This guy bootstrapped a global community conference out of his own pocket. And it worked.Francisco Opazo is stubborn—his words, not mine. And thank goodness for that, because his relentless drive has taken a one-man newsletter and turned it into a global movement for community professionals.In this episode, I take you inside the madness that is Community Week / Community-led World Summit - in-person and online gatherings for community professionals around the world. This is the story of Francisco and how he built it from scratch, fueled by sheer determination, volunteer power, and a whole lot of goodwill.Resources:- Join Community Week: https://www.community-week.com/- Join Led By Community: https://www.ledby.community/- Follow Francisco: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankopazo/- Follow Nityesh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/- Magic sauce of more such community creators: https://beginnermaps.com/This episode is brought to you by Curated Connections - the self-driving community software for busy creators. It allows you to run automated networking programs, gamification challenges and member-led events. Check it out at https://curatedconnections.io/Chapters:00:00 Intro02:54 The Journey of Lead by Community04:34 From Digital Agency to BuddyBoss10:38 Joining Circle and Expanding Horizons18:41 Launching the online summit21:52 Challenges and Triumphs of Organizing a Conference32:13 Securing venue for conference34:58 #1 Strategy to build an attendee list40:20 Marketing strategy46:51 Building a Volunteer Team47:55 Conference Structure and Tracks49:54 Budgeting and Financial Challenges51:10 Community Support and Ecosystem01:00:25 Sponsor pitch deck walkthrough01:12:06 Tools01:16:39 The Future: Community Week

Paz Pisarski has cracked the code on growing a cohort-based community business. She has taken The Community Collective from a meetup group to a community membership that had 102 people in its latest cohort. While most cohort based programs struggle to find customers after the first cohort, her cohort size has been consistently increasing for 5 cohorts. Her secret? A "hidden curriculum". In this episode, she shares her magic sauce. This episode is brought to you by Curated Connections - the tool to create automated connections in your community. Check it out at https://curatedconnections.io/ Links and resources: • The Community Collective - https://thecommunitycollective.co/ • Paz's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paz-pisarski/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ • Magic sauce of 25 top community creators - https://beginnermaps.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

02:56 Origins of The Community Collective

05:55 Starting in the Pandemic

08:48 Transition to a Cohort-Based Program

09:55 From free to paid

14:20 Masterclass: How to grow a cohort-based program

17:12 The 3 questions

20:30 Recruiting alumni as hosts

23:22 The hidden curriculum

29:22 Best decision in 3 days

33:30 Reflecting on Community Building

34:02 Steady Growth and Success

35:30 Delivering Unforgettable Experiences

38:00 Discovering Lifetime Memberships

41:21 Scheduling downtimes

46:26 Tech Tools for Community Management

53:48 Team of 45

Running Remote is the best case study in building a paid community of practice. Run by Kasia Triantafelo, this is community of 250+ remote work leaders from companies like GitLab, Dropbox, and Zillow who share everything—from compensation strategies to retreat venues. In this episode, Kasia tells how she slowly shifted the culture of this community over 3 years to the one of radical openness. We discuss: • "4 essential touchpoints" for member success • Co-creating knowledge base with members • Her strategy for running masterminds • What it takes to build a culture of trust If you enjoyed this episode, you should sign up for Beginner Maps to get the "magic sauce" of top creators like Carrie - https://beginnermaps.com/ Resources: • Curated Connections, the automated matchmaking platform that Kasia uses - https://curatedconnections.io/ • Running Remote community - https://runningremote.com/community/ • Kasia's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasia-triantafelo/ • Nityesh's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nityeshaga/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:52 From conference to community 05:26 Who's in the community 10:13 Masterclass on shaping community culture 13:38 Doing things that don't scale 16:30 "Actionable now" strategy 18:51 Emailing members with questions 22:04 4 essential touch points 24:18 Why People Ops is incredible at community 25:40 Co-creating a knowledge base 31:03 Running virtual workshops 35:48 Engagement Challenges in Remote Companies 36:41 Get togethers with Nini 41:14 Masterminds playbook 47:30 Managing Global Timing and Recruiting 56:15 Marketing and Growing the Community 01:02:21 Building community as a non-expert