The Ryan Meetup Phenomenon: A Playbook for Crafting a Thriving Community

If your name is Ryan, then I’ve got the community for you. However, there are three essential guidelines you’ll need to meet before you can join their vibrant Meetup community: This group gathers monthly to socialize, united solely by the common thread of sharing the name Ryan. Their shared aversion to the name Bryan has […]

Vision, Mission, and Values: Part 1

One of my best friends moved 2000 miles away from me to set up a new life with his family in Colorado.  Needless to say, we knew we had to find ways to stay connected. So we decided to plan an adventure trip together and settled on climbing a mountain. Neither of us had any […]

Every Community Needs Traditions; Here’s How To Make A Successful Tradition

Do you know what’s odder than a boat carrying a giant herring?  When that boat with the giant herring is carried through the streets of a town; it’s called the “Herring March” of Spakenburg in the Netherlands. The herring is a symbol of the town’s fishing heritage, and the parade is a celebration of community […]

Stop Trying to Engage Your Entire Community With The Same Type of Activities

It was a sad situation, knowing that the group spent thousands of dollars and no one showed up to the event.  I was working with a university in Georgia that was hosting an outdoor adventure day for their campus. Ironically, it was raining that day, so they had to move the adventure indoors. The entire […]

How to Allocate Resources For Maximum Member Engagement 

1000 Free Hugs signs cost me $40… and that was with premium paper. I used the signs for an event at a conference I was keynoting. The purpose was to create an engaging activity that connected people together and increased the energy of the conference. It took me about 30 minutes to set up the […]

The Importance of Ongoing Support for Your Smaller Community Groups

I knew the whole group would fall apart if I didn’t attend their next meeting. That was how I felt after one distraught group member messaged me to say they were in trouble. Members weren’t showing up to meetings, engagement during the meetings was low, and the group often only covered half of the agenda […]

Make Sure Your New Members Feel Welcomed Within Your Community

I felt like I was back at a Jr. High School dance where each group of friends circled up to form an impenetrable wall to block outsiders from getting in. But I wasn’t in Jr. High anymore; I was an adult at a parent mixer with my wife for our daughter’s school. We had just […]

Marketing More Won’t Solve Your Engagement Issues

FedEx Print & Office thought I was crazy for ordering 1,000 posters. A friend of mine was in a wedding competition to win a dream wedding. The competition was based on the number of votes each couple received. With less than a week left in the competition, my friend needed help getting more votes. That’s […]

Increase Engagement By Changing The Environment

I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of a 50-foot, 250-pound giant red ball. My daily morning routine to get coffee at the local cafe in Chicago before heading to work was drastically interrupted when I crossed paths with a giant red ball squeezed between two buildings. By giant, I mean 50 feet tall […]

Extroverts Can Be Scary And Decrease Engagement

Now I know how a matador feels when they get trampled by a bull. No, I wasn’t in a bull ring, but when the group of leaders charged at me as I entered the meeting room, I saw parts of my life flash in front of me, thinking it was my final moment in life. […]

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.