slack community

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Community, community, community.

Everyone in the marketing world is talking about it. Even everyone in the fintech world seems to be talking about it. 

A combination of the pandemic, going online and even crypto seemed to have weirdly brought us together with the power of online communities.

But what does community really mean? If you’re a founder or marketer, should you be trying to build a community to attract and retain customers? And what does a successful community look like?

Today, I explore answers to those questions with our guest, Graham McBain. Graham is the community manager at Moov, a B2B payments API company. He’s in charge of the Moov Slack community, which currently has over 2,500 members, is super active, and by all measures, a success. 

Communities are hard to build. The time and energy commitment is high, but the reward and upside is infinite. In this episode, we dive deep into how Graham went about growing the Slack community, how he maintains it, and his own thoughts on the future of community.

It’s full of practical and tactical tips and advice, so hope you enjoy! 

Moov website: https://moov.io/
Graham McBain on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahammcbain/
FMH Slack group: fintechmarketinghub.com/slack

“Let's bring designers together and first talk about your wellbeing. Then let's talk about the next steps forward for you as a designer.” -  Lewis Kang'ethe

Lewis Kang'ethe was first championed as a community leader in primary school when his teacher asked him to spearhead the mathematics club. When the teacher asks, the answer is either, “yes or yes.” 

Now, Lewis works as a product designer in Kenya. When he’s looking for jobs outside of Africa he often gets asked the question, “are you qualified?” Lewis started the African chapter of The Fearless Community so that designers in Africa can tell their stories. It’s a place for designers like Lewis to find work and a network. 

Members from around the world convene in local Slack channels and attend video podcast series with veteran designers. When COVID-19 became a threat, they launched the #StayConnected series first to talk about their wellbeing and then, the next steps forward for their members as designers. 

Lewis takes a “servant” leadership approach to his role as community lead in Africa. We talked with him about the attention to details when connecting people across cultures and how the community has adjusted to online meetups.

Highlights, inspiration, & key learnings:

• You can’t fake the funk.
• Getting started. Reaching out to potential members on portfolio websites.
• Bridging the gap. Connecting people across cultures.
• Virtual meetups. Leaning into playfulness and fun of being a designer.
• Servant leadership. Building with and in service of the community members.

👋🏻 Say hi to Lewis Kang'ethe and learn more about The Fearless Community.

✨ Thank you to Whitney Ogutu, “Get Together” correspondent, for bringing the story to us.

📄 See the full transcript

This podcast was created by the team at People & Company. 

🔥Say hi! We would love to get to know you.

We published GET TOGETHER📙, a handbook on community-building. 

And we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities. 

Hit subscribe🎙 and head over to our website to learn about the work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations.

In the time of Coronavirus and self-isolation, how do we find meaningful community online?

We checkin today with Carly Ayres of the Slack group "100s Under 100," and revisit our stellar conversation with her from almost a year ago. 

//

If you're on the internet or if you're working in design today, you may have heard of Carly Ayres (@carlyayres). She's full of personality, sharp ideas, and has an alluring rebellious vibe. 

Carly's designs are not of the polished, precious, or minimalist ilk we've become accustomed to. Her work is interactive, it's dynamic, and it's sincere. If you want proof, visit her website CarlyAyres.com. It is a Google Doc. 

Almost five years ago, Carly started a community in Slack called "100s Under 100," a play on the Forbes "30 Under 30" list and other similar awards. The Slack group brings together a vetted collection of designers, everyone from senior creative leads at big companies like Dropbox to high school students looking for feedback on their college applications. "Hundos" feel they are on the same team, sharing resources, insights, and feedback in what can otherwise be an isolating profession. (Full disclosure: Kevin Huynh, my partner in People & Company, is a "Hundo.")

We wanted to ask Carly about this special Slack group because we get questions about community "watering holes" all the time. People want to know what platform they should use to bring their people together online. Or what they can do to actually make a digital space engaging. Carly has figured all of this out and more.

How did Carly pull it off? We sat down with Carly to learn more.

🔥 Check out our book Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People 📙

Get Together is a podcast about the nuts and bolts of community building. Hosts Bailey Richardson and Kevin Huynh of People & Company ask organizers who have built exceptional communities about just how they did it. How did they get the first people to show up? How did they grow to thousands more members?

If you're on the internet or if you're working in design today, you may have heard of Carly Ayres (@carlyayres). She's full of personality, sharp ideas, and has an alluring rebellious vibe. 

Carly's designs are not of the polished, precious, or minimalist ilk we've become accustomed to. Her work is interactive, it's dynamic, and it's sincere. If you want proof, visit her website CarlyAyres.com. It is a Google Doc. 
 
Almost five years ago, Carly started a community in Slack called "100s Under 100," a play on the Forbes "30 Under 30" list and other similar awards. The Slack group brings together a vetted collection of designers, everyone from senior creative leads at big companies like Dropbox to high school students looking for feedback on their college applications. "Hundos" feel they are on the same team, sharing resources, insights, and feedback in what can otherwise be an isolating profession. (Full disclosure: Kevin Huynh, my partner in People & Company, is a "Hundo.")
 
We wanted to ask Carly about this special Slack group because we get questions about community "watering holes" all the time. People want to know what platform they should use to bring their people together online. Or what they can do to actually make a digital space engaging. Carly has figured all of this out and more.

How did Carly pull it off? We sat down with Carly in our office in the Lower East Side to learn more.

🔥 Check out our book Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People 📙

Get Together is a podcast about the nuts and bolts of community building. Hosts Bailey Richardson and Kevin Huynh of People & Company ask organizers who have built exceptional communities about just how they did it. How did they get the first people to show up? How did they grow to thousands more members?