How to plan amazing community events
Hint: You don’t have to do it alone
Events are the glue that bonds a community together. They connect members in a common space over a common experience, and they set the stage for the social interactions that make up the warm fabric of community.
Events are also the perfect platform to elevate members from a passive audience to active co-creators. People have an inherent need to feel as if they matter and to know their voice counts.
Member-led events give every member the opportunity to have an impact. Whether leading an event themselves or aspiring to do so in the future, members see that they have influence within the community.
How to Host Member-Led Events In Your Community
1. Establish a calendar.
To keep from overwhelming your members with too much to do, decide in advance how often you’d like to host member-led events.
Weekly? Monthly? Quarterly? Set a cadence you can comfortably stick with.
Ideally, you’ll want to host events at about the same time in each period so people can build a predictable routine around attending.
2. Have an application process.
If someone wants to lead an event, how do they tell you? You might have a formal application or a simple messaging system.
When you review applications, consider whether the topic and format fit your community’s vibe and whether the person proposing it is qualified to lead. Then look at where it might fit in the calendar.
3. Ask for input.
Set up a virtual “suggestion box” where members can suggest events they’d like to attend.
Periodically collect the ideas that have been suggested, the applications you’ve received, and any ideas you’ve dreamed up, and give your members the chance to vote.
This gives everyone a voice in the selection process and ensures you’re providing members with the experiences they want.
4. Provide strategic direction.
Check in with the event leader to provide mentorship and guidance as they create their agenda and materials for the event.
5. Use events to attract new members.
Events can be a great catalyst to invite new people into your community. Build promotional assets for upcoming events that give followers outside the community a tantalizing peek at what they’re missing.
In addition to promoting upcoming events to your lists and channels, share the assets with the presenters so they can invite their lists and followers, too.
6. Create an artifact.
After the event, develop a resource to share with community members or offer as a lead magnet to your audience. Think a checklist, guide or template.
This extra step helps your members apply what they learned, and can help you by building your authority and your library of “freebies”.
7. Sign off with a heartfelt closing.
At the close of the event, take a screenshot to share to social media. Publicly and personally thank the member who led the event.
8. Maximize the value of the content.
Once the event is over, don’t just let the recording sit around gathering digital dust. Repurpose it into content you can keep distributing over and over again.
This LinkedIn post has some ideas of ways to squeeze more value out of an event recording. Be sure to read the comments – there are a ton of great tool recommendations there!
9. Remind people of the content when they need it most.
This tip goes along with extending your content’s shelf life.
After breaking up a recording into individual snippets, tag them based on your content pillars and share pieces as part of a ritual like Wednesday Wisdom.
This lets members dip into concepts when they need them. When you post a clip, point to the replay or make a remark like, “This is similar to the idea in Module X, Lesson Y.”
These bite-sized clips reinforce the member journey and help those on a non-linear path to keep making progress.
Co-creation is a hallmark of a thriving community. Member-led events let everyone share the spotlight and feel valued for their unique individual contribution to the whole.
Have you ever attended or hosted a great community event? Hit reply and tell me what made it so special.
We’re better together,
PS. Building a community is easier when you don’t go it alone. Book a call when you need some help breathing life into your community.