bringing your community together irl

Bringing Your Community Together IRL:

Learn how and what the real value is of bringing your

community together in real life.

TEC Summit: May 28, 2015

Regina WaltonSFTech4Good, organizer, and

Marketing Manager, Pole To Win International

@ReginaWalton on Twitter

Be involved

Align yourself with a mission you're vested in.

Be consistent

Listen and pay attention

Share and repurpose

“Give members who can't attend a way to

participate from afar - livestream, hashtag

for the event, Storify afterward.

“Definitely post photos that people can

share and tag afterward.” – Amy Vernon

Use your personal network

to grow and spread the word

Experiment

Be open to change and churn

Steal great ideas

Other events, Meetups, Pinterest,

Communicate

“Know that there are some online community members

who are never going to come offline. And that's fine.

There also are some offline community members who

will never be active (though they'll be paying attention)

online. Accept that.” – Amy Vernon

“In order to bring your community offline, offer them

something cool and different that the average person

doesn't have. For a startup or company, it could be

cool swag. With the American Museum of Natural

History, I've gone to meetups where we got pre-

opening access to new exhibitions and behind-the-

scenes tours.” – Amy Vernon

“Nurture those online community members who are

really into what you're doing. Empower them as

leaders and give them responsibility that they're

interested in/willing to take on. They will help you bring

that online community offline.” – Amy Vernon

Thanks to Amy for her insights!

Find out more about her company,

Predictably: http://www.predictable.ly/,

and check out her site: http://www.amyvernon.net

Online community examples

SFTech4Good

• I’ve been at it since 2011

• 1600 to over 3,400 now. One sponsor to two.

One venue to over 15.

Four Thriving Communities to Learn From

This 2011 post talks about 4 great IRL communities including the Hells Angels.