at Meetup
(09:27) - The Meetup experience
(17:57) - Changing the game
(26:00) - Decide and Conquer book
(36:00) - What is a decision framework
(45:12) - Going with an imperfect plan over a perfect plan
(49:31) - Building trust when entering a new company
(54:15) - Empowering versus micromanaging people
(58:01) - The future of Meetup
(01:00:05) - Rapid-fire question round
Notable Quotes:
“I happen to have grown up with an extremely strong sense of community”
“Building a community is about building a quality experience”
“And I consider one of my most important jobs as a community leader is to be as transparent as possible so that other people around me are not surprised”
“Trying to fit a narrative into principles is much less interesting than creating the principles after you already know what's meaningful and less meaningful”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. What's your favorite book to gift or recommend to others?
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
2. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed today, and you had to condense all of your life lessons into one piece of advice to the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
Find joy in your day-to-day life as that joy can help set you off for longer-term success.
3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be?
Sardines
4. Who in the world of community would you like to take out for lunch?
Angela Duckworth, author of GRIT
5. What is the most important metric that you look at when looking at the health of a meetup?
The number of connections that we create between people.
6. What's the weirdest Meetup group?
Hugging groups
7. What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
Fantasy baseball -
In this episode of Masters of Community, our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, hosts a solo episode where he talks about how he got fired from his first community job.
David admits that it was one of the lowest points of his career and life. He was discouraged, and it took him some time to get back on his feet. Having dealt with these moments, he now shares what he learned from them and how it might help others deal with the hardships of getting fired.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, community leaders, community members, employees, and employers.
Key takeaways:
(00:49) - Overview about today's episode
(02:59) - The context of how David got fired
(06:52) - Shifting towards community and Zaarly
(12:45) - Facing challenges and problems
(21:00) - Getting fired
(23:34) - The lowest point of the career
(28:00) - Help and hope: meeting Thomas Knoll
(29:56) - Starting a new job
(31:45) - Getting over being fired
(38:56) - David's lessons and bits of advice
Notable Quotes:
1. “I think there's a lot of stigma around getting fired”
2. “If you are drowning, if you are overwhelmed, if you're not in a healthy place, it becomes hard, if not impossible, to support other people, to take care of them, and to see what they need”
3. “I started burning out, feeling depressed, I had no idea what to do, I couldn't perform, and I couldn't get results”
4. “If you are in a position of leadership, when you think someone did a great job, tell them cause you never know how it could impact their life”
5. “If you're depressed at work, take a step back, gain perspective, pause, take a breath, take space, take time off, take care of yourself so that you can take care of others, turn to communities” -
In this episode, we're joined by Kevin Huynh, cofounder and partner at People & Company and coauthor of "Get Together." Kevin shares insights on three core questions you need to ask before starting a community, the responsibility of community builders to take a stand against racial injustice, and how to be successful as a community consultant working with incredible brands like Nike and Porsche.
-
Today's guest is Marjorie Anderson. She's the manager of digital communities at Project Management Institute and is also the founder of Community by Association. In this conversation, we talk about how PMI approaches its programming to serve its million-plus community of project management professionals. Marjorie also dives into their virtual events, which they've been running since 2014, and shares insights into how community teams can make sure their work is driving measurable impact.
-
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Cadran Cowansage, CEO and Founder of Elpha. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Cadran was an engineering lead at Y Combinator, where she started a community for female employees. Eventually, they opened it up to other entrepreneurs and created Elpha, a community of over 60,000 women who work in tech. Cadran shares the entire story of how she built the Elpha community and why she thinks it's important to create your own platform as a community builder.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, women in tech, women entrepreneurs.
Three key takeaways:
1. From engineering to a community builder: Cadran worked as a software engineer in various organizations. She started learning about community building at Y Combination, which eventually led to building the Elpha community. Elpha is a professional network focused on helping women succeed at work. To manage it, Cadran built its software from scratch.
2. Built by women for women: Building a community for women requires creating a safe, welcoming, and well-moderated space where women can speak openly. Thus, a great focus of the Elpha community is anonymity, effective moderation, and facilitating engagement. The community offers various office hours with featured guests, long-form editorial articles, monthly lives on Zoom where members can meet, and other types of events.
3. Elpha's monetization strategy: Cardan started working on revenue-generating early after they spun out. They monetized their creation of a high-quality and valuable service for their community members. Through this service, members get a talent profile on the Elpha platform, where companies can find and contact candidates about jobs. When building a community, think about monetizing it early.
Notable Quotes:
1. “I'm introverted, so I never thought of myself as a community builder”
2. “You evolve with the community and learn how to manage it as you go”
3. “I believe that software built by women for women will inherently be different. You have all sorts of biases and opinions, like going into software subtly without even realizing it.”
4. “Make sure that you're happy and fulfilled building your community”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. What's the book that had the biggest impact on your life? What's your favorite book to gift to others? And what book are you reading right now?
The Parable Books by Octavia Butler
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
2. Who in the world of community would you most like to take out for lunch or interview on your podcast?
Lenny Rachitsky
3. What makes Elpha weird?
It’s our members that are unique and they say so many different and interesting things.
4. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be?
Japanese sweet potatoes -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst and Founding Partner of Kaleido Insights. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Jeremiah is an advisor to many different companies and web-sharing communities. He has been analyzing the community space and understands how businesses invest in communities. Jeremiah previously worked at Forester as an analyst of the community industry. He then got involved in the collaborative consumption movement and now works closely with Web 3.0 communities and platforms.
The purpose of this interview was to give a clear understanding of what it means for a community to invest in web three blockchain and crypto.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, entrepreneurs, digital leaders, blockchain, and crypto enthusiasts.
Three key takeaways:
1. What is Web 3.0: Web 3.0 companies are decentralized autonomous organizations that have communities at their core and work on blockchain and token-based economies. Web 3.0 comes with the premise that users will own their identities, data, and equity. It creates opportunities to gain ownership through contribution and content.
2. Web 3.0 ups and downs for communities: Web 3.0 turns communities into economies. Tokenization requires complex legal, administrative, technological, and process changes. Not all organizations or platforms are ready for this to be mainstream. It also puts the social motivations within a community at risk. In terms of advantages, the community members get digital asset rewards like tokens and NFTs. They also have access to premium community experiences and activities.
3. Launching a community token: Bringing a personalized token into a community starts by defining the goals you have with your community members. Once set up, you can create and distribute it into the community. The mass majority of the tokens should be for community members. But they have to hold them and support the community.
Notable Quotes:
1. “When there's a new technology, I love to run towards it, especially if it helps organizations connect to their customers and community leaders connect to their community members”
2. “Web 3.0 comes to the promise that the Internet should be owned by the participants, by the community members“
“I'm very sure that once you tokenize, the relationship between the community members changes, and the relationship with you as the community leader changes”
3. “Reward your amazing folks who have been here with you, let people engage by earning, and three, you could sell on the open market”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. How do you define community?
A group of people with a common cause.
2. What’s a food that makes you think of home?
Mom’s spaghetti.
3. What book had an impact on your life?
The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine: https://amzn.to/3twTWV0
4. What's one piece of advice you have for new community builders?
It’s not about you, it’s about serving them.
5. What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
Second Life Community.
6. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed today, and you had to condense all of your life lessons into one piece of advice for the rest of the world, what would that advice be?
Find a purpose.
7. Who in the world of community would you most like to take out for lunch or interview on your podcast and your context?
Mark Zuckerberg. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Andrew Warner, the founder, and CEO of Mixergy. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Mixergy is a platform where the ambitious learn from a mix of experienced mentors through interviews and courses. Andrew invites well-known startup founders to teach others how they built their companies. He has interviewed over 2,000 of the world’s best entrepreneurs, including the founders of Wikipedia, Sun, Groupon, LivingSocial, and LinkedIn.
Andrew is also the author of the book “Stop Asking Questions: How to Lead High-Impact Interviews and Learn Anything from Anyone,” where he shares bits of advice on how to lead meaningful conversations with people you admire.
Who is this episode for? Podcasters, interviewers, community builders, community managers, entrepreneurs, and mentors.
Three key takeaways:
1. Driving meaningful conversations: Andrew started Mixergy to help ambitious people who love business learn from a mix of experienced mentors. He interviews entrepreneurs to tell their stories and share their lessons. Andrew focuses on meaningful conversations for his audience from which people can learn how to be better and more successful
2. Sharing knowledge more openly: Talking with people and opening up the conversation requires a set of techniques. Firstly, be open, honest, and vulnerable with people. Secondly, join the resistance by aligning with them. Thirdly, give people a higher purpose or share your goal upfront. Fourthly, look for shove facts, bring them up, and talk about them
3. Stop asking questions: Andrew wrote the book "Stop Asking Questions: How to Lead High-Impact Interviews and Learn Anything from Anyone," with the intent to help people effectively lead a conversation with another person. We think that discussions and interviews are great when we ask many questions. But it can become tiring and disrespectful towards the other person. Start by addressing guiding statements instead of questions.
Notable Quotes:
1. “I never saw myself as a podcaster for life. It was more like I enjoyed these conversations.”
2. “I started the podcast because I'd failed with this one software company, and I didn't want to fail again. And I want to learn from the best.”
3. “I think the podcasting and conversations, in general, are more interesting when the person in the conversation has a deep need and curiosity for something that's when it goes to somewhere meaningful.”
4. “If we see people as emotional creatures with egos, needs, bruises, and successes, and they want to talk, even though logically it makes no sense to talk to clear things out, but if we understand that's still true, we have better conversations.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be?
Pizza
2. What books had an impact on your life?
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie - https://amzn.to/3F6r5sN
The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie - https://amzn.to/3f50zFV
3. What’s the most memorable founder you ever interviewed?
Emmett Shear, the CEO of Twitch - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmettshear
4. What's your favorite conversation starter or interview question that you'd like to use?
I really look for the personal questions. So when did you lose your virginity? When I do my interviews, I ask people what their revenue is at the beginning. When I had a kid, I would ask the fathers, are you still sleeping with your wife?
5. What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
The Ananda community
6. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed today, and you had to condense all of your life lessons into one piece of advice for the rest of the world, what would that advice be?
Suffer for what matters.
7. Who in the world of community would you most like to take out for lunch or interview on your podcast and your context?
Nick ONeal, Freelance Cryptocurrency Consultant, and Marketer/CM - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-oneal -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Wes Kao, Co-founder of Maven and Mentor at Backstage Capital. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
Before Maven, Wes co-founded altMBA alongside bestselling author Seth Godin. By founding Maven, she wanted to democratize education by improving the online experience for instructors and students. Wes is a thought leader in building cohort-based courses and frequently writes on her blog about marketing, online courses, and rigorous thinking. She unfolds the concept of cohort-based courses and ways of building and managing them effectively.
Who is this episode for? Community builders, community managers, and course instructors
Three key takeaways:
1. Understanding cohort based courses: Maven is the first platform for cohort-based courses, which are courses that take place during a period with a group of other people. As community organizers, make sure you find the right balance in teaching your students. Create an environment of making sure that your students contribute to the community, support each other, and learn from one another.
2. Building cohort based courses: Firstly, market the course upfront. Secondly, design your curriculum and establish the frameworks, exercises, breakouts, and discussions. Thirdly, find the right instructors. Finally, think about your sales and marketing funnel.
3. Forming communities within cohort based courses: Lean into debatable topics where your students have a chance to share their thoughts and learn from each other. Empower community members to connect without you jumping in all the time to answer. Create a culture where the students feel comfortable giving direct and genuine feedback.
Notable Quotes:
1. “Cohort based courses are more engaging and active in learning versus passive content consumption”
2. “With the cohort based course, once you realize that you don't have to do it all yourself, that's where the sky parts and new opportunities open up”
3. “Course based courses allow students to connect without you as an instructor needing to be the center of that. Acknowledging that letting go of the reins results in better outcomes, more connections, deeper bonds, and relationships amongst yours.”
4. “So I think one of the most exciting things about cohort-based courses is that there's the flexibility for you to make it what you want it to be”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be?
Zucchini
2. What's your favorite book to give as a gift or recommend to others?
It's Not Personal by Alice Katz
3. What is your favorite course that you've ever been a part of?
Alive OS by Suzy Batiz
4. Who in the world of community would you most like to take out?
Mister Rogers
5. What's the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
A plant shaming group on Facebook
6. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed today, and you had to condense all of your life lessons into one piece of advice for the rest of the world, what would that advice be?
Worry less -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Shelly Omílàdé Bell, Founder and CEO of Black Girl Ventures, a social enterprise dedicated to creating access to capital for black and brown women entrepreneurs. Shelly is a serial entrepreneur and computer scientist with a background in performance poetry, K-12 Education, and IP strategy. She was named one of the Top 100 Powerful Women in Business by Entrepreneur Mag, Entrepreneur of the Year by Technically DC, and acknowledged as A Rising Brand Star by Adweek.
Shelly is a system disruptor and business strategist who moves ideas to profit while empowering people to live more authentically. As a cultural translator, she connects entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations to diversify their talent pipeline, increase equity and grow their brands. Shelly shares tips on creating access and social capital for people, creating a real sense of community, and scaling the community.
Who is this episode for? Community leaders, business women, investors, business strategists
Three key takeaways:
1. Sustainably growing and engaging a community: Building the community comes from identifying a need and offering a solution. Engaging the community is about communing with people. Sustaining the community focuses on adopting a business model.
2. Driving value for your community: There are direct and indirect revenue drivers because revenue comes from relationships. The indirect way of driving revenue is building trust, affinity, and belonging, and they will bring valuable revenue to your community.
3. Building social capital: Social capital is the strength of your network, which can be people with helpful resources, knowledge, and access to capital. Building positive social capital relationships requires a community leader to take on the role of a gatekeeper to share and protect the people's interests.
Notable Quotes:
1. “Safe space means safe people. And the more safe people that are surrounding in a community, the safer it can be that comes from core values.”
2. “A community can be a great gathering of people unless you have all agreed that there's a problem that needs to be solved, or you are showcasing it as a problem that needs to be solved that this community coming together can solve.”
3. “The money is the water for the seed. It's just a tool. So you have to wrap your head around the difference between humility that takes you out of driving the necessary sustainability measures.”
4. “You may be building a community of people that you serve. But you also need to understand how to build a community of people who can serve you.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Mexican corn
2. What is your favorite book to give as a gift to others?
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
3. What's a company in your community that you're really excited about right now?
Agua Bonita
4. What is a go-to community engagement tactic, or conversation starter, that you like to use in your communities?
What do you care about?
5. Who in the world of the community would you most like to take for lunch?
Seth Godin
6. What is a community product you wish existed?
I wish there were a product that was an easy way to create a video, like a Wiki video library of learning
7. What is the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
The poetry community
8. What's one thing you learned from the leading community and the world of poetry that you still apply to your community-building today?
How to move and motivate people, and put the systems in place simply.
9. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed, and you had to condense all of your life lessons into one tweet-sized piece of advice for the rest of the world for how to live, what would that advice be?
Be all that you are as soon as possible. -
In this episode, David Spinks, the VP of Community at Bevy and the Co-Founder of CMX, joins the Seed Club DAO Podcast. They discuss consumer empowerment and how the role of a community has evolved as consumers have grown in power.
Later, they dive into the specifics of community building, the infrastructure required to deliver a sense of belonging over the long-term, and how to effectively onboard new members into a community.
Who is this episode for? Community managers and business executives
Three key takeaways:
1. Interconnecting business and community: The community becomes the core of a company. David points to this idea by revealing the historical context of how business has been evolving. Recently, with the advent of the internet and our ability to review products and talk about them, companies have started to care about customer service more and more. Besides, it's efficient and practical to let the community own and build a business.
2. Building better and more resilient communities: Building a community requires constant work and engagement. First, you need to think about how you'll attract people in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Secondly, continue working to build that engagement and facilitate and bring that energy into the community.
3. The core roles and responsibilities for building a community: If you want to put a community team together, you need a higher specialization of roles. There are community moderators that engage and respond to people. But it's also crucial to have a strategic leader who has a seat at the table at the highest level of the company.
The team itself will usually be a combination of community engagement managers. They will focus on facilitating engagement, driving growth, and experimenting with different formats. There also must be community operations, which measure the data and analytics. Eventually, more roles will appear, and people within the community will specialize in them.
Notable Quotes:
1. “And now in web three, what I see now is the ultimate culmination of this trend towards community-driven business, which is like the community is owning, creating, and building the business”
2. “Web three can bring to the concept of community-driven business, create a more equitable ecosystem, and give the people creating value and the opportunity to capture that value as well”
3. “I think that community-building work is one of the most important jobs in the world” -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Joy Dettorre, Global Leader for Diversity and Inclusion, and Stephanie Galera, Global Diversity and Inclusion Leader, at IBM. Our host, David Spinks, the VP of Community at Bevy and the Co-Founder of CMX, moderates the conversation.
The business resource group program plays a central part in successfully managing IBM's 250+ employee groups across fifty countries that touch approximately 50,000 employees. Joy and Stephanie will reveal how BRGs create a space for diverse, inclusive, equitable purpose-driven workplaces, like IBM’s eight communities, and why businesses need to invest in ERGs and BRGs.
Who is this episode for? HR specialists, company leaders, and executive managers.
Three key takeaways:
1. Unfolding the business resource group program at IBM: IBM focuses on delivering employee-centric programs and initiatives by creating communities of like-minded people and offering a space for diverse, inclusive, equitable purpose-driven workplaces.
HR at IBM manages the BRG program, which focuses on intersectionality and allyship. BRG serves as a platform for employees who want to launch a program or campaign for these different communities. From a strategy standpoint, HR provides the structure or template that BRGs can be successful.
IBM has three global communities: the LGBT+ community, The Women's community, and the People With Diverse Abilities community. In the United States, there are five other communities: the Black community, the Hispanic community, the Indigenous community, the Pan-Asian Community, and the Veterans community.
2. Why does IBM invest in ERGs and BRGs?: The business resource groups enable values like compassion, kindness, justice, dignity, and unity. They also create a sense of belonging and inclusion for the employees. The second part of that equation is about organization trust, companionship, and offering employees the opportunity to do something good.
3. Measuring the success of the employee resource groups: There are two ways IBM measures the success of an employee resource group. One is the annual employee engagement survey. IBM also experiments with something called "mini-pulse surveys," which are topical and spontaneous. They are anonymous and include a small number of questions.
When measuring the employee engagement data, HR looks at two metrics: engagement and inclusion. They also break down these metrics by community. HR identifies challenges, sentiments, and the needs of the community. Furthermore, they look at the societal impact. All of the measurements influence bigger goals, like attention, retention, engagement, and representation.
Notable Quotes:
1. “By nature and by blood, you're probably part of a community. But if I want to do something more, a BRG becomes the vehicle that I would use to create more impact, recognized and funded by the corporation.” - Stephanie Galera
2. “We all have one client that we serve. That's the IBM employee. That's why we exist. We need to create environments where these employees can feel safe, included, valued, appreciated, and an environment where they can thrive.” - Joy Dettorre
3. “These business resource groups create a sense of belonging and community, organizing employees around a common cause of driving passion.” - Joy Dettorre
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be?
Joy: Pasta and meatballs.
Stephanie: Mushroom omelet.
2. What's your go-to community engagement tactic or conversation starter?
Joy: If someone comes to me for help, I ask, "how can I help you?" But if I need help from somebody else, I tend to say, "will you help me?"
Stephanie: The trip that my spouse and I had in the US, which talks about the benefits of actually joining a BRG meeting
3. If you could distill all of your experience as community builders and as community professionals into one bite-sized piece of advice for other community professionals, what would that advice be?
Joy: Can we all commit to leaving every conversation and every interaction a little bit better than we found it, just based on how we behave.
Stephanie: When you're in doubt about anything that you'd like to do, ask yourself, what's the worst that can happen. And most of the time, you'll find that things can be manageable.
4. What does the organizational structure of the groups look like? Are there any leads, and are they compensated for their work?
There is absolutely a governance around our business resource groups. They constantly evolve and get better. But one thing in that governance model is an executive sponsor. There are also co-chairs, which are volunteer positions. They receive blue points, with which they can go into IBM's internal shopping store and purchase something. There are also some financial gifts and digital thank you cards. The company writes blogs to recognize their effort, and leaders make personal calls to them and offer specialty digital badges they can post on LinkedIn.
5. Do people need to fill out some form to specify how they contributed, or do you have it automated somehow?
In terms of recognition, we do have a 360 feedback that's called a checkpoint where people can put in their goal, and it’s visible to their managers so that if they achieve that goal, that becomes part of their appraisal for the year. Volunteers at IBM can also convert spent hours into grants.
6. Do BRG leaders have weekly or monthly hours carved out for the work honored within management rather than a volunteer expectation on top of their job?
We know that some managers carve out a portion of some person's time to do this, especially if it's for a business unit or geographic location. Sometimes we ask managers to carve out time for this person as a leadership development activity. And other times, they balance it as a work of passion.
7. Is there a step-by-step playbook to help us launch an ERG?
We have a playbook that we're writing, but I don't know if it will be available outside IBM.
8. When an organization is committed to DEI, there will be several instances where you have to engage in uncomfortable conversations around discrimination and unconscious biases. How do you start and manage those conversations successfully?
It's about creating a culture across the entire ecosystem where allyship, diversity, equity, and inclusion are a part of all of those processes. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Wesley Faulkner, Head of Community at SingleStore, and PJ Hagerty, Head of Developer Relations at Mattermost, and Founder/Chief Community Officer of DevRelate.io. Wesley and PJ are also Co-hosts of Community Pulse. Our host, David Spinks, VP of Community at Bevy and the Co-Founder of CMX, moderated the conversation.
David talks with Wesley and PJ about developer relations, developer evangelism, developer engagement, developer community, and the developer relations role of connecting, serving, and supporting developer ecosystems. They also uncover the differences between those terms and how the role of developer relations has evolved.
Who is this episode for? Developers, heads of developer relations, software community managers, and developer evangelists.
Three key takeaways:
1. Defining developer relations: Developer relations is a term that describes the specialists or teams whose responsibilities include building and developing both online and offline communities. There are many names for developer relations, like developer advocacy, developer community, developer marketing, or developer evangelist.
2. Building developer communities: Companies need to have developer relation teams to provide support and growth to their members. There should be a few dev advocates who can go out and speak to different communities. It's crucial to balance everything and have efficient communication within the community to meet people's needs. The team members need to focus on various aspects of the community. But, the end goal is to incorporate all of those people together as one team.
The mission of a Dev Rel is building, understanding, and engaging, and bringing that back into the business to guide the roadmap to get more buy-in and trust.
3. Engaging developers within communities: There is much demand for developers' attention. Many companies offer attention-seeking content for developers, trying to bring them into their communities. Meanwhile, developers are looking for ways to engage with like-minded people and become a part of a supportive community.
Dev rels working in the industry know how to communicate, engage, and understand what developers want. Thus, they can satisfy their needs and adapt their form of communication, either by writing blog posts, creating podcasts, workshops, or whatever developers like.
Notable Quotes:
1. “Every company now should have a dev rel team. They should have advocates or evangelists helping to talk to people who work in technology.” 𑁋 PJ
2. “Keep everything in balance, meaning that there's adequate communication to the community of developers. And the developers, once they feel heard, they produce a response back to the company. And then, if it's healthy, the company responds healthily back to the community.” 𑁋 Wesley
3. “A Dev Rel's job is not just to be a catalyst or the community's voice. But also a member of the external communities you wish to interact with. And the more you do that, the more you participate, the more you go out to the community, the more you're going to create value that you can then bring back internally.” 𑁋 PJ
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. What's your favorite book to give as a gift to others or to recommend to others?
PJ: "The Business Value of Developer Relations: How and Why Technical Communities Are Key To Your Success" by Mary Thengvall
Wesley: "Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity" by Kim Scott
2. What's one guest you had on your podcast that made you change your mind about something, and what did they make you change your mind about?
PJ: Elizabeth Kinsey, Community Manager at Slack. She came in and showed me the value of developer marketing. She showed me that caring about developers and marketing to developers, developing that messaging, and understanding how to talk to developers is important. So, in reality, it's not that we should be working with different means towards the same end. It's that we should be working hand in hand to understand how better to communicate with communities.
Wesley: Bear Douglas, Director of Developer Relations at Slack. Her perspective on metrics was very enlightening to me.
3. Wesley, you’ve said that “Community shapes us.” To what extent do you feel that we are shaped by our communities versus being ones that shaped the communities around us?
So, it's a weird feedback loop where sometimes, we bring the cells that we think will be accepted, and so that shows what the community should be and how we are trying to present it to them. And then vice versa, the community reacts to what we present, and then we get a feedback cycle based on what they think they should be doing, and then we acceptably react to that.
4. PJ, you’ve said that “Community doesn't come to you. You have to go to the community”. What tips do you have for applying this advice and taking action?
I think that it's kind of right there in the answer, go to where they are. If your community primarily communicates on IRC, join the IRC channel. If you have a heavy influence in the Midwest, go to all the Midwest conferences, meetups, and events, find out where they are. Go and talk to these people. And I'm not just talking about going to where the community is, but also bringing yourself to the level of the community.
5. What's a go-to community engagement or conversation starter that you like to use in your communities?
PJ: Hey, what brought you here?
Wesley: What do you think about this? What do you think about this conversation? What do you think of the people here?
6. What is the weirdest community you've ever been a part of?
PJ: Jelle's Marble League
Wesley: Engineering fraternity in college
7. If you were to find yourself on your deathbed today, and you had to condense all of the life lessons that you've collected into one Twitter-sized piece of advice for the rest of the world on how to live, what would that advice be?
PJ: Everybody's a human. So try to be kind to each other, and do your best.
Wesley: You are the best version of yourself. Stick with that. And if you look at yourself and you feel that you could be better, do better. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with Jacques Martiquet, International Party Scientist and Social Bonding Specialist, who designs custom well-being and belonging experiences for workplaces. He aims to create a high-performance culture founded on authentic human connection, psychological safety, and conscious celebration. Jacques focuses on creating social experiences that connect people, are highly memorable, and create “peak moments”.
In this interview, Jacques and I geek out over social science and social design for over an hour. He walks us through his process of what it takes to create really compelling events and experiences. This interview is full of practical, actionable tips that you'll be able to apply to your community, whether you're hosting events or just trying to improve the onboarding process for your forums.
Who is this episode for? Community managers who want to take inspiration from social bonding science and try new exercises to add joy to their community events.
Three key takeaways:
1. Why should your community dance, sing, and laugh?: Communities often lack playful connection because they are focused on professional behavior. Dancing, singing, and laughter are hardwired into us to promote social ties. When we truly get creative, we ignite social bonding behaviors that help us build ties in our community. Intrinsic motivation within the community comes from how enjoyable the task is.
2. How to promote deep connections in your community?: Start by helping your members transition from the state of their previous event into the state of your event. To compensate for the loss of natural signals of human connection, shut off the camera or have a regular group phone call so that members can focus on the tonality of the speaker’s voice. This will lead to members being more present and building deeper connections. Humans are also wired to build connections through touch, but it may be difficult to engage in touching behaviors that are appropriate in professional settings.
3. Framework for Creating Events That Foster Deep Connection: The experience begins before the experience. The invitation, the context, the intention, and the shared purpose are incredibly important when designing a gathering. Jacques shares a checklist with participants and facilitators before the event begins, so they don’t enter the actual event with uncertainty. He also uses a few other simple-yet-powerful trust-building and mood-boosting exercises to help participants relax.
Notable Quotes:
1. “The distance between two humans is a laugh or a dance move or a sing-along what I've found in leading hundreds of experiences”
2. “Formality and professionalism are oftentimes the opposite of authenticity. When we're taking ourselves less seriously, that's when we truly get creative and that's when we build social ties.”
3. “We need to see joy as a productivity hack and something that is so important for our performance within organizations”
4. “Everyone is an infinite source of positive joy and energy. We see ourselves as limitless sources of joy and positive energy.”
5. “Liminal spaces prepare people. They enable people to let go of their responsibilities, their thoughts, their stresses so that they can be fully present in the experience.”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be? Mackerel Fish.
2. What's the best party you've ever been to? The roaming citywide decentralized dance party, which also introduced Jacques to Bitcoin back in 2016.
3. What's the most impactful book you've ever read or a book that you love to give as a gift to others? “Conflict = Energy” by Jason Digges, an introductory book on authentic relating to overhaul how you view human connection and how you connect with others.
4. What's your morning routine? Jacques wakes up and imagines that he has been revived from the grave. Then he goes outside and looks at the sun, does some stretches, and some inversion. His last step is a loving-kindness meditation where he will bless someone or wish someone well in his life.
5. What's a go-to engagement tactic or conversation starter you like to use in your communities? Get people moving and categorizing it as movement and not dancing
6. What's the best way to end the party? Jacques encourages his participants to come forth with recognitions for others, something they're grateful for, or something that is inspiring them.
7. What's the community or event, product, or piece of technology that you wish existed? A device, basically a plugin to Spotify that enables you to choose songs that are just like universally applicable for different moods and different contexts.
8. What is the weirdest community you've ever been to? The silent meditation retreat community called Vipassana. It's interesting because the community forms in silence with no eye contact, it's purely shared suffering.
9. Tweet-sized deathbed advice? Your quality of life is predicted by the quality of your human connections. So train your human connection skills. -
In this episode of Masters of Community, we speak with two people at the forefront of Web 3.0 communities. Tiffany Zhong, Founder of Islands and the upcoming GM Academy community that will introduce you to all things Web 3.0. Cooper Turley, Advisor at Audius and Founder of the “Friends With Benefits” community.
This episode is full of beginner information that will help you conceptually transition from Web 2.0 communities to Web 3.0 communities. Guests Tiffany and Cooper talk about the unique characteristics of Web 3.0 communities, examples of well-managed Web 3.0 communities, and how to navigate some of the biggest challenges while building Web 3.0 communities.
Who is this episode for? Community managers interested in building Web 3.0 communities of their own.
Three key takeaways:
1. Web 2.0 Communities vs Web 3.0 Communities: In Web 3.0, you're trying to share value with those who create it in the form of tokens and ownership. In Web 2.0, shared purpose and ownership were never thought of because the decision-making structure was fully centralized. Communities around each of NFT, DAOs, and DeFi have different expectations. Their requirements may also change depending on their growth stage. In Web 3.0, the creator community is incomplete without a community economy. Web 3.0 is taking that promise of web 2.0 building something together, and actually putting an infrastructure behind it.
2. Exemplary Web 3.0 Communities: Cooper’s “Friends with Benefits” community is a token-gated community where you need to hold tokens to join a social club that talks about the intersection of culture and technology. For example, Bored Ape Yacht club is focused on real-life activations of digital NFTs, airdrops, etc. The goal of Web 3.0 communities like these is to find ways to give their income back to the community through different projects serving the collective purpose of the community.
3. Preventing Web 3.0 communities from becoming “early-adopter cliques”: Rather than only offering all-in access to everything in that community, you can start to fragment different sections of it and lower the barriers. NFTs will start to become membership tokens, and people will be able to buy in for small time intervals to see if it's a good fit for them and upgrade to a higher tier if required. Access can also be given by granting tokens in exchange for volunteer work instead of direct investment.
Notable Quotes:
1. “What Web two brands would say, cool, this is now our revenue or creators would say, cool, this is now my profit. I'm going to go buy a Lambo. Is that right? It's not, how do I share the Lambo with the entire company? That's the shift”
“Start using discord. Discord is where most of these communities live. And I think it's a very foreign platform to most people. But if you're looking to get involved with Web 3.0, you need to learn how to navigate.”
2. “Start spending even just ten minutes a day in this space. You don't need to start dedicating your whole workday or week to going forward if you don't have the time, but just doing incremental”
3. “Just go in with an open mindset, but also with no ego and just ask questions. There are no dumb questions. The interesting thing. And the cool thing is that everyone's learning”
Answers to rapid-fire questions:
1. How do you see consulting work to help create and build community at the start of a DeFi or similar project? If you are a consultant, I think the best that you can do is provide context on what's already happened.
2. What are the absolute critical priorities to think about when setting up a new community management function? Take charge of project management and keep track of what does what and how they are contributing to the community.
3. What role do you think offline will have in Web 3.0? Offline is where you celebrate community and where you strengthen relationships but online is where it really lives and where the function of it happens on a day.
4. Can't you build a community that is open, transparent, governed, and owned by the community with a stewardship and ownership model like the co-op model in Web 2.0? The notion of holding an asset that's able to increase or decrease in value relative to the growth of that community is really magical. It also gives people the option to either play long-term games or have instant liquidity based on where they are in life.
5. A lot of web three projects have a few different owner groups. How do you keep all these different groups engaged? Everyone is aligned to make the value of community treasury grow. And outside of that, each of the stakeholder groups is doing different things to grow the value of that treasury in very unique ways.
6. Tweet-sized vision for if everything goes perfectly, where do you want to see the world of web 3.0 five years from now?
Tiffany: A world where creators are able to get paid what they're worth. A world where all the current web two creators and fans will now become web three community builders and collectors.
Cooper: We are in the MySpace era of crypto right now. In five years, the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of this world will be created. - Show more
