How To Build Community's Identity

I DENT I TYCoworking India Conference New Delhi, 2016

Vineel Reddy Pindi Collab House

Community’s identity is complex.

Product of: • Social • Cultural • Technological • Infrastructural and • Ecosystem forces

The Challenge

• Identify ourselves in the ecosystem. • 2 & half years ago. • No awareness on Coworking, Makerspace or

Hackerspace. • Cost of two memberships = rent of a single

bedroom apartment. • People didn’t see value.

Collab House started with the idea of building a collaboration space for Hackers, Makers & Startups.

What We Did

• Focus on community building initiatives. • Low entry barrier for people to come and

explore. • Host anything and everything that came our way. • Assessed on what works and what doesn’t work. • Kept exploring on the kind of things to support

with and weave into the ecosystem.

The Result

• More than 90% of the paid memberships are converted from the people who attended one of the events.

• Value in Community, Networking, Shared Resources, Skilled peers.

• 5,000+ supporting community. • 300+ events in 2 years. • Power and potential of Collaboration.

WHY BUILD

ACOMMUNITY’SIDENTITY?

Most successful Communities have a trademark feel to them.

Trademark feel = • Features • Amenities • Culture • Infrastructure and • More

This is what attracts people to explore and join communities.

HOW BUILD A

COMMUNITY’SIDENTITY?

TO

1. Have A Vision• Create goals for your community. • Plan what kind of people do you want to

join your community. • What makes you unique? • What gives your community its character? • Define your community’s core focus.

2. Engage• Provide opportunities for locals to reflect on

their shared and individual experiences. • Enable people to participate. • Plan events. • Foster a sense of belonging and ownership. • Serendipity.

2. EngageTap into existing events. Example:

• Startup Saturday • Startup Weekend • Startup Grind • HackaDay • Design Evenings • DemoDays • Meetups • Conferences

2. EngageCreate your own events. Example:

• Mentoring sessions • Hackathons • Design Workshops • Guest Talks • Screenings • Go creative! • Connect back to your community vision.

3. Empower• Let your members be advocate for the

community. • A community should build its own

strategies to build its assets and market them.

• Communities should use local talent to build their identity.

4. Get the word out!• Social Media - Facebook, Instagram,

Twitter, Blog, Youtube. • Document what happens in your

community and create a narrative for both members and the world.

5. Community Metrics• Number of people engaged. • Number of events. • Members growth path. • Press mentions.

6. Partnerships• Build strategic partnerships with local and

global initiatives. • Influencers • “Collaboration is the new competition”.

7. Tools and Resources• Create a public events calendar. • Leverage online tools like meetup.org. • Send newsletter to community Mailing list. • Online and offline tools for the community

to collaborate.

8. Celebrate!