Vinnie Lauria shares his early experiences and advice on how he grew his 4,800 member community from just 5 people over the past 4 years. In addition to organizing the Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup, Vinnie is the co-founder of Lefora.com Forum Hosting.
Social Alchemy - How to grow a community from 5 to 5,000
1. Social Alchemy
How to grow a community from 5 to 5,000
Vinnie Lauria
Organizer of the Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup
Co-Founder of Lefora.com Forum Hosting
January 9, 2010
2. Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup
(#svnewtech)
Started 5 people at a cafe
4,713 members
4 years
200+ startups
Photo Credit: KaiEos http://www.ezzyprint.com/
3. What I’ll cover
How to Start
How to Promote
How to Run
Return Value
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boojee/4030189096/in/set-72157622462879171/
4. Starting - Be Passionate
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastian-silva/3186056648/
5. Look Around
Anybody already doing this?
Is there larger interest?
Search meetup.com,
craigslist, google, etc.
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katphotos/1030473901/
7. Pick a good day
Tue / Wed for business
Thur for social
Sat / Sun for activities
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iheartlinen/2486643075/
8. Promoting - Tell everybody
Post on all your profiles
Print event business cards
Goto other events
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhinoneal/2411842658/
9. Promoting - Don’ts !
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/156901708/
15. Don’t stress
Things WILL go wrong
Run with it
Have fun
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frield/95509221/
16. Real Costs
Be free or not be free?
It’s an investment
Future Sponsors?
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dborman2/3290560161/
17. It’s a Personal Investment
Like paying for schooling
Network, knowledge, and
experience
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/2638883650/
18. Return Value
Subject Matter Expert
Iconic Figure
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/babblingdweeb/23816128/
19. Return Value - Social Capital
Become a connector
VIP access to high
profile people
CC photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/20008175/