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How to Build a Community With Your People
 

Community Building Resources

As People & Company, we’ve spent hundreds of hours helping clients develop plans to start and sustain true communities.

Here, you’ll find our library of frameworks, exercises, and inspiration. As long as you give credit to People & Company, feel free to remix and adapt what we’ve created.

From worksheets to in-depth audio interviews, these companion resources will help you apply the concepts introduced in our guidebook Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People.

Our hope is that these tools help you bring together the people you care about. So, where are you in your community-building journey?

Overview

I. Spark the Flame

1. Pinpoint your people

2. Do something together

3. Get people talking

II. Stoke the Fire

4. Attract new folks

5. Cultivate your identity

6. Pay attention to who keeps showing up

III. Pass the Torch

7. Create more leaders

8. Supercharge your leaders

9. Celebrate together

 
 

Did you find these resources helpful? If so, send us a note. Let us know what you’re up to!

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“As is true when you build a fire, there’s an order of operations you can follow to cultivate communities that burn bright.”
— Get Together
 
 
Creative Commons License
The following Get Together frameworks and exercises by People & Company, Inc. are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
 
 
 

Overview

Intro to the
Get Together methodology

 
 
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Our Community Manifesto

Build your community with people, not for them.

Read the essay
 
 

 Exercises

 
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Order of Operations

If you started a community from scratch, how would you order your priorities? Discuss where you are in the journey.

View in Google Slides
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Get Together framework

The big questions to ask at each step of building a community with people summarized on an interactive Miro board.

View in Miro
Testing Plan

Testing Plan

Use this template to define, track, and reflect on experiments you run to build your community.

View in Google Slides

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👇🏽 Resources for Each stage of a community 👇🏽

 
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Spark
the
Flame

Stage I /
Getting Together

 

Step 1

Pinpoint your people

Exercises

 
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Who Hunches

Who do you want to bring together? Prepare for a productive team discussion by drafting “Who hunches.”

View in Google Docs
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Why Theme Sort

Sort through common themes for Why communities exist. Discuss why your group might come together.

View in Google Slides
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Purpose Statement

Time to bring together your hunches about Who and Why. Draft an initial purpose statement to describe your community.

View in Google Slides
 

Interviews

 

ESSAYS & CASE STUDIES

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Pinpointing “Who” and “Why”

Great community leaders get clear on two questions: Who do I want to get together? Why are we coming together?

Read the essay
Substack

Substack

Big thing starts small. How Substack sparked its early community of writers.

Read the case study
 

Step 2

Do something together

Exercises

 
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Shared Activities Jam

Design a shared activity that is purposeful, participatory, and repeatable. Includes a list of common shared activities.

View in Google Slides
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Shared Activity Roulette

Discuss different shared activities for your community from a small group circle to a challenge.

View in Google Slides
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“You’re Invited”

Prototype shared activities by drafting an email invitation to community members.

View in Google Slides
 

Interviews

 

Media

This is what it sounds like when 1999 people pay tribute to Prince and sing When Doves Cry. Recorded live in Toronto at Massey Hall by Choir! Choir! Choir! on Monday, May 2, 2016.

 

ESSAYS & CASE STUDIES

 
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Weight Watchers

What we can learn from Weight Watchers as a distributed community model.

Read the case study
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Hello Mr.

How Ryan Fitzgibbon built Hello Mr. magazine hand-in-hand with its community.

Read Ryan's Lessons
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Do Something Together

Every community needs a shared activity. Develop one that’s right for your people.

Read the essay
 

Step 3

Get people talking

CASE STUDY

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Instant Pot

How Robert Wang’s small pressure cooker company cultivated a rabid community of “Potheads.”

Read the case study
 

Interview

 
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Stoke
the
Fire

STAGE II /
Sticking Together

 

Step 4

Attract new folks

Exercise

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Role Models & Behaviors

Spotlighting role models can influence behaviors and contributions among community members. Explore how you might shine a spotlight in your group and why.

View in Google Slides
 

Media

Prof. Marshall Ganz gives a crash course in Public Narrative in this video series from the Resistance School. Tell your story of self, us, and now.

 

Interview

 

Step 5

Cultivate your identity

Exercises

 
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Badges Brainstorm

A badge can be anything visual that enables members to show their pride or telegraph an affiliation. Explore how you might equip members to show their pride.

View in Google Slides
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Ritual Worksheet

Bonds between members are fostered through the rituals they practice together. Draft and discuss new ideas for community rituals.

View in Google Slides
 

ESSAYS & Case Study

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Rapha Cycling Club

Why Rapha is the new Harley-Davidson and how RCC cultivated it’s unique, local identity among members.

Read the case study
 
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Kursat Ozenc on rituals

“Introducing Ritual Design: meaning, purpose, and behavior change” by Kursat of the Ritual Design Lab

Read the essay
 

Media

The 2018 Cleveland Cavaliers “provide some insight into how they come up with the uniquely elaborate handshakes.”

 

Interviews

 

Step 6

Pay attention to who keeps showing up

Case StudIes

 
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Mia Quagliarello, YouTube’s First Community Manager

Mia joined YouTube in 2006, just a year after it launched. She reflects on what she learned building community in YouTube’s early years.

Read Mia's Lessons
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Atlas Obscura

A deep dive into the history of Atlas Obscura and the community fueling it.

Read the case study

Interview

 
 
 
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Pass
the
Torch

STAGE III /
Growing Together

 

Step 7

Create more leaders

CAse Studies

 
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Bree Nguyen, Mariah Carey superfan

In 1999, 16-year-old Bree Nguyen was hired by her idol, Mariah Carey.

Read the case study
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Ladies Get Paid

Clarire Wasserman has connected 75,000 women on a mission to close the wage gap.

Read the case study
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Edcamp

How 11 teachers became 150,000. The story behind the Edcamp community.

Read the case study
 

exercise

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Leadership Role Design

Leadership roles come in all shapes and sizes. Outline ideas for how you might codify a new role for leaders in your community.

View in Google Slides
 

Interview

 

Step 8

Supercharge your leaders

Media

Kevin Huynh, the first employee at CreativeMornings, shares his story and the tools required to build a thriving global creative community.

Interview

 

Case Studies

 
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Facebook Groups

Insights from Lindsay Russell who spearheaded early efforts to listen to and supercharge “power admins” on Facebook.

Read the case study
Toastmasters

Toastmasters

Toastmasters has survived—nay, thrived!—for 100 years. Today a third of Toastmaster’s 364,000+ paying member are active volunteers.

Read the case study
 

Step 9

Celebrate together

Interviews

MEDIA

Priya Parker’s steps to create transformative gatherings Why do some gatherings take off and others don't? Priya shares three easy steps to turn your parties, dinners, meetings and holidays into meaningful, transformative gatherings. 🎉

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