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Episode 165

May 18, 2022

165:How to Design and Facilitate Thriving Communities with Anamaria Dorgo 

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    Intro

    Creating, maintaining, and growing a community is not for the faint-hearted. It’s an ongoing process of trial and error that requires a huge amount of commitment.

    But, if you can get it right, you will see the value and joy it can bring.

    As the curator of NeverDoneBefore – a relatively new community – I’ve started to geek out on all things community-based. This episode is the culmination of this obsessive interest, as I speak with Anamaria Dorgo – Head of Community for Butter and founder of L&D Shakers – about what it takes to curate a true community.

    Find out about

    • Why your definition of community will determine its success
    • How great community practice and behaviour emerge from great modelling
    • How to choose the right platform for your community
    • Why engagement is the holy grail – and how to avoid chasing it into extinction
    • What happens when you focus on members’ motivations for joining, not your vision of the community
    • Why a community that’s started purely for financial reasons will never succeed

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    Questions and Answers

    01:55When did you start calling yourself a facilitator – if you do? 06:04What’s the difference between a trainer who delivers training and a trainer who facilitates? 11:51Can one be a ‘manager’ for a community? 13:29What was the secret sauce that made your community take off? 15:23Can you give an example of when your actions didn’t align with your words? 21:30How to balance creating a community with leaving space for things to emerge. 27:10Is there a difference between a community manager and a community facilitator 28:05Creating community engagement. 31:14What was your experience of creating that initial engagement between members? 35:17Do you have a specific onboarding process or team? 39:38What are the differences you’ve noticed between your voluntary community of L&D Shakers vs. the commercial community of Butter? 44:36How do you handle the fact that every member of the Butter community is a potential client? 01:13What is the impact of hosting a community on a social platform vs. having a closed platform? 07:45How do you make it easy for new community members to join and not feel overwhelmed? 10:29What’s the one piece of advice you wish you’d heard before starting a community? 14:34 Do you have a favourite activity or exercise for onboarding? 17:30How do you make a workshop fail? 25:42Do you think it is natural, that things we care deeply about never make for smooth sailing?

    Links

    Connect to Anamaria

    On LinkedIn

    On Twitter