Embedding Community Into The Event Experience

Event-specific apps are simple solutions for a conference that typically undermine the community.

The problem is the event app is completely separate from the community, it serves a short-term purpose but never helps build a long-term community.

If you don’t make community both an essential and beneficial part of the event – they remain disconnected. So link them closer together.

• Have questions for speakers? Ask in the community (they’ll be hosting a short AMA next week).
• Aren’t sure how to apply their advice to your context? Ask in the community.
• Want to meet up with others? Ask in the community.
• Want to find people in your place to connect with? Search the community.

You can also go beyond this.

• Invite speakers (especially paid speakers) to also spend time in the community answering questions about their topic.
• Have booths and show the current unanswered questions on large plasma screens and give rewards for members who can answer them.
• Display the current leaderboard of the community on a large plasma-screen everyone can see. Give prizes whoever is top at the end of the event.
• Post new questions from customer support into the community and challenge people to answer them.
• Reveal locations of the afterparty via the community.
• Share the videos of the event in the community first.
• Invite top community members to give lightning talks in their field of expertise.
• Run a live ideation session during the event via the community.

An event should be a celebration of the community. The community shouldn’t be bolted on to the event. Integrate the two deeply and everyone wins.