When I asked y’all what I should do with my long-awaited, much-adored domain: TheIdeaHatchery.com, the first and only thing suggested was a community membership-ish thingie in various forms.
Which was a total surprise.
As I read the comments, I thought, “Really? A community where folks can share and brainstorm ideas? Get and give constructive feedback? Find willing and capable work partners? Really?”
Not that I doubted the fabulousness of your idea, because I didn’t. It’s a complete gem. I doubted I could pull it off, though.
And you can bet I gave my laptop a good talking to, telling it in no uncertain terms that there was no way, no way I could do something like that. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know where to start and I have no experience, no qualifications, and am totally unsuitable.
And then I started working on it.
Community-Building Questions
As always, after my initial resistance the questions started rolling in. I’d rather hear your thoughts than debate my answers, so I’m listing only the questions. If you have answers or comments or more questions, feel free to add them below, k?
Who’s in the community?
In Seth’s November session, he said the first members are critical for any club. I see the truth of that. With that in mind…
- How many first members should there be?
- How are the first members selected?
- What kind of person is good for the start of a community?
- Is there a cap on how many people will be in the community?
- Is it open registration, or not?
- If not, how do you decide who’s in the community and who’s not?
Application? Invitation? Blackball-ation? - If by application—
Who creates the application? Who reviews submissions? The leader(s), a committee, or someone else?
Is there an appeals process for someone who doesn’t get in? - If by invitation—
Who does the inviting?
If members distribute invitations, how many people can each member invite?
Do members simply get invites, or do they earn them through participation or tenure or something else? - Will anyone outside the community know the community exists?
I mean, is it meant to be a secret? - Will anyone outside the community know who’s in the community?
I mean, is membership a secret? - Will what’s discussed within the community get outside the community?
I mean, are the discussions a secret? - What happens if the community reaches capacity?
- If there’s a waiting list, how long will the waiting list be allowed to get and for how long will it be maintained?
- On the other hand, what happens if the community doesn’t grow?
Where’s the value?
As I understand the roles, the community leader encourages members to participate by creating a fun and engaging environment. They always provide the venue, but they may also create site content, introduce discussion topics, organize subgroups around special interests, and coordinate events and speakers.
Members support the community with their participation and feedback, and sometimes membership fees and management duties. So…
- Will there be a fee to participate in the community?
- If there will be a membership fee—
How much will the membership fee be?
Will it be paid monthly, annually, both, or something else?
Will profits be shared with community members? How will it be distributed? - If the community is free—
How will expenses be paid for?
Who volunteers their time to manage the community? The leaders, the members, or both, or someone else? - What do the community members want?
Exclusive content, the connection to others like them, or both, or something else? - Who is the community valuable to?
I mean, is it large enough, niche-y enough, and/or compelling enough to attract more members, good press, interesting speakers, etc.? - How are you going to keep members interested month after month after month?
Discussion topics? Videos? Contests? Tutorials? White papers? Chats? Book clubs? Teleseminars? - Who creates the community’s content?
The leader(s), the members, or both, or someone else? - How often will new content be published?
Weekly? Daily? More than once a day? - Does the content need to be approved before it’s published?
If so, who’s responsible for creating the guidelines and approving content?
Is there an appeals process for denied content?
Administrivia
And then there are other critical bits, like—
- What platform do you build your community on?
WordPress with a plugin or something else self-hosted?
Ning or something else hosted…or what?
.
Whew! Okay, that’s all I’ve got at the mo’. I’ll add more if I think of more, and I’d love to hear your questions, answers, and thoughts below. Or if you’d rather keep it between us, email a note to crystal [at] bigbrightbulb [dot] com
Photo credit: D'Arcy Norman
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