Building community through events

[Grace_R]

Recently, my family and I moved back to my hometown, and now, as an adult and parent to a toddler, I have a far greater appreciation for it. In particular, I’m amazed by the number of local events, which will allow me to form a community and provide special experiences for my son. 

For example, our public library hosts free board game nights for adults 18 and up. A brewpub nearby hosts events like Build Your Own Succulent Plant night. And the Drive-in Theatre down the road hosted an egg hunt for Easter.

Tell us about an event your organization has hosted, or one you’ve attended, that was successful in building community. What aspects of it allowed people to come together in a meaningful way?

If this discussion gives you the inspiration to host an event, learn about the ways you can utilize our event tool to make it a success!

[Abigail_S]

I LOVE when businesses do this! There is a local axe-throwing place near me who hosts a ladies night on Wednesdays and if you go to the restaurant next door, you get $5 off for the hour that you axe throw! This is a great marketing tactic, especially if you are in a building or plaza with other small businesses. Try networking and feed ideas off of each other! 

[Grace_R]

@Abigail_S I love that! Small businesses supporting and driving business to one another is a great way to build community!

[Chris-S]

As a fellow nerd and bookworm, board gaming at a library sounds incredible @Grace_R.

To our experts @DavidFischerSolutionsForGrowth, @ACTIVATE, @MelanieDiehl, @TraceyLeeDavis, do you have any success stories to share around events?

[DavidFischerSolutionsForGrowth]

We have a number of clients who build community very successfully. One of our clients conducts on-site demonstrations of the products they sell. This allows them to meet their customers and allows their customers to network with each other. They are very popular events. We promote these events by posting them on their website, social media channels, producing direct mail campaigns, email campaigns.

In addition, some of our clients actively participate in their community events, seamlessly blending work with fun and getting to connect with their customers. Their customers realize they are part of the community in which they operate. We have found that when we feature these events in their emails, they consistently spark significant interest and the emails achieve higher open rates.

[TraceyLeeDavis]

Along with my marketing business, I also co-own a networking organization called Women's Networking Alliance. We host regular networking meetings for our different chapters, but also have several big, organization-wide events every year, which the general public is welcome to attend. Because we are a networking organization, we always have networking breaks, so lots of community building happens during those!

[Chris-S]

@TraceyLeeDavis modern Renaissance woman 😎

[MelanieDiehl]

I serve as VP of Marketing for an international faith-based women's networking organization, The Tapestry Network, and one of our primary marketing pillars is events, both in-person and virtually. Regardless of location, each event supports a nonprofit organization. Oftentimes the featured nonprofit provides a speaker and brings their guests (board members, volunteers, etc), It's a win-win for everyone: the nonprofit gets exposure to an interested audience, and the networking group gets to meet like-minded women and grow their network.

Bottom line: events can be a very successful marketing tactic.

[Chris-S]

Thanks for including the link to your organization @MelanieDiehl 

[Caitlin_M]

I love listening to K-pop and one of the coolest things I've participated in are events that occur around album releases. Fans gather at local small businesses (usually bubble tea shops) to talk with each other, sing along to new music, play games, and create communities based on our common interests. I've met some wonderful individuals at them and we've become friends. Some events have part of their ticket sales go toward local charities!