How to get members to attend your events

Welcome to the Community Coach newsletter, a value packed read
for community builders who are clearly experimenting with AI avatars just like I did (my click rate for last week’s newsletter to create your own AI avatar says it all!).

In this newsletter…

📚 Community 101: How to get members to attend your events

🤖 Need a website with community features fast? Supersparks 

🔥 Austin Robey: The Lonely Writers Club

👋 Answering your questions: “Do you have an idea for how to test an idea for a community?”

Community 101: Get members to attend your events

My first question is simple:

Does this need to be an event, or are you hosting one just to seem active in your community?

If you’ve done your research and confirmed that you must host a live event (especially over other formats like real time chat/ async video etc), your next step is to:

Ensure the event sounds so 🔥 to your members that they actually want to attend.

1. Make sure you’re backing up the reason for the event topic: what goal will people achieve by attending, has engagement in your community already been high on this topic and people need more info etc

2. Make your event stand out: How is yours different from the many other event invites that go out every day? Consider an unusual format, a special guest, or a creative theme. Who needs just another “standard webinar”? We can do better!

3. Clear AND exciting communication is key: Clear is important: the practical points around how to join the event (the when, where, how) along with the more exciting aspects (targeting the why).

Supersparks Webflow community template

If you’re looking to build a community website with forum features (and build it fast) then you should check out the no-code template by Supersparks (using Webflow)

Inspiring community builder
The Lonely Writers Club

I really loved the way Austin approached building this community.

Often people feel stuck knowing how to even get started with building a community - especially if they don’t know if anyone would be interested joining in the first place (see question below that I answered this week!).

Check out how Austin tested the idea via Twitter/X:

From this, the Lonely Writers Club was born. The website is high calibre too with strong branding. Even the name of the community is really strong too - including the type of people that belong.

Right now I’m a lonely writer writing this newsletter, and thinking I could do a club like this! 😅

It’s clear that the messaging resonates with people…how many goosebumps are your community members feeling when reading messaging you are putting out?

This community doesn’t seem to be a long term initiative, but I do think there are a lot of learnings to be had from how people launch communities in the first place.

Answering your questions

“Do you have an idea for how to test an idea for a community?” 

Yes there are ways to test an idea for a community!

I would recommend starting with research (1:1 chats, surveys/polls where applicable and consider using tools to search for insights in other communities - such as gummy search for existing Reddit communities).

I’d also recommend going about the process of launching a community similar to how Austin did this for the Lonely Writers Club.

Testing a concept by sending your idea out to the universe, building a simple applications link and seeing how many you get is a solid litmus test for your community idea. There are ways to do this (even if you don’t have a huge social media following) - reply to this newsletter if you need further guidance on this.

Got a question for me? DM me on Twitter and ask away. Your question may be answered in a future newsletter (and I’ll reply to everyone who asks).

Until next time,

Carmen
Community Coach

Connect with me on Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn.