Goodbye Networking, Hello Community-Building

What if instead of focusing on providing networking opportunities, we set our sights on building a community (I’m pinging off an idea Belinda Moore had in this post.)

Networking opportunities seek to connect one person to another, maybe for some small talk or, if lucky, a real, meaningful connection. However, networking events and activities don’t always yield meaningful connections because some shy away. For others, it’s lucky if they happen to meet the needle-in-the-haystack right person in a 30, 300, or 3,000-person event. And others only go to these events with their work posse, rarely meeting new friends.

On the other hand, community-building is about connecting all the people to each other.

In my research interviewing 477 members, one story that popped up super often was that feeling when a first-time attendee sat down in the opening keynote auditorium, looked around, and suddenly realized they were surrounded by hundreds of people just like them—until that moment, they felt like the only one. Feeling the community is one outcome of community building.

I met an absolutely fascinating Broadway actor at entrepreneur camp (a summer camp for solopreneurs like me). She said that working on each new show with each new cast, she got an “insta-family.” Insta-family or how about insta-friends? That could be another outcome of community building.

When people are heartily welcomed and immediately put at ease. When connections are easy, and the energy is high. When someone else breaks the ice and first-timers go on to make the event great for themselves, that’s another outcome of community building.

Community building is about fostering the space, attending to the environment, putting the building blocks in place for a beneficial group culture, and setting up programs with meaningful connections as the goal.

Perhaps it is time to say goodbye to “networking” with all its flaws and hello to community building.