From Organising a House Party to Successfully Running a Community — Lessons Learned

Ever wondered how an Amazing Party Host can become an Outstanding Community Manager?

Paras Pundir [ The Community Guy ]

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Jul 10, 2019

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Note- I wrote this piece exactly a year ago & got late with publishing, so the stats referred to here might be inaccurate but surely relevant.

There is already so much buzz in the ecosystem around communities. Be it Microsoft acquiring Github, the world’s largest community of Developers for $7.5 billion or Facebook launching a $10 Million Initiative For Community Leaders. Brands want to invest in their communities and they are looking for Community Superheroes. There is a whole new era of Community Management which is about to blow out of proportions.

Don’t you want to be ready for this new opportunity? Well, this can be your next profession if you’re a great party host. Wondering, how? Read below!

Imagine: You are throwing a house party this weekend. You have a guest list of ‘Known Ones’ (Existing Members) and you’ve asked these guests to bring along a ‘plus one’ (Referrals), who they think will be a good fit to the gathering.

Now there are some more new folks (New Enthusiastic Member) who came to know about this party & are really interested in becoming a part of it, so they reached out to you directly, because you’re the admin & inquired you about the same. You asked them a few questions (Entry Barrier), verified relevance & invited them as well.

Finally, the weekend is here & by 7 pm, the guests start coming. You hugged the ‘Known Ones’, greeted the ‘Plus Ones’, shook hands with the ‘New Ones’ & eventually welcomed everyone to the party.

Now reimagine the scene at the party, the ‘Known Ones’ will get divided into nuclear groups along with their ‘Plus Ones’ & will start talking about their past or future things (since it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to have an interesting present :D). You’ll be jumping from one group conversation to another making sure that no member is left unattended; reacting, appreciating & managing the food & beers (the resources) at the same time to keep the party (the community) up & running.

Enter ‘New Ones’. Since they were the enthusiasts, they will be there in the party sipping over a free beer (Group Discussions & Conversations) & silently watching over the whole scenario from one corner (Lurkers). They might also react or applaud (Reactions or Emojis) on something happening in one group, but from a distance, because they are still strangers at the party.

So, now it falls on your capable shoulders to find these ‘New Ones’ & connect them (breaking ice) with some of your ‘Party Animals’ (Engagers & Pushers) so that they can connect them ahead with some more relevant people with similar interests from the group and stop them from leaving the party (Becoming dead or ‘Sleeper’). All this while making sure that your ‘Known Ones’ already know the Party Rules (Community Guidelines) which they will slowly unroll with the ‘Plus Ones’ & the ‘New Ones’ to keep the group integrity.

Once you achieve this balance, your party will rock & your Community will thrive.

Terms used:

Existing Members — These are the early users of your community who knows the community values & are highly involved in the growth of the community. Eg: Engagers, Pushers, Volunteers.

Referrals — New members referred by existing members who will be a good fit for your community

New Enthusiastic Members — Members who have explored or heard about you over social media or in other discussions & are highly interested in becoming a part of your community

Admin — The Community Manager

Entry Barrier — Questions asked to check the member relevancy before they join the community

Resources — Things required to run the community such as Content, tools, platform.

The Community — A group of people united over a common reason [ I’m assuming you understand it well or learn it here from the experts]

Group Discussions & Conversations — The content shared in the community

Lurker — The member who doesn’t participate but only consume content.

Reactions or Emojis — You know them well. eg: Facebook reactions, etc.

Breaking Ice — Removing the first layer of tension at a first meeting

Engager & Pushers— The members who engage with the content & also generate the content for the group

Dead or Sleeper — The member who doesn’t respond or engage at all in a group after joining

Community Guidelines — A set of rules required to keep the group healthy & organized

This is based on a real conversation where I used this analogy — of a House Party — to make understand the basics of running a community to a fellow community leader.

Check out our Medium Publication for more Community Building blogs- http://bit.ly/CFKmedium