Community events are the lifeblood of the most successful online communities, and they should be an integral part of your community strategy.

We’ve all done it: we sit behind our computers and work tirelessly to get our online communities up and running. It’s all too easy to get lulled into the comfort of working behind the scenes when you’re growing an online community, but that doesn’t always scale. And it’s also really difficult!

If you’re struggling to get people engaged online, spark their interest offline by offering amazing in-person community events. Invite a speaker who can talk about the core values and pain points of your audience to entice members to come and get involved.

But that’s just the first step. (Aren’t there always more steps?) How to get speakers involved, how to attract members to attend, and the crucial steps you need to take afterwards are key to hosting a successful community event.

Here’s some inspiration on how successful communities were launched, and how they grew and thrived through live events – and how you can make it happen for your own community.

Case studies

How to Host Amazing Community Events: Advice from Pros at Yelp, Eventbrite, and Product Hunt

Representatives from Yelp, Eventbrite, and Product Hunt walk through the step-by-step process for hosting events for your community.

An Exclusive Spotlight on How Creative Mornings Gives Its Community Members the Tools to Run 106 Distributed Events

Every community needs someone who is process-driven. You must create processes in your community, otherwise you’ll never be able to scale long-term. Get organized, then get going.

How Twitch Won the Hearts and Minds of Millions in the Gaming Community in Just Three Years

In order to build a community of insanely passionate people, you have to hire someone who lives and breathes the dream of the community to build it. That person at Twitch is Marcus “DJWHEAT” Graham.

How to Connect Community to Customer Growth: The Culture Amp People Geekup Story

In this interview, head of community Damon Klotz shares with us how Culture Amp has impacted the Geekup business with their community meetups (and other programming) and how they plan to keep tying community back to their business growth.

From the blog

Event Communities: How To Keep Attendees Engaged After the Big Day

Two event organizers explain how they build events that create deep connections and keep their members connected outside of their events.

From the 2016 CMX Summit

Alexandra Sofen: The Power of Meaningful In-Person Community Connections

Alexandra Sofen, Forums Programming Manager at Etsy, broke down Etsy’s community programming for the audience. Her goal was to inspire community professionals to think outside the community programming box.

CMX Summit 2021

CMX Summit is the premier conference for community professionals, founders, and organizations. Join us and hundreds of your fellow community builders for community-focused sessions and connecting with community-driven professionals.

CMX Summit brings together experts and pragmatic approaches to community for business success. Our conference seeks to expand the discussions, techniques, and tactics applied to community building and support communities and their builders at scale. We want to show businesses practical ways to invest in their communities.