Virtually Seamless: Online Networks to
Offline Community BuildingPeggy Duvette
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Today’s Speaker
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Peggy DuvetteExecutive Director,
WiserEarth
Virtually Seamless
Online networks to Offline Community
Building
Presenter: Peggy Duvette
Executive Director, WiserEarth
www.nonprofitwebinars.comTwitter Hashtag: #wiserearth #npwebinars
Online Networks
Which ones? Do you know where
you community is?
Online Movement building
Huffington Post, 10.16.10
co-authored by Marianne Manilov and Taj James.
Online / Offline Balance
It is one or the other?
Handshake still matters
“Personal connections provide energy and cohesion”
Jennifer Lentfer, How Matters
Case Study: WiserEarth
How it started
•Collaboration between 3
organizations
•Small group as a foundation
•The first gathering was at a bar
Now is…
• Network of over 395
members
• Just had its 17th gathering
• Co created with 6 other
organizations a BarCamp
conference last year
• Trusted and respected local
network
Beyond WiserParis
• Expanded to 16 cities
• WiserRio just had its first
gathering last month
• Local leaders that volunteer
their time are key to success
Online Space
Central place for local leaders to get started,
connect with others, and share best practices
Local Gatherings
Our learnings
• Start small
• Engage volunteers at the right time
• Commit to connecting with and engaging
members of your community to co-create
successful events
Our learnings
• Each local group is different
• Invite the community be part of setting
the agenda and facilitating
• Always follow up after face to face
gatherings
Case Study: NetSquared
case study courtesy of
Amy Sample Ward
NetSquared local events provide
a chance to connect face-to-face
with those interested in the
intersection between social
technologies and social change
79 groups meeting every month around the
world
165 volunteer organizers around the network
Case Study: NetSquared
• Does your organization hold events for members of
your community?
• Do you need to grow globally?
• How do you intermix local and global?
• Will you structure top-down, bottom-up or hybrid?
• Who will play the role of intermediary?
case study courtesy of
Amy Sample Ward
Case Study: Learnings
• Local planning
• Strengths of mixing top-down
with bottom-up
case study courtesy of
Amy Sample Ward
Case Study: The Climate Network
Offline to Online to Offline
“Build it and they will come”
Great lessons learned
Case Study: The Climate Network
The goal was to create a unified online
community for the climate movement:
- Provide local groups and organizers with the tools
and give their efforts an online voice and platform to
support their offline work;
- Create political pressure by documenting and
mapping the movement for legislators
- Give each organization the ability to share
supporters and content in a networked community to
reflect the unity of the movement
Case Study: The Climate Network
Lessons learned:
- Project vision came from one group
- Intended audience was not consulted
- Technology use
- A lack of capacity
By Garth Moore, Michael Silberman and Liz Butler
http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2010/9/14/offline-to-online-to-
offline-lessons-learned-in-building-a-c.html
Your gatherings
Tips for organizing your own
successful community gatherings
Survey
What does your community really
want?
Engage
Engage the community from the
beginning!
Leverage
People in your online community
have skills
Volunteer
Registration, Live tweeting, taking
photos and videos
Start small
It is not about the number of people
Focus on the quality of interaction
Not everyone will come, that’s OK!
Quality of interaction
Encourage people to meet each
other
Participative Format
Use technology when needed but
don’t get hung up on it
Participative Format
Who is who?
Use the 3 tags format
Sustenance!
Do I need to say anything?
Fun and empowering
Make it fun!
Document the gatherings
Takes some photos..
Pictures inspire… and videos too!
Remember..
It does not end after the event…
• Always send a Thank
You to participants
• Summarize what
happened, who came,
pictures/videos and next
steps, then share it with
participants
• Continue the
conversations after the
event online
A few resources
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