Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Mon, May 14, 2012 @ 11:12 PM
To build relationships with attendees and/or brand ambassadors for your event, it's important that you share information that is relevant, interesting and useful to them. Blogging is one of the best ways to do this while at the same time showcasing your event.
"But what do I write about?" is what most people ask. It may be hard to believe now, but once you start to write on a regular basis, you will find there are an infinite number of event blog topics and the more you write, the easier they will be to find.
Below are 25 ideas to get you started on your event blog.
1. Solicit Thoughts, Ideas for Upcoming Events
Crowd source for real or just gauge interest. This can draw some very useful responses for future posts and for future events.
2. Pictures
Make sure you get lots of photos at all of your events. Photos from previous events help to add interest to your blog and give attendees an idea of what to expect.
3. Profiles of Future Attendees
Attendees appreciate getting to know people before the event. Focusing on attendees helps to let them know they are valued.
4. Interviews of Attendees, Speakers, Organizers
Written interviews can be as easy as emailing 5 or 6 questions to the right person adding an introductory paragraph and posting in question/answer format.
5. Video Interviews of Attendees, Speakers, Organizers
Grab your camera and ask a few questions. Uploading video to blogs has never been easier.
6. Top 10
Reasons to attend, facts about your event topic, ways to network (you get the idea).
For more go to 25 Content Ideas for Your Event Blog on the Cvent blog.
(Photo by blakespot)
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Thu, May 10, 2012 @ 12:12 PM
What if your family extended all over the world? What if your professional life was much more than "just business" and connected you to something greater than yourself?
What if these seemingly unattainable goals are now within humanity's grasp and being facilitated in no small part by event professionals?
Thanks to the internet, everyday people are meeting and collaborating with others who would never have been in their field of influence before. They are traveling and meeting these people face to face at events and they are forming bonds as a result that go beyond business. This month I learned a lot about how such experiences can affect us.
A Family Experience
I attended the Green Meetings Industry Council's Sustainable Meetings Conference in Montreal as Social Media Manager for The Conference Publishers. Though I was a day late and missed a portion of the conference, I was blown away by the brilliance, altruism and willingness to try new things that this group displayed.
I turned several online friendships into face to face ones and was inspired to ensure I'm doing my part to contribute to a better world.
I stayed a day later and traveled to Ottawa to meet the entire Conference Publishers team at Mitchell Beer's home. I live in Southern California and since I joined the Conference Publishers in January, we'd only met all together a couple of times via skype.
Mitchell and his lovely wife (and TCP Managing Editor) Karen Irving were kind enough to put me up for a night which allowed me to meet their gorgeous daughter Rachel and watch Karen spin yarn with her own spinning wheel!
The next day I met TCP Senior Project Manager Biljana Zelenovic in person for the first time and we were joined by Senior National Account Manager Iana Ciatti, who I'd met face to face at previous conferences.
Laughing and planning over a delicious vegan takeout lunch that Mitchell brought home, we got a good idea of each others personalities, shared common experiences and bonded in a way we could never have at a virtual meeting.
The warmth and generosity extended to me by the entire Conference Publisher's team touched me in a way that I have never experienced at a typical business meeting.
Fun and Productive Collaboration
Five days later I flew to Minneapolis to work with the Interactive Meeting Technologies crew on an MPI sponsored research project about hybrid events.
Though CEO Sam Smith and Operations Director Cindy Ahlberg both live in Minneapolis, the rest of our team, Rosa Garriga Mora, Ruud Janssen, Richard John and I, had to fly in - three of us from Europe. My experience there was, again, unlike any work experience I've ever had.
For nearly two years, our team has met via skype to collaborate on two MPI sponsored research projects: a study on integrating virtual events into event portfolios published in February; and our current research into hybrid events.
IMT put us up at the Minneapolis Crown Plaza. After meeting and having our first meal together (I'd had the opportunity previously to meet everyone face to face except Richard) we retired so that we could get a 7 am start the next morning.
Upon arriving at the designated room ( a small conference room near the hotel restaurant) I found a conference table equipped for computers, around which the rest of the group had already gathered. In the corner was a continental breakfast set up with all the coffee, juice, fruit yogurt bagels and pastries you could want.
For three days, we worked; discussing, collaborating and joking around that table, ending each day by 4 pm so that we could have a little fun. Friday we toured down town and Saturday Sam and his beautiful wife Suzanne hosted a Kentucky Derby party for us.
By the end of my time there, I was amazed at how much we accomplished and how fun every minute of it was. While I had spent time with the entire team (with the exception of Richard) on previous ocassions, never had I spent so much uninterrupted time laughing, collaborating and interacting with them in such a positive way.
Team Bonding
My experiences with The Conference Publishers and with Interactive Meeting Technologies were unique in that they served to:
1 - help me form a strong bond with my fellow team members
2 - make me feel part of something bigger than myself
3 - make me feel an important part of the team
Consider that I met both Mitchell and Sam first on Twitter and then later face to face at two event industry conferences after which they later suggested we work together. The F2F gatherings of these teams were important and memorable. The TCP team met at Mitchell's home, and welcomed me as "family," while the IMT team used space at a hotel and the entire experience was planned. (Which leads me to wonder, how many more virtual collaborations will be using hotel space and meeting planner services this way in the future?)
Would it have been the same if I never met these people face to face? No. Time spent together doing things that are not goal-oriented - experiences that are considered superfluous at most meetings - are where bonds are strengthened. These strong bonds serve to ease communication and understanding when collaboration in pursuit of a goal is necessary. My time spent in close proximity to co-workers with whom I usually work in a virtual environment, has been among the most productive and satisfying time I've experienced.
If you've ever experienced it, you know that true collaboration - that point when all participants are valued and all synapses are firing - is not only one of the most enjoyable experiences humans can experience, it is also highly productive and it can change the world. We need only look around to see how technology is facilitating such experiences. We are now routinely connecting with strangers from all over the world and we are laughing, sharing, playing and doing business with these folks - people we never would have heard of a few years ago.
Looking back, it's amazing to realize how much humans have actually accomplished in isolation. Now that our connections have multiplied and become stronger, we have no excuse. We truly can overcome or accomplish anything.
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Tue, May 01, 2012 @ 09:19 AM
Many event professionals understand how powerful social media can be for the marketing of events.
Well before an event takes place, social media can be used to draw together or identify groups who are likely attendees. At the event, it can be used for networking and sharing content. Finally, after the event, the conversation and connections that occurred on site can continue with the help of social media.
But what about groups that don't get social media? Instead of writing these folks off, consider making a social media concerge available to them.
Many attendees merely require a little hand-holding to get them going and the benefits to them and to your event can be great.
An event or conference is an excellent place to offer social media encouragement, information and tutoring because it provides an immediate reason to use it: networking and sharing information about the event.
Not long ago, I worked as a social media and technical concierge for a large corporate conference. I learned a WHOLE lot that I shared in a series of blog posts for Cvent.
Build Your Event Community & Brand By Educating Attendees About Social Media
4 More Reasons To Educate Attendees About Social Media
5 Things Your Attendees Should Know About Social Media
(Photo by cambodia4kidsorg)
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Sat, Apr 21, 2012 @ 10:57 AM
Tomorrow I fly to Montreal to attend the Green Meetings Industry Council's Sustainable Meetings Conference and to facilitate a few activities there.
It will be my second year at GMIC. Last year I led an opening session on using improv concepts for better team work. You can see a bit of what I did here (thanks to John Chen for the video).
This year, I will be facilitating two games and adding an improv-inspired activity to a session called Conference Weavers that features volunteers linking concepts between different speakers, while putting their thoughts and interpretations forward as well. (My dear friend Adrian Segar, will serve as the Master Weaver.)
These brief and fun actvities will help us connect with fellow conference participants and get our brains and bodies primed for learning and sharing. I hope to see you there!!
For a small taste of what you can expect, check this video out.
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Thu, Apr 19, 2012 @ 04:54 PM
During the recent online debate within the #eventprofs community over what constitutes on influencer, one of my Facebook friends, Karen Vizer, posted a 2009 Tedx presentation by Simon Sinek, author of the book Start With Why. I found it riveting and, for me, it explained clearly why some people inspire me to take an action while others don't.
People Don't Buy What You Do, They Buy Why You Do It
In this presentation (and the fact that he makes his point so well using only a flip chart and a hand-held microphone only emphasizes it) Sinek says that every organization must know and talk about why it does what it does. And don't say profit, because profit is a result not a reason.
All great and inspiring leaders think, act & communicate the same way, which is the opposite of everyone else, Sinek says. They start with why, then share how and what.
By contrast, most organizations know what they do, some know how they do it but very few know why.
He gives the example of Apple as being just a computer company. What sets them apart from the competition? Instead of saying, "We make these computers with these great features," they say "Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making products that are beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?"
What's Your Purpose, Cause or Belief?
Why does this work so well? Because it coincides with how the brain works, according to Sinek.
By appealing to the analytical neocortex first, ei providing information on benefits, features facts etc, you aren't communicating with the part of the brain the drives behavior. The part of the brain that drives behavior is the limbic brain which also is responsible for all feelings, trust, loyalty and all decision making. The limbic brain has no capacity for language. Thus you can give all the facts and figures you want but often people will still say it just doesn't feel right.
As Sinek says, if you don't know why you do what you do and that's what people respond to how will you get people to be loyal and buy what you do?
Check out this fascinating talk. It made me understand better how those who start with "why" they do what they do are the true influencers in any industry.
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Tue, Apr 10, 2012 @ 01:37 PM
A small storm was unleashed last week when Successful Meetings published a list of top meetings/events industry influencers for the year 2012 including 12 men, 1 bug and 0 women. It was later revealed that the list was not complete and that the remaining names yet to be announced on SM's list of 25 most influential people in our industry, belong mostly to women.
Nevertheless, in an industry so heavily populated by women (one estimate puts us at 80%) many of us were dumbfounded.
I admit, I didn't take much notice until Joan Eisenstodt tweeted this: 
Then it hit me. Successful Meetings had exposed itself as out of touch with one of the most influential groups in our industry today. I'm not just talking about event industry women. I'm talking about a very vocal and growing group that for the sake of brevity, I will call event industry progressives. This group:
* Is concerned with the "why" of events.
* Is collaborative.
* Values ethics and corporate social responsibility.
* Values sustainability.
* Is more likely to take risks and experiment.
* Feels strongly that meetings and events must evolve to include better learning and engagement opportunities.
* Has embraced social media.
* Doesn't see good business as a zero sum game.
* Is heavily influenced and populated by women.
While Successful Meetings' list includes some famous and influential names on it (and certainly some that have done a lot to promote and advance the industry this year) it seems mostly to reflect a 20th century fascination with business empire building - a very male perspective, to be sure.
One of the comments on the post, written by Marge Anderson, seemed to allude to this focus:
"I am exhausted by the number of suppliers and buyers only of heads/beds/space on this list. (as opposed to behavioral outcomes). Those of us who have planning roots, AND are internal rather than outsourced thereby having to live every day with the results of our meetings, have no home left in this industry. It would be great if the industry could pay a little more attention to the dog rather than the tail."
On Saturday, Mariela McIlwraith and Elizabeth Henderson posted their answer to Successful Meetings's list: We Are the 80%: Our Picks for the Most Influential Women in the Meetings Industry - a list of women with expertise in such topics as risk management, mentoring, event sustainability and gamification. When you compare the two lists, the contrast in focus is striking.
In their post, Elizabeth and Mariela also take a look at some points that may be continuing to hold women back. While I agree that our reluctance to promote ourselves; devotion to family and home; and difficulty engaging in informal networking (ala good ol' boys) have all played a role in keeping us from ascending quickly in the past, I feel things are changing.
We are now living at a time when the more feminine big picture, values centered, we-instead-of -me thinking is imperative for the sake of our industry and our world. Business practices are changing as a result. More and more of the world understands that greater profits alone will not save us.
Among events and meetings professionals, this sentiment is strong. According to a recent MPI study on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ninety percent of meetings industry businesses are involved in some form of CSR activity; more than 50 percent of industry professionals now give precedence to suppliers who have formal CSR policies; and more than half of the businesses in our sector strongly agree that they are “trying to give something back” to their communities.
The rise of social media and the linking of many heretofore disparate groups crossing yesterdays seemingly insurmountable barriers of space and time, offer us new ways to accomplish our goals without sacrificing what is truly important to us. AND the power of helping others has come into its own as a marketing tool.
Business as usual in the events world, could be fatal. The internet has made it easier for everyone to create DIY events. More and more groups frustrated with traditional meetings and conferences are opting for formats such as open space that have mostly originated outside our industry.
Event industry progressives get that the future of our industry will be driven by those who are thinking about more than just profits and industry growth. They are thinking about how to create better meetings and events that contribute to a better world. That's why they are at the forefront of change in our industry and that is why, ultimately, their influence is what will save it. Any list of influencers that doesn't include them is, at best, a joke.
Are you itching to discuss this topic with your fellow events industry colleagues? Then join us for the next #eventtable chat on Monday, April 16 at 3 pm est. Out topic will be "Meetings Industry Influencers: Who are they and how do we get the word out?"
You can read more about this issue on Meetings Women of Influence: The Rant and Our List (a big thanks to Mitchell Beer for including me on his list of influencers)
and Hell Hath No Fury.
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Mon, Apr 02, 2012 @ 06:13 PM
The following is a guest blog article by Lindsey Harper Mac. If you are interested in guest blogging for Sound n' Sight, please read my guest blogging guidelines . And if you have any thoughts, please comment below. Lindsey and I both would love to hear what you have to say!
Proper communication is essential when speaking with people in any setting. If you are a person in charge of training or involved with public speaking, then it is important for you to understand the skills necessary for effective communication. Anyone with business degree has had to give a presentation while they were in school. And for good reason: public speaking will likely be an important part of the job. Continuing to give sharp presentations will be important to satisfying peers, clients, and CEOs alike.
Simple Communication
Public speaking can be fun and exciting. While it is commonly cited as a person's worst fear, with a little practice comes a lot of confidence. Remember that you are not alone. Proper communication happens when two or more people interact together. Call on your audience to engage with you so that you don't feel like one person talking to large audience. Further, knowing that people will interact with you and with each other, you'll be forced to get to know your audience. When you consider what they want from your presentation, you'll be able to deliver one that satisfies them.
It is a fact that audiences have limited attention spans. They will begin to tune out the speaker once the topic no longer interests them. So stay away from slides with tons of text. Use graphics and short lists to serve as reminders for points you wish to make. This will help audience members have hooks to hang your information on. They will associate what you say with what's on the screen. Keeping it simple also helps the audience focus on listening to you instead of reading slides and listening to you at the same time.
Keeping the Speech in Good Order
A speech should be organized. One way to make sure that your speech flows well is to put it together using the funnel method. The funnel method starts off with you discussing broad topics of interest. As the speech continues you'll narrow down each thought until the audience understands the scope of the theme. It is also important to incorporate related examples of your points to illustrate why your point is important.
The Importance of Having a Flexible Speech
Always keep the presentation in a form that can be changed without much effort. Most public speakers like to make changes to their presentation right up to the last minute. As you develop your presentation it may be helpful to keep a hard copy on paper so you can see and make changes easily.
Keep your slides in more than one place. If you're presenting from a laptop, make sure the presentation is not just on your desktop, but also on a thumb drive. You never know what kind of technical difficulties may arise or if you'll be forced to use a machine that isn't your own. Likewise, if you embed video into your presentation, there's extra room for technical error. Make sure to have a version of your presentation that doesn't rely on these embeds in case the videos don't work for some reason.
Flexibility also means being adaptable to time constraints. Some speakers tend to talk fast when under pressure and end way ahead of schedule while others seem to ramble on and go over. Practice your speech out loud and time it so you have a good idea of how long it is. Prepare a little extra in case you end up with extra time. Similarly, put the least important info last so that if you run out of time, people have the most important take-a ways already.
Lindsey Harper Mac is a professional writer living in the Indianapolis area. She specializes in writing guest posts on social media and education. Currently, Lindsey is completing work on her master’s degree.
(Photo by 05com)
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 12:46 AM
The following is a guest blog article by Bob Rowell. If you are interested in guest blogging for Sound n' Sight, please read my guest blogging guidelines . And if you have any thoughts, please comment below. Bob and I both would love to hear what you have to say!
The introduction of a speaker is a chance to grab audience attention and set a tone that can be carried throughout the presentation. When done properly, these few words fortify the presenter, intrigue the audience, and highlight the presentation topic. If not done properly, everyone feels let down, and the event suffers.
Here are five tips that will help you create an atmosphere in which your presenters have the best opportunity to shine.
Intrigue the Audience
A proper introduction must intrigue the audience. If the audience can predict what you say in the introduction, you are failing. The tried and true is mental Novocaine. What the presenter is about to say must be a solution to a problem the audience has. How can you help them to feel their problem?
Connect the Topic to the Event
You must highlight the topic. What is the significance of what the presenter is about to say? How does it fit in to the overall theme of the event?
Establish the Presenter's Credibility
One goal of a good introduction is to establish the credibility of the presenter. No matter how extensive the experience or profound the knowledge a presenter may have, there is zero credibility until it is given by the audience.
There are two main information sources the audience has for deciding to grant this gift. One is the introduction, and one is the presenter himself. Achieving a top score means the presenter and the emcee must work together.
Wouldn't it be nice to know what the elements are that invite an audience to assign credibility? There are two of them.
Expertise: Not What You Know, But What You Can Show One of the two elements that separates cred from crud is expertise. But it is not what you know, it's what you can show. Does the presenter have a successful business? Prestigious clients? A string of letters after her name? Don't overlook successes in seemingly unrelated areas.
Humanity: Got Heart? Expertise must be balanced by the second of the two elements, humanity. For an audience to grant credibility, they must see the presenter as emotionally involved. Dry and "professional" will not cut it.
Balance Expertise with Humanity
Humanity and expertise are not interchangeable. You can't use a surplus of one to compensate for a dearth of the other. As emcee, your introduction must complement what the presenter brings.You might even have to provide cues to help the presenter exhibit both heart and mind. (Hint: presenters often have a hard time shedding "professional" stiffness and showing how much they care.)
Set the Stage
When preparing an introduction, think of yourself as a magician about to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Or a symphony orchestra playing the opening bars of a concerto in preparation for the soloist's entrance. Or a chef devising the perfect hors d'oeuvre to whet the palate for the delicious first course.
It's showtime. "Our next presenter is ...."
Bob Rowell is a strategic communicator interested in community benefit organizations. His never-ending quest for more effective communication has led him to study with experts such as Joel Roberts, BJ Fogg and Nedra Weinreich. Bob is also an artist, and blows a mean harmonica. All of his social media presence can be found here: http://XeeMe.com/RobertERowell(Photo by alisdair)
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 05:01 PM
The following is a guest blog article by Bob James. If you are interested in guest blogging for Sound n' Sight, please read my guest blogging guidelines . And if you have any thoughts, please comment below. Bob and I both would love to hear what you have to say!
How often do you hear organizers grumble, “My exhibitors are idiots—they don’t understand how to work a tradeshow?”
What a pity, when you realize that tradeshow success boils down to just two things.
Tell, Don't Sell
A tradeshow is an ideal medium for "storytelling." Think of the attendees as scouts gathered round your campfire (except their badges aren't for merit).
Unfortunately, most companies don't maximize this incredible face-to-face opportunity. That's because most companies define selling not as storytelling, but as revenue generation.
Desperate to generate revenue, most companies that exhibit at tradeshows try to engage attendees by "pitching" product features, instead of telling stories. But this definition of selling is passé.
Worse yet, allowing this definition of selling to drive tradeshow exhibiting produces nothing but the real-world equivalent of spam. And everyone hates spam.
Tradeshow exhibiting—when handled effectively—generates relationships. And relationships are built on stories, stories that "start with why." Why are you in business? Why should anyone care? Why do customers spend money with you?
As an exhibitor, you have two compelling reasons to stop selling and start telling:
- Most attendees have done their homework (product research) before the tradeshow. They know what the players in your field do. The one thing they may not know is why.
- With all your competition—all the me-too products vying for attendees' attention—you can't afford to waste the chance to engage them with your why by focusing on product features.
What's the lesson? Revenue generation is imperative. But storytelling precedes it. Scout's honor.
Share, Don't Stare
Not only do most exhibitors waste the incredible opportunity for "storytelling" at tradeshows, they actively scare attendees away.
Rather than engaging attendees in their why, they lurk about their booths… eyeing attendees like predators... waiting for some display of vulnerability.
The moment they detect a sign of weakness, they pounce, hoping to subdue victims with a deadly shower of product features.
Tradeshow marketing guru Steve Miller likens this behavior to "hunting." He’s dead on.
Miller advises exhibitors to quit hunting and, through friendly words and gestures, devote their energies to creating a "safe zone" where attendees won't feel threatened.
Miller also recommends that exhibitors avoid these unfriendly behaviors:
• Sitting
• Reading
• Eating
• Drinking
• Talking on the phone
• Texting
• Standing in the aisle like the "border guard"
• Clustering with other booth staffers (like some "street gang")
• Ignoring attendees
• Sizing up attendees instantly
• Handing out stuff freely
So there you have it: two simple keys to success. Tell, don’t sell. Share, don’t stare.
Why don’t more exhibitors get it?
NOTE: Without shame, I confess to stealing the above two phrases from a friend and former client, Robert Hughes, president of FutureShow. But in the words of poet T.S. Eliot, "Good writers borrow. Great writers steal."
(Photo by NHS Confederation)
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Posted by Jenise Fryatt on Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 06:14 PM
As an event industry blogger, business owner, social media marketer and online community manager, it's been illuminating to see so many blog posts written about the importance of building a community as a social media marketing strategy.
Yet, in comparison, so very little is written about managing an online community and the importance of choosing the right person for that job.
We are told that it's important to create a community that is interacting throughout the year. And then we are offered an array of platforms upon which to build it, for a fee.
Under these circumstances, we often lose sight of the fact that every community begins and ends with people: people who build it, drive it, interact in it, contribute to it, and take something away from it. The variety of features that technology offers in service of a community have a negligible impact compared to the activity of people within it.
How many of us have joined or even begun online communities on private platforms that never became the hives of interaction we had envisioned? Of course, we know there was much more we could have done to drive that interaction, but we got busy with all the other things we were doing as event professionals and so the community floundered. We didn't think it would take so much effort - and that's where we made our mistake.
It's The People, Stupid
The truth is that your business or event community already exists on MANY platforms. It is interacting on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare and many more. You don't need your own private online platform to drive community interaction around your event or business. What is essential, however, is someone who is part of the community and understands how to interact with it.
Join Existing Discussions Relevant to Your Event or Business
You can start by searching and lurking on the major social media platforms to discover where your community is interacting most. It might be a discussion group on LinkedIn; a group on Facebook or one or several hashtags on Twitter. These interactions will very obviously be related to issues that are relevant to your attendees or clients.
A quick and easy way to skip a few steps is to choose a community or social media manager from within the community who is already known, generally liked and has a reasonably good grasp of digital marketing.
But if you're starting from scratch, it's important to begin participating in online discussions or groups. You can share useful information you find, promote great information from others in the group, join in chats and so on.
Drive Discussion/Participation Around Issues Relating to Your Event or Business
It can be as easy as asking a question on your blog and then promoting the post to your community on Facebook or as complicated as moderating an hour long Twitter chat on a particular subject. The key is to get others to join with you in a conversation, or to start one of their own that is associated with you, your brand or your website.
Create Content on Your Website and Link It To Your Community
Of course buzz about your brand is an important reason for driving community interaction. But why let it evaporate? Why not turn it into traffic for your website that helps you rank higher with the search engines?
Regularly post fresh content on your website that is useful to your community and make sure to promote that content wherever your community is interacting.
You can encourage more interaction between the community and your website by:
* responding to comments in a timely manner.
* inviting guest bloggers to post on your site
* doing interviews of interesting people in the community.
* reposting (with permission) previously published content from members of your community.
A Few Thoughts About Choosing a Social Media or Community Manager
Remember, community is about PEOPLE not technology. If you want people to trust your brand, choose someone to carry your message that your community will trust. Consider also, choosing someone who:
* is already a member of the community.
* is a natural community builder.
* knows how to engage in online dialogue.
* knows how to generate, curate and use content to drive discussion.
* is connected with community thought leaders.
* has digital marketing skills.
* gets that it's not about technology or broadcasting a message.
Don't put all your resources into technology. Technology is only effective when used by someone with the above skills. If you have lots of time, you can follow the above tips for creating community interaction yourself. If you don't have much time, consider hiring someone who possesses the aforementioned skills.
If, after you've done all of this, you decide to create a private online community, choose a platform created by a company that is people oriented and clearly gets what community is all about. Watching a potential company's online interactions is a good way to judge whether or not the company gets online communities.
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