August 2022 Community Manager Meeting: Organizing and Engaging Communities

It was great seeing so many of you at yesterday’s meeting on the topic of community organizing and engagement. Special thanks go to Fedora, Laura G, Katherine, and Jean for presenting their case studies.

In our meeting, we reviewed community engagement research, best practices, and tips - including Katherine Spivey’s article, 8 Ways Community of Practice Managers Can Improve Member Engagement on Listservs.

We reviewed 8 best practices for engaging our communities:

1. Focus on understanding the needs of members
2. Target members (a large community doesn’t necessarily mean it’s successful)
3. Establish a structure for sharing best practices; make them widely accessible
4. Create a safe environment for sharing challenges without judgment
5. Provide venues for dialogue and problem solving AND one-way presentations
6. Create working groups for specific learning tracks
7. Quantify success stories as a way to illustrate results
8. Recognize leaders and member accomplishments

Regarding case studies, Jean described how she used a survey and a selection committee to ensure an inclusive UX Summit. Laura G and Fedora explained how they organized a working group to establish a consistent way for users to select languages on federal websites. Katherine talked about strategies for encouraging member participation on listservs. Ammie shared how the Web Managers community partners with the Federal Web Council to increase awareness of the Council and connect people to their Council representatives.

And finally, we briefly talked about self-descriptions and reflected on our progress in sharing them during meetings and events.