In time, many social events become the centerpoint of a community that develops around them. Community management is no small topic; in this section, we’ll focus on the question of what platform to use to organize and communicate with your attendees, as well as ideas for fostering community.
You need to be able to communicate with attendees in order to share the details of your upcoming event and invite them back in the future. There are a number of methods you can use to do so, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are some top options, with pros and cons for each – though of course this is not an exhaustive list.
Ultimately, the best approach might be a little bit of all of the above. For example, you might build an email list that you can use to send out your event invitations, while also putting your event on Bloom, creating an event on Facebook, and creating a Discord server or Facebook group to grow your community.
Even if you start an event successfully on your own, finding reliable, engaged, socially-connected co-leads from within your attendees will make it easier to run the event long term.
Having multiple event leads has a number of perks. It means that if one person needs to sit out an event (whether planned or unplanned), someone else is there to make sure the event goes forward. Having multiple points of view with regard to planning and problem solving helps better ideas emerge.
As you build your team, be conscious that you’re all clear on who’s responsible for what, how decisions are made, and so on. Make sure that everyone’s time and input is respected. This is a great opportunity to put those non-monogamy skills – like clear communication, stating boundaries and desires, etc. – into practice!