10 reasons why you should not build a community AKA How to build more meaningful communities

1. 10 reasons why you should
not build a community
Arthur Schmunk
@arthurschmunk

2. Aka
How to build more meaningful
communities
Arthur Schmunk
@arthurschmunk

3. @arthurschmunk
whoami
Arthur Schmunk
Technical evangelist with a
particular interest in:
● Startups
● Cloud Computing
● Modern Software
Development

4. @arthurschmunk
Public Announcement Service

5. Yes!
The title was a clickbait

6. @arthurschmunk
Community != Followers

7. @arthurschmunk
OTMS
More Meaningful
Communities
One Time Meetup
Syndrome
It's Not Easy
Envision Purpose
Define Strong Sense of Identity
Practice Rituals and Ceremonies
Bring Value Constantly
Write Rules
Create Roles
🤑Secure Financing
😱 Set Goals and KPIs
It Might Succeed

8. @arthurschmunk
It's Not Easy
It takes 10,000 hours of practice to
become successful (or even
master) any skill.

9. @arthurschmunk
Envision Purpose
● Why does the community exist?
● It’s about WE not ME
● It will evolve and develop over time

10. @arthurschmunk
Define Strong Sense of Identity
The stronger a community,
the stronger the shared
identity and the stronger the
trust among the members.

11. @arthurschmunk
Great Example!
madeinjlm.org
Made in JLM founded in 2012 with
the goal of transforming and
positioning Jerusalem, the capital of
the Startup Nation, as one of the
top innovative cities in the world

12. @arthurschmunk
Practice Rituals and Ceremonies
● Welcome new members weekly
● Monthly meetups
● Interviews
● Open Mic, Quizzes
● Speakers Breakfast

13. @arthurschmunk
Bring Value
● Provide value first
● Content = Value
● In community of practice content is
the king!

14. @arthurschmunk
Write Rules
As Cosmo Kramer says, without rules
there's chaos!
No Marketing, No bullshit
Publish and share your rules with
everyone

15. @arthurschmunk
Create Roles
● Participation is key
● Define the framework for people
to get involved
● Once again, It’s about WE not
ME

16. @arthurschmunk
Secure Financing
SWAG, Pizza, Beer, Prizes,
Hosting
Who is going to pay for it?
Stay focused on your goals and
values

17. @arthurschmunk
😱 Set Goals and KPIs
● How to measure success?
● The number of members isn’t
a success
● Community cannot be
measured.

18. @arthurschmunk
It Might Succeed
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, has
been quoted as saying “change is
the only constant in life.”

19. @arthurschmunk

20. @arthurschmunk
What’s next?
1) Read the Glue Project
http://www.theglueproject.com/
3) Just do it!
2) Create your Community Canvas

21. @arthurschmunk
Thank you!