Building An Online Community Through Live Events, Teleseminars And Webinars!
Carol Ross
The following post was an entry by one of our spectacular finalists in our Awesome Engagement Strategies Contest. Finalists showcased their ideas, and whoever got the most traction (i.e. comments and social shares) within five days of publication was crowned the winner. Check out this post for the complete list of Engagement Strategies Contest finalists!
When it comes to engaging your audience with an event, most people have a preference for interacting either face-to-face or virtually. But it’s best not to think “either/or”. Instead think “both/and”.
Several years ago, I interviewed Jeremiah Owyang, a former Forrester analyst for social media. Jeremiah is a master at building community. I’ll never forget when he said, “Effective community building is not done solely online or solely in-person. It requires both.” Jeremiah went on to tell me that when he travels, he makes a point of arranging a meet up and inviting his followers on social media.
Taking a page out of Jeremiah’s book, I emailed my list last summer with the following, before traveling to Chicago on business:
Hi <first name>,
What’s better than eating at one of my favorite restaurants in all the world? Meeting up with kindred spirits, to feed body, mind, and soul.
Join me on July 19, in Chicago, for a meetup of remarkable individuals. You’ll meet members of my “brand community” who are smart, accomplished, and interesting.
After years of gathering my “tribe” online with virtual events (e.g., webinars, teleseminars), the in-person event had a special appeal – for me and my audience.
In the process, I learned a lot more than bridging the gap between online and in-person engagement. I became aware of the role of three basic human desires in creating engagement:
- The desire to “not miss out”
- The desire to stand out
- The desire to belong
Not Missing Out
Many people will make the extra effort to meet one-on-one if they know you are visiting from out of town.
This also applies to in-person events, where the interaction is one-to-many or many-to-many. Urgency (“I’m only in town for 48 hours”) and scarcity (“I won’t be back for another year”) will cut through the clutter and move your event to the front of the attention queue.
I was able to draw an interesting and intimate mix of followers for dinner at a local restaurant. My audience knew that this would likely be the only time I could meet them during my brief visit to the Windy City. Given that I live in Denver, I would not be back any time soon.
Standing Out
Everyone likes to feel special.
My subject line of “<first name>, Will You Join Me in Chicago on July 19?“, made people feel like this was a personal invitation, even though it was sent out as a mass email.
To encourage others to be “crazy brilliant”, I’m making this offer: If you are coming from another state (e.g, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana), dinner is on me.
The story of the person who flew from San Francisco to Chicago is a blog post I wrote with the title, “Why Traveling 2,000 Miles for Dinner is Crazy Brilliant.” The title hit upon a shared value for my target audience-to be seen as “crazy brilliant”. In other words, to be different and smart, at the same time. I realized that giving my audience an opportunity to live their values, or just dream about doing so, was a powerful way of engaging them.
Belonging
When it came time for the dinner with about a dozen people, I started the conversation with an icebreaker.
Each person was asked to answer the same question. This allowed everyone a chance to both belong and stand out. I made sure that I answered the icebreaker first, to role model the desired behavior AND to make it feel safe for others to join in.
Results
The results were overwhelmingly positive with dozens responding to my email invite and a wonderful dinner with kindred spirits a few weeks later.
While it can be easy to focus on who showed up at the in-person event, the power of this strategy is that it engages even those who cannot attend. For example, I received email responses from:
- People who I hadn’t heard from in over 5 years and who had been on my mailing list for at least that long
- People who asked when I would be traveling to where they lived so we could meet up
- People who I had no personal connection with other than they were on my mailing list
- People who told me, if they only could <fill in the blank>, they would travel hours by car or plane for the event. They dreamed of being remarkable.
One person from East Coast even forwarded the email to his sister in Chicago, so that she and I could meet!
The dinner led to conversations with 25% of the attendees who were interested in my services. (I coach people who “don’t fit” in traditional careers to find their tribe and sweet spot in work and life.)
Afterward, I blogged about the event and posted a few photos from the dinner. This let others know what they missed and created interest for the next meetup (which I did a few months later during a subsequent business trip to Chicago.)
How You Can Adapt This Approach
To make this strategy work for you, answer the following questions:
- If you are employing mainly in-person events to engage your online community, how can you extend the conversation online, with a virtual event? Teleseminars are a great way to interact with attendees spread across countries and continents. Use a simple format-an hour long Q+A session or an interview with an expert on a topic relevant to your audience are both good choices.
- If you are in the process of building your community online, what types of in-person events can you do that will lead to a deeper connection, at little to no cost? Meet ups are easy if you have a favorite restaurant and can book a reservation for a slow night (e.g., Monday or Tuesday). Or look for a coffee house that has a separate meeting area.
- In the invitation to your next event, how can you create a sense of urgency and scarcity? It’s easy to create urgency and scarcity for an in-person event while traveling to a new city. But what about virtual events? While it’s become the norm for webinars and teleseminars to be recorded, it also lets the audience off the hook from attending your event. Why show up when you can listen to the recording? By announcing that a virtual event will not be recorded, the message is this: “Show up or lose out.”
- How can you extend your invitation to the widest possible audience, even if it’s an event that will be held in one geographical location? People love to be invited, even if logistically, it’s a stretch to attend. Spur your audience’s imagination on what it would be like to attend with visual imagery or stories. I hold free Q+A sessions with the title “Campfire Conversations”. In the invitation, I use a photo of people gathered around the campfire to give the recipient a sense of the atmosphere they can expect.
- How can you make your attendees feel special? Remember that people are carving time out of their busy schedule to attend your event. Make them feel like they made the right decision. Honor them by welcoming their voice, being a good listener, and asking them what they want to get out of the event. Whenever I’m waiting for an event to get started, whether in-person or virtual, I’ll ask individual attendees in the room or online why they decided to attend and what they want to walk away with at the end of the event. This gives the attendees a stake in the event-a reason to hang around and give their undivided attention. Afterward, use social media to let people know how much you enjoyed the event and the attendees.
- How will attendees experience a sense of belonging when they attend your event?
Pick an icebreaker question that everyone can answer, and one that allows each person’s uniqueness to come out. For example, I’ve used the following as an icebreaker:
“Each of us has a story to tell. If you are willing, tell us about a turning point in your story.”
Who doesn’t love a story? Before you know it, you’ll have a room full of story-tellers and story-listeners, with shared experiences and interesting situations that draw people together.
Don’t forget to be genuinely open to having each person add their perspective to the conversation. The most vibrant communities are ones where members are continually learning and growing together.
Engagement is more than a one-time event. It’s a relationship with your audience that pays off, over the long term. You may have hit it out of the ball park with a workshop or a compelling teleseminar. But engagement is about delivering consistent value, over time. Without that, your audience will have no reason to stick with you. They will give their limited attention to someone or something else. Earn the right to be heard, day in and day out, and you will have no trouble attracting your tribe-the people who know, like, and trust you.
about author
Carol Ross
Carol Ross is a career coach for boundary crossers--intelligent, creative professionals who walk in more than one world but fit wholly in no one world. By helping them forge their own path, her clients experience the joy of standing out and belonging at the same time.
Read more posts by Carol Ross
Shannon Lagasse
Wow! What a great idea! I would love to do something like this. I’m thinking that this would actually work really well for me. I know the perfect place to do it. Again, more ideas, just need to follow through and implement! Perhaps I should start with creating a business plan, launch plan, content creation/editorial calendar, etc…
Carol Ross
Glad that you are excited about the idea, Shannon. One of the things I really like about this type of event is the simplicity, especially if you already have a place in mind. I’m not sure where you are in your business, but I think this is an event that’s fun to do at any point in the lifecycle. Good luck!
Sarah
Carol, as your post points out, it is an interesting space we find ourselves in these days. Those of us who are used to connecting face-to-face should now also consider the power and possibilities of online connections. Those who have had more of a Digital Native experience should now also consider the value of the in-person engagement and connection. So, we must consider flexing different “connecting and networking” muscles, if you will. But, as you point out, at the end of the day, we all crave engaging and being recognized and as many of your responses say, there is nothing like the power of the in-person connection. Thanks for such a great post.
Carol Ross
Flexing different “connecting and networking” muscles–well said, Sarah! Thanks for reading and glad you resonated with the post.
Amandah
I agree with Carol that people hunger for a connection. As far as in-person events go, they’re great for seeing peoples’ facial expressions and body language. You won’t see social cues in an online teleseminar or webinar, unless, of course, everyone participates through a video chat.
Social cues can offer a lot of insight into your audience versus asking people to raise their hands in a webinar or answer “yes” and “no” questions. I know I learned a lot about my potential target audience just by sitting in a room with them. Crazy, huh?
Kimberly Jones
Wait…so let me get this straight. You sat down, IN PERSON, with your audience and had a real, back-and-forth, IN PERSON conversation where you looked at each other in the same air space? How did this work? Did you IM across the table or just text?
I vaguely remember doing this once, back in high school. I forget who it was with…maybe my family? We didn’t have cell phones then so we had no choice. I might have enjoyed it even.
It’s an engagement idea so crazy it might just work! Brilliant!
Carol Ross
LOL. Just goes to show you that if you wait long enough, what’s old becomes new again. On a more serious note, people really do hunger for connection. You just have to figure out a way to give it to them.
Amandah
Hi Carol,
Thank you for sharing your link and Marci’s book. I’ll check out the resources today.
Amandah
Carol,
Your virtual networking event sounds wonderful. Will you be conducting another event anytime soon? I have a client meeting and won’t be able to attend.
Using Meetup
I attended a resume writing workshop yesterday just to see if there’s anything new in the world of resume writing. While I didn’t learn anything new, I did learn that people between the ages of 55-65 could use better workshops that are targeted to finding a job in the 21st century. Some of them didn’t know what LinkedIn or Google AdWords Keyword tool was. I’m thinking about starting a Meetup for folks in the above age group where I could share my knowledge about resume writing, starting a blog/website, online portfolios, etc. Or, I could approach local recreation centers that have adult classes.
This is an idea that’s formulating in my mind. I’ll have to do more research on the target market and needs for career coaching/counseling.
Carol Ross
Amanda–Sorry you won’t be able to make it to the virtual networking event. Not sure when I’ll do it again but it will be sometime this year. I’m still planning out my calendar for 2013–doing one free virtual event each month, consisting of a mix of free Q+A calls on career development, virtual networking, and live interviews with career experts. If you want to get notified of upcoming events through my ezine, you can subscribe at http://www.carolrossandassociates.com.
I think your idea on helping older Boomers find a job in the 21st century is a good one. You might consider picking up the book, The Encore Career Handbook by Marci Alboher. Many in the 55-65 yr old age group are looking for an “encore” job that provides meaning and purpose, as well a paycheck. The book is an excellent resource and may give you some ideas on alliances or ways to reach this audience more effectively.
The author is currently on book tour, so check her site (heymarci.com) to see if she may be coming to your city. (Not sure where you live. I am seeing her at a book signing tonight in Denver.) I’ve known Marci since 2007 and she’s very approachable.
Walter Akana
Hi Carol!! Awesome post!
I think that your attention to mixing virtual with live interactions highlights the true benefit of both interacting online and at meet ups. Yet, I think you have brilliantly hit on the key elements that are critical to managing our approach to relationship building and engagement.
Not missing out, standing out, belonging and results really are truly operative whenever people come together to pursue goals, get to know one another, and build relationships that matter. I am truly amazed that these dynamics are exactly what I’m seeing in some courses I’ve been taking, starting at the end of last year. Our learning groups have gone from Facebook updates to Google + Hangouts. We share our work, answer each other’s questions, and celebrate our victories. …and now we are beginning to organize meet ups for people who share geographies.
I think you’ve given us some perspectives we would do well to follow for truly engaging our communities and sharing in their richness.
Carol Ross
Thanks, Walter, for the kind words and sharing your observations about learning groups and the natural evolution to move from online to offline interactions. Isn’t it wonderful how we now have so many ways of having meaningful interactions?
BTW–tomorrow, I’m doing a virtual networking event that is a bit like speed networking with webcam. Yet another way to build those many-to-many relationships. See http://virtnetwithcr.eventbrite.com/. Join if you can!
Walter Akana
So, true, Carol!! Technology has enabled us to reach across space and time in ways we never could. I think it’s really important for people to get that!! Thanks for inviting me to your virtual event. I’ve got commitments for that time; so, let’s look at a future one!!
Carole Lévy
Hi Carol,
I’m very impressed by your strategy to engage your community. I think you are bringing the idea of creating a community to a next level. By investing your energy and money in traveling around the country to meet your tribe, you are demonstrating your courage, generosity and genuine intention to connect with other human beings. You are truly giving of yourself and holding the space for others to do the same. That’s a remarkable way of doing business and your leadership is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Carol Ross
Carole–I just hosted a meetup in Denver this evening. It was absolutely eye-opening to see complete strangers come together for dinner, engaged in deep conversation (with prompts from me that evoked meaningful responses). At the end of the meal, the group decided they wanted to get together again, with or without me! When I asked about their take-aways, what came up were the commonalities and stories that made everyone in the room feel that they were not alone in their struggles of daily life.
Can you imagine what would happen if more people adopted this idea? There is a huge opportunity for others who have a following to connect kindred spirits–for the sake of sharing our stories, finding allies, and learning from each other. That’s why I’m excited that this contest has been a way to spread the idea of building your tribe with meetups.
I continue to learn from my tribe and what it means to build a community. For that, I’m truly grateful.
Amandah
Hi Carol,
I never heard of Brene Brown and will check out her TED talk and book. Thanks for the recommendations.
Carol Ross
I think you’ll love her stuff. She’s a research professor at the University of Houston who is known for her study of vulnerability and shame. What’s so compelling about how she writes and speaks is that she puts herself in the readers’ shoes while reporting on the data. So she talks about her own reaction to the data–how she cringes that she has to do things differently if she wants a better life. Enjoy!
Wayne Hsu
Awesome post, Carol,
It is so true that delivering constant value to your audience over time is more important than merely holding big launches every now and then in converting your audience to rabid fans. It is also more mind taxing to do.
Not only will it increase familiarity with your audience, but with each offering of value, you prove that the reward is higher than their commitment (however small it is), and a little trust is gained every time. (You can also get them to say “Yes” a lot to small things building up to the big one)
In my experience, the most premium service I had ever purchase was not from the biggest name in the industry, but from a name that I have been following for 2~3 years and had taken every free to beginner course that he offered.
I saw this post in my mail box when I SHOULDN’T be checking it, but after a few lines I had to click through and couldn’t help but put in my comment. You really kept me hanging there to find out what the ice breaker line was, and not only did you gave it to us, it was great!
Carol Ross
Wayne–Thanks for reading, especially given that there are other things on your plate today!
What a great point about building trust over time–e.g., having your audience say “yes” to a lot of small things before saying “yes” to something big. It’s easy to forget this point as a small biz owner. People aren’t going to clamor for your first offer, or your second, or even your third, no matter how compelling, if you haven’t built trust with them. I think there’s brain science to show that we are wired to avoid risk, more than pursuing rewards. (See the book, Your Brain at Work by David Rock.)
Gary Hedges
Carol, I’m in the process of formalizing a coaching business (have been coaching for over 30 years) and your ideas are terrific! I’m also engaged in Danny’s Audience course. Thank you very much for sharing your experience.
Carol Ross
Many thanks, Gary, for your kind words. I’m so glad that you found the post helpful. If you’ve been coaching for more than 3 decades it’s likely that you have a following consisting of loyal clients. That’s the perfect pool of people to draw from for a first meetup! And if they are not in one location (which is the case for many coaches with clients around the country or world), you might try a virtual gathering with Google Hangouts. Not as good as in-person, but better than nothing. Good luck!
Amandah
Carol,
I enjoyed this post, especially how you emphasized belonging. The reason why I dropped out of some courses and memberships (and even stopped commenting on some websites) is I didn’t have a sense of belonging. Why should I pay a monthly fee if I didn’t feel a connection? I know everyone has their personalities, but when you’re the creator of a blog, course, or membership, I’d think you’d want to make people feel as if they belonged. I’m reminded of the quote, “People won’t remember what you said or did, they’ll remember how you made them feel.”
Thanks again for sharing this information. It serves as a good reminder when we meet with people, whether they’re clients or colleagues.
Carol Ross
Thanks, Amandah, for your insight on how belonging (or not) plays out for you. As you point out, it’s a subtle thing (how someone makes you feel), but powerful (determining whether you stay engaged or not).
Have you read any of Brene Brown’s books or seen her popular TED talk? In her newest book, Daring Greatly (btw-highly recommended), she talks about belonging in this way: “Love and belonging are irreducible needs of all men, women, and children. We’re hard-wired for connection–it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. The absence of love, belonging, and connection always leads to suffering.”
Jamie Nast
Couldn’t agree more. I have been certifying Idea Mapping and Mind Mapping Instructor for 20+ years. Whenever I teach a certification course, previously certified instructors are invited to return. This creates a sense of tribe for the returning instructors (some of them have returned to 15 or more certifications), provides a great opportunity to hone skills and reconnect. It also shows new participants and instructors the close bond they are now invited to join.
Carol is challenging me on the scarcity and urgency. I think I can do better on this.
Carol Ross
Sounds like you have a vibrant community, Jamie! And I’m guessing after 20+ years, members of your community have made some wonderful friends. Not sure how often you teach a certification course. It may be that it’s infrequent enough that it creates that scarcity and urgency to attend.
One thing I’m wondering about. Do you devote some time during your certification focused on nurturing and recognizing the community as a whole? I’m thinking about rituals, for example, openings and closings, that allow each person in the room to be seen and appreciated, while celebrating the group.
Jamie Nast
Carol,
I teach a certification maybe every other year and 99% of the time it is held in Palm Beach, FL at the same location. I also try to teach a public course there in December each year. Certified instructors will come to that as well if they know that some of the gang is coming. Because we use the same place we have years of memories there including surviving hurricane Wilma and no power for 5 days before we could all leave for home.
The night before class starts I stock up on wine, juice, soda and snacks and we gather poolside in the lawn furniture in a big circle. New folks introduce themselves and share what brought them here. Repeaters share a bit of their past and what they are up to now.
Class always ends with a champagne graduation celebration.
I think you are right about the scarcity working because of the infrequency of the class.
Jamie
Carol Ross
How wonderful that you have the continuity of gathering in the same place over so many years and a routine for opening and closing the event. My guess is that the old-timers love this and the newbies feel a clear sense of belonging. What a precious gift you have given your students!
Carol Ross
The ice breaker idea came from my work with brand story. With every great story, there’s a turning point. I think everyone has a story worth telling. While we may not see the drama initially that “moves the story forward”, it’s there–because life is full of surprises that we never expected!
I think the challenge is to create an safe space for people to tell their stories. I’m guessing there’s something in how you interact with others that creates that safe space and allows a friendship to start.
Camara Randolph
Brilliant and well executed strategy Carol. I really love the ice breaker idea. I’ve been at an event where the networking wasn’t quite as structured. Fortunately I was able to make friends but the idea of getting to know everyone is quite appealing.
Thanks for sharing your crazy brilliance once again.
Catherine Kaputa
Hello Carol,
This is an important message. In today’s Internet-focused environment, it’s easy to downplay traditional ways of engagement and community. I look to Carol and her blog to keep me posted on the cutting-edge ways of engaging my tribe and I’ve attended one of her workshops so I know how well she integrates both. Bravo!
Carol Ross
Thanks, Catherine, for your kind words and support. I agree that it’s easy to get focused on the online stuff and forget about how powerful the in-person interaction can be. I hope this year to get to NY and break bread with you.
Carol Ross
Thanks, Deb, for your example. I really like how you’ve related this idea to something you already do in your personal life. I think we all can relate to traveling for the holidays and not having enough time to see everyone! And I’m guessing that great networkers have the same problem when they are traveling for business.
So here’s a twist that I’m trying out this year. I’m offering a free workshop to select business contacts in US cities where I’d like to host a meetup (e.g., San Francisco). They pay my travel and expenses and in return, get a workshop that I’ve sold in the past to major clients and has been well-received (e.g., documented attendee feedback). I get an opportunity to gather with my tribe, get exposed to new audiences, and do work I love. I’m only doing 5 of these, in specific months, throughout 2013. (There’s that scarcity thing again.)
Deborah Keyek-Franssen
You know the drill: you head back to your hometown for the holidays, and spend most of your hard-earned vacation traipsing from one relative’s house to another’s. My husband and I finally learned to host a family gathering (or to convince someone else to host one!) whenever we went back for a visit. We got to see more people we cared about, and still had some time to relax.
It wasn’t until reading Carol’s post that the lightbulb went on in terms of being able to spend time with my professional tribe, one that is scattered across the continent. I could do the same thing with them that I do at the holidays with my family!
What if I had meet-ups with my people if I were already in town for another purpose (like visiting my parents, for instance)? Yes, that would work well. But, what if I went to their neck of the woods with no other purpose than to strengthen and expand my network? Hmmmm. Now I could be cookin’ with gas! Fairly low investment, really high returns. Hmmmm.
Thanks, Carol. You’ve got me thinking!
Dave Rothacker
I think the dinner method of engaging with your community Carol, facilitates perpetual home run hitting in three ways.
If one’s community is from the same industry, it’s easier to engage online than that of boundary crossers. The chance for boundary crossers to meet in person strengthens their ability to engage online
An audience will stick with you longer when they are sticking with each other. Dinner engagements strengthen all-around stickiness.
Finally, stronger synapses will course throughout your community due to the common ground being established in person. Your dinner engagements are producing cells comprised of multiple nodes. A system of multiple cells will produce a greater degree of amplification than that of loose nodes.
Carol Ross
Thanks, Dave, for weighing in with some great food for thought! Good point on boundary crossers and in-person connections. I agree that it’s even more important when your community doesn’t have obvious commonalities to get them together in person.
Love the idea of stickiness and how the bonds formed within your community have an effect on overall stickiness. And cool metaphor (I think you mean this both literally and figuratively, right?) on the stronger synapses.
A couple of years ago, I developed a Networking Maturity Model. It starts with what most people default to when they think of networking–purely transactional–and moves up from there with relationship building. It ends with community building, where it’s not just one-to-one relationships that you are developing, but many-to-many relationships. That’s both rewarding and difficult!
Dave Rothacker
10-4 on the metaphor question Carol.
On the many to many community relationship building point…once upon a time I belonged to a vibrant, boundary crossing, global, learning community led by a very respected author who was a management coach.
In appreciation for her community building effort, we took one of her books and each one of us physically wrote a note in the book telling her what she meant to us. Here’s where it gets good…
We collected the names and addresses of all participants and then someone put together a logical route the book would travel throughout the world. When one finished their note, they would send it to the next geographically closest person. The book traveled to Australia, Europe, Canada and the U.S. I think it took about six months. To track the book’s adventure and tell stories, we created a double secret probationary Google group. Activities in that group energized the community. The project ended when one of our members who lived on the same Pacific island as our leader, hand delivered the book. Our friend told us that she got as much enjoyment out of the book as she did reading months worth of Google group stories.
Carol Ross
WOW! What a beautiful story of community-building! I like how the process of achieving the end goal resulted in a story worth telling, via the Google group, and that the community created something together that was remarkable and memorable. And how simple the idea is at its core–to say thank you. Thanks, Dave, for sharing.
M Graham
This post is “spot on.” I meet a lot of people who prefer one method over another. Most prefer “face to face,” since it’s the traditional way of networking. Many prefer social media because it requires less effort than actually going out. But both are needed and uniquely valuable. Some social media interactions can be followed up with face to face to solidify/confirm the relationship. A good balance of both works wonders.
Kudos to Carol for an insightful article.
Carol Ross
Thanks for your comments–yes to balance! I like to say that if you are *only* using social media or *only* in-person networking, it’s like working with one hand tied behind your back. You are at a distinct disadvantage.
Interesting factoids that reinforces your idea of moving social media interactions to face-to-face, reported by the Wall Street Journal:
1) The biggest gains in happiness came in moving from fewer than 10 real-world friends to having 10-20 friends. (Beyond 20, the increase in happiness/well-being was small.)
2) The total number of your Facebook friends was found to be unrelated to happiness.
This comes from a study titled, “Comparing the Happiness Effects of Real and On-line Friends”, http://www.nber.org/papers/w18690. So taking the online relationship to an in-person relationship is not only good for building community, but also developing more happiness for those with a small number of friends!
Carol Alm
Yes, Yes! It’s true.
Carol Ross has been ‘crazy brilliant’ for a long time now, and this blog is another example. Her combination of right/left brain techniques is utterly engaging. So much so, that I’ll be scheduling my own meet up – and engaging in a virtual meet up, for my many clients who share similar stories, but have not had the tribal opportunity of standing out as well as belonging. I wouldn’t want them – or me – to miss it.
Carol Ross
Many thanks, Carol, for the kind words. I love this idea of meetups for your tribe because it’s so accessible.
I didn’t mention this in the post but one of the biggest things that held me back from doing one in my own backyard (in the Denver area) was this question: “What if no one shows up?” (It’s that darn ego thing again. Sigh.) It’s one thing if you are traveling and people get that you are only visiting for a short time. It’s another if it’s your own home turf.
So one day, I mentioned this to my husband and he said, “What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll have a nice dinner.” I realized he was right.
I’m doing my first local meetup in two days. I’m taking the attitude of “whoever shows up are the right people.” Engaging others means taking a risk, one that’s worth taking!