Community leaders unite in Memphis for CLIX
After a fantastic week in Memphis, Tennessee, I’m back and giving a recap of the entire trip, including my favorite Memphis spots. In addition, I’ll be sharing my notes from the Community Leaders Institute Expo (CLIX), which I attended on April 4th and 5th.
The community industry’s inaugural event provides training, best practices, and community-building tips to implement into day-to-day operations. The CLIX event brought me to Memphis after I’dI met the founder, RD Whitney. He invited me to join community leaders with years of expertise to connect with professionals like myself who are facing (and have faced) similar challenges that will help you prepare for the future of work.
A few focus topics of the event:
Strategy/Business Value – Community strategy, monetization, and sustainability
Cultivating and Nurturing Connection – Member growth, retention, and engagement
Community Leadership – Case studies, real-world examples of success stories
Online Trust and Safety – Earning member’s trust, best practices, and safety controls
Arriving in Memphis, TN
Wheels on the ground with a smooth flight, I arrived at the Memphis International Airport and took an Uber to the Courtyard Marriot in Downtown Memphis. After checking into the hotel, I found a small grocery store to grab some almond milk for my coffee and a few snacks. The evening was spent planning the coming days to maximize my time in this town known for the blues.
Friday, after a client call, I adventured across the sky bridge from Front Street to Mud Island, also known as Mississippi River Park.
This park is part of a Memphis Riverfront Concept, which is designed to help catalyze the “Memphis Moment” at the place where the city began: the edge of the Mississippi River. Covering six miles and focusing on five zones, including the Fourth Bluff, Mud Island, Tom Lee Park, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Park, and Greenbelt Park. Two hours after stepping onto Main Street, I returned back to the hotel to refresh, drop off my camera gear, and head out for some music on Beale Street.
Blues for an afternoon delight
Not only is Memphis dubbed the Home of the Blues, but it’s also known as the Birthplace of Rock’ n Roll. After a short trolly ride to Beale Street, I found myself in the middle of what seemed like a street festival—except this was a Friday afternoon, and apparently, this is every day.
Walking along, I stopped in a few shops and found a seat at Club Handy when I heard the song “Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay being played by Mac Truck and The Blues Groove band. I spent the next two hours enjoying the music and talking to a lively couple from Alabama. After getting my CD signed, I returned to the hotel with souvenirs and was exhausted from walking over six miles that day.
I headed to the Convention Center Sunday afternoon to check into the conference and hope to meet some community professionals in person! As I walked to the door, I was greeted by RD Whitney and, a few moments later, by Heidi Williams, who’d just flown in from London, leading the event.
As community pros arrived, we smiled, bumped elbows, waved, and greeted each other, finding time for quick introductions and “meet and greet” conversations.
The best moment was seeing a few people I’d seen “online” for a while and chatting with them in person! I was happy to see Adrian Speyer, Victoria Cumberbatch, and Piper Wilson, whom I’d all met in 2021, as I discovered the community industry and the wonderful people that make up this unique and diverse “community” as professionals.
On Monday morning, the “official” kickoff to CLIX began with David Spinks, who presented the 2021 “Community Industry” report.
Amid tech glitches, over 300 community professionals discussed the “weirdest community” they had been a member of until tech was reconnected, and the audience well received the presentation outlining the data and insights for planning a community strategy.
The 2021 edition of the Community Industry Report includes responses from 528 community managers who completed our online survey between November and December 2020.
Cultivating and Nurturing Connection
In the afternoon, I attended the “Cultivating Advocates Out of Your Community” session presented by Christina Garnett, Senior Marketing Manager of offline Community & Advocacy at HubSpot.
The current state of ambassadors, advocates, or super fans of enterprise or ample corporation support and practice communities, Christina says, is that many feel that they are under-appreciated, lack connection, and are more focused on the negativity that they experience in online communities than the positive benefits it brings.
Advocates want a seat at the table and to feel valued and heard. So, where are those sought-after advocates?
Here are key takeaways from this season:
Christina says community leaders and managers looking for brand lovers should know what to look for and what makes a good advocate for their organization or company.
Identifying that “diamond in the rough” takes people-watching skills and the ability to notice who’s raising their hands, volunteering, and showing up at events (virtual or in-person).
Depending on an organization’s size, the tech stack needed to get the data for reporting on community insights will be determined. Recognizing advocates doesn’t have to be elaborate. Simply noting members, using gamification, or just offering a seat at the table with member-led events allows them to feel a sense of ownership and camaraderie.
Offer a “pick your own advocate adventure” style or create opportunities for brand love. This will attract happy customers, engage fans, and develop champions.
Afternoon insights and goal achieved!
The keynote presentation “Keeping Members Engaged in 2022: What The Data Reveals About What Works (and What Doesn’t!)” closed out the first day of CLIX.
In this session, the founder of FeverBee, Richard Millington, shared real-world client data to explain the most significant actions to boost engagement and increase member retention.
Over the past 13 years, Richard has helped to develop over 310 thriving communities, including those for Apple, Facebook, Google, The World Bank, SAP, Oracle, Amazon, Autodesk, Lego, The United Nations, Novartis, and many more. FeverBee helps organizations use powerful psychology to build valuable communities.
Richard gave a few tips I could relate to and was glad to hear. The research and data he reviewed indicated that community members, on average, thought they were receiving too many automated messages and that the content needed to be more consistent. In addition, with over 26 member interviews and countless surveys, the results weren’t surprising. From my understanding, the takeaways below are specifically for support-related communities, but please correct me if I’m wrong.
Members need to change tech, move to new platforms, etc.
Members-only visit when they have a problem and need assistance
New members didn’t know why they should come back.
Poor communication with members of the community
Pointless notifications create distance between the leaders and members.
Creating Community Rituals
The final session I attended was led by Isar Meitis, CEO of Be The Stage (BeTheStage.live), a CaaS company (Community as a Service) spearheading a new marketing category called Relationship-Driven Growth. Isar is involved in the strategy definition and implementation of communities for businesses of different sizes and industries, such as tech startups, legal, healthcare, and real estate.
Isar, a serial entrepreneur from Israel, held leadership positions in 3 tech startups before co-founding Be The Stage. Throughout his career, Isar learned that relationships drive the world, and now his team gets to help other companies develop meaningful relationships at scale through community building. Isar said that creating a fun and exciting way to educate and inspire community members builds deeper relationships over time while creating content that the community leader can use for marketing and repurposing on blogs, videos, and podcasts.
After the event, I headed to Central Station (a Hilton hotel and bar) to meet a few community leaders for drinks and casual conversation. Just as I sat down at the bar, Isar walked in, and we started talking about the boot camp, my experience, and how excited we were to connect that day.
During our session, you can decide whether you want to focus on strategy or implementation as the primary focus. If you have a structure and a plan, we can discuss how to implement that better and improve your process. If you don’t have a structure or a plan, we can work to create a roadmap for the next 30,60 and 90 days.
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