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TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL: “Community management,” says Richard Millington, “shouldn’t be a profession that we make up as we go along. It should be a profession with proven principles, strategies, and frameworks.”
“At the moment,” said Richard Millington, founder of London- based online community consultancy FeverBee Limited, “it’s quite an exciting time for this fledgling industry. Lots of groups, organizations [are forming], and research is being undertaken. I can’t wait to see how it develops in the future.” Millington—whose clients have included the
United Nations; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculo- sis, and Malaria; and Novartis—also is founder of The Pil- lar Summit, a professional community-management course. “It’s a rapidly emerging role and the title is broadly used,
so the required skill set is vast,” said Alison Michalk, direc- tor of Sydney, Australia–based Quiip, which offers commu- nity management, moderation, social-media monitoring, and
“The online community manager’s chiefobjective is to build a strong sense ofcommunity among a group ofpeople who share a common interest. Too often, the role is assumed to be little more than a moderator, which is a tragedy for our profession.”
40 pcma convene November 2011
content-creation services. Michalk also is the co-organizer of the inaugural swarm sydney, an Australasian conference for online community managers and moderators, taking place this month in Sydney. So, what exactly do online community managers do, and
what can they teach meeting professionals about facilitating communities online that want to meet in person—or as Michalk puts it, IRL (in real life)?We asked Millington and Michalk, who chose to answer Convene’s interview ques- tions via email. After all, online is their chosen milieu.
What is the role ofthe online community manager? Richard Millington:The online community manager is the individual responsible for growing and managing the commu- nity. His or her chief objective is to build a strong sense of community among a group of people who share a common interest. Too often, the role is assumed to be little more than a moderator, which is a tragedy for our profession. The role can be extended into eight unique components: 1) Growth—Getting people to join the community.
Ensuring high levels of conversion from newcomers into reg- ular members of the community.