When Convene communicated with Alison Michalk, swarm sydney—the first face-to-face conference in Australia for online community managers—was a few months away. We asked Michalk to share her thoughts about changing up her role from online community organizer to in-person confer- ence organizer.
What will be different about swarm sydney than other conferences you’ve attended or spoken at? Much like the switch from traditional (broadcast) to social media (many to many) I think events need to be more engag- ing and interactive. It’s really important to us that we har- ness the collective wisdom of our attendees (not “audience”) and don’t assume only speakers have something to teach us. I’ve been to so many conferences where I had value to add but no opportunity to do so.We’ll be doing this [at swarm sydney] through extended question-and-answer ses- sions, and breakout sessions that will have a roundtable/ workshop format.We’ll also be doing some fun prize give- aways and a few fun things to liven up the atmosphere.
2) Moderation—Ensuring everyone with an opinion con-
tributes it to the community. This means removing the bad stuff and increasing motivation. 3) Content—Creating content for the community. 4) Events/activities—Organizing events/activities for the community to do. 5) Building relationships—Developing and sustaining
relationships with key members of the community. 6) Technology—Keeping the platform running. 7) Integration—Integrating the community better with
As community managers, we hope we’re good at getting large groups to work together.
Why did you put this conference together? Based on the rapidly emerging role and relevance of online community management we saw a real need. BothVenessa [Paech, lead community manager at communityengine and swarm sydney co-organizer,] and I are regularly approached to speak at a range of events that overlap with online communi- ties, so the need was apparent.We also selfishly wanted to put on the conference of our dreams with professionals we admire.
How are you creating an online community to generate interest in and drive attendance to the event? We were lucky in the sense we were already running a com- munity of community managers, so we had a small but highly targeted group of about 100 people.We’re also very active in relevant groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Reputation and
sidebar continued on page 43
the organization. 8) Strategy—Measuring the community and setting the strategy/activities in each area of the community. [I developed] The Pillar Summit—the first course dedi-
cated to training community managers working on behalf of brands—to bring some structure and proven strategies and tactics to the discipline. At the moment, too many organiza- tions are stuck in theWildWest of social [media]. They’re relying upon people who have very little idea what they’re doing. Former students of the course have included commu- nity managers from Lego, Greenpeace, and Telligent.