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Our secrets to success in forming an online community in just six gatherings

If you follow our blog or keep up with us on social media, you’ll know this is all we’ve been talking about recently. A few short months ago Matchbox Co-founder Arianna Rehak teamed up with Amanda Kaiser, MBA of Kaiser Insights LLC to create a cohort of over 150 associations to meet bi-weekly over the course of twelve weeks. The goal? Learn, invent, and investigate new ways of networking virtually so that we could all incorporate palpable takeaways into our own communities.

Well, we did the thing. We formed a community we called the “Virtual Networking Incubator” which gathered a total of six times, venturing into the world of strategies to help build personal connections online… while actually building personal connections online. What we created was heartwarming, valuable, and, to put it quite simply, amazing. So, a little over a week ago we hosted Results: A Networking Garden Party in order to share out our valuable findings and reveal how we planted the seed in the first place (that is to say, the steps we took to build our incubator community).

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Using collaborative innovation to shine a spotlight on the social good tech entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

We’ve had the opportunity to partner with many incredible organizations, helping them with their transition to virtual events, but few bring the kinds of the opportunities and challenges offered by Digital4Good, an inspirational social good + tech innovation competition from #ICANHELP.

While the event industry has been adapting to a “new normal”, we are happy that as an already established virtual media company we’ve been able to alleviate some of the growing pains that accompany trying something new.

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Sharing what we’ve learned from our cohort of 150+ associations, 12 weeks, and some good old-fashioned creativity

Over the last year, the world has been venturing into the realm of virtual interaction, itching to make meaningful connections from one screen to another. Us included – as a virtual event production company, it is our responsibility to bring communities together and use the virtual space to optimize user experience. With co-creation at the forefront of our mind, we decided to team up with our friend Amanda Kaiser with Kaiser Insights LLC in order to solve for virtual networking obstacles. We wanted to plant a garden.

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Why we’re committing to a 100% work-from-anywhere team.

We’ve been thinking about this for a while:

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Virtual networking. To many these days, that phrase is dripping with doubt, obstacles, and lack of creativity. Virtual events can feel isolating and disconnected for attendees, and as an event facilitator it may seem daunting finding enticing ways to connect attendees to one another and encourage networking in a less familiar space.

 But what’s the best way to curve design roadblocks? As we always like to say – co-creation! There are so many creative forms of networking for the virtual space (which are not only effective, but FUN) that have yet to be explored, and we know a large portion of them have yet to be brainstormed in the first place. That’s why we are teaming up with Amanda Kaiser at Kaiser Insights LLC to produce a Virtual Networking Incubator of community members committed to exploring creative virtual event design made for expanding attendee networks.

Our Virtual Networking Incubator consists of four basic steps: a journey you are invited to embark upon with us.

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This article has been co-authored by our very own Arianna Rehak and Leah Lazzari CMP. The two have been a dynamic duo in designing for excellent hybrid experiences – Arianna bringing her virtual event planning experience, and Leah bringing her face-to-face event experience.

We know you’ve heard this before, but we’re going to say it anyway: The year 2020 has been filled with unexpected turns and tons of learning curves. Organizations have had little choice but to produce their content virtually, and in turn the virtual platform isn’t so intimidating to participants anymore.

The silver lining of it all is that the world is discovering the perks of going virtual. There is no denying your community is thirsty for face-to-face interaction, but the good news? You don’t have to choose between in-person and virtual.

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Do you ever come across people who have the kind of “Yes and?!” energy that makes you go, “we MUST find a way to collaborate!”

That was exactly my reaction when meeting the CEO and Founder of Snöball, Rachel Stephan. Snöball is a technology designed to make it really easy for micro-influencers to spread the word about upcoming events.

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We believe that important conversations should be inclusive. Diversity of thought and perspective leads to richer discussions and better solutions. One important way to help virtual events be more inclusive is to make them more accessible.

So we put together an Accessibility Guide on considerations for producing the most accessible event we know how to make, inspired by the seven Universal Design (UD) Principles, which you can learn more about on the National Disability Authority’s website. We drew from the four principles that were most applicable to the virtual platform, but it’s important to note that not one size fits all. 

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