Your Community is a Party Waiting to Happen

You can find the slides for this talk here.

 What makes a party feel like a party? Is it the music? the people? the food? alcohol? It's hard to say really, but when the right ingredients are mixed with the right atmosphere, it comes alive and becomes an unforgettable experience. All a host can do is make sure the right atmosphere and ingredients are in place and hope for the best.

As it turns out, the same is true for online communities. The job of the community host is to set the stage for community to develop - to combine the right ingredients with right atmosphere. If the conditions are right - an engaged and successful community may develop over time.

Curiously, hosting parties and online communities share a lot of consistencies. In both cases, there are timeless ingredients that work together to create an environment that leads to success. Here are 12 ingredients that go into having a great party or hosting a successful online community:

1. Your party needs a reason to celebrate. The best parties are for a special occasion, a birthday, a holiday, an announcement. Members want to come together for a purpose, a shared interest or common experience. Otherwise, why have a party

2. Your party needs good planning. Nothing kills a party like running out of food or alcohol. A party with too little food is a tragedy that could have been averted with good planning. Too much is better than not enough. Plan well.

3. Your party needs a place. If people are going to interact, they need a home of some sort. Members need to know where the party is happening and what they can bring. It helps if the place is well kept, easy to use and looks familiar.

• Online communities need a web site that serves as the community's home. Start small and build the site's structure based on the member's needs. Plan for skyscrapers, but start with apartments. The community should feel like home for your target members.

4. Your party needs a host. The party's host is the glue that holds everything together. They don’t have to be the center of attention, but they do have to be there to tell people where to find the restroom and when the food is ready. They orchestrate and organize.

5. Your party needs basic rules. Most rules are common sense and barely need repeating (don't feed beer to the dog!), but some provide members with a way to know what sort of party it is. Are kids allowed? Can we bring something? Should we dress in costume?

6. Your party needs a bouncer. Parties are famous for bringing out the best and worst in people. A few unruly folks can ruin everyone’s fun. Sometimes the host has to enforce the rules and kick a few people out to improve everyone's experience.

• Online communities need someone who is empowered to remove or deal with members who threaten the community's culture or standards. Trolls, spammers and other miscreants can be toxic to a community and the role of the bouncer is to deal with them in a responsible manner,. Guidelines and Terms of Service often help with enforcement. Enable your members to identify the problem members.

7. Your party needs an invitation. How else is anyone going to know about it?

• Online communities need ways to create awareness. Give members badges that they can put on their blogs. Give them ways to invite their friends. If the community is connected to a business, work with marketing to ensure that customers are aware it exists. Prompt members to blog about it, consider word-of-mouth.

8. Your party needs a few introductions. “Hello My Name Is” tags are not a bad idea. Give people a way to find people like them and interact around something in common. Games can be a great ice breaker.

• Online communities depend on member profiles that reflect interest, activity and needs. Make sure the profile fits with the community. Consider the highly developed profiles on social networking sites. Also, provide a safe place for new members to introduce themselves to the community.

9. Your party needs an event. Maybe it’s a toast, or a movie or a limbo contest, but it helps to bring people together around a mid-party event. Get people out of their seats and inspire them to get involved.

10. Your party needs a way for the attendees to pitch-in. People love to party, but partying can be messy and they want to do their part to help clean up. They won’t mind, ask them to help do the dishes or take out the trash.