CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING: VIRTUAL CAFE

A community for people interested in building community 😊

(If you're interested in the story behind this meetup, you can read it here.)

HOW IT WORKS:

This event is the VIRTUAL CAFE: a weekly, online opportunity to think creatively about community building with other interested individuals. It is a space to share learning, workshop challenges, and develop new practices.

(The other dimension to CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING is THE SOCIAL. This is an in person opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with fellow community builders. You can find the April social here and the June social here.)

During the VIRTUAL CAFE, we will:

• Introduce ourselves and our communities
• Brainstorm a few key issues for the day
• Split into breakout rooms to discuss these issues (one breakout room will be for free flowing conversations if none of the issues feel relevant to you)
• Halfway through, shuffle breakout rooms to change conversations up
• Come back together for final thoughts.

NOTES ON THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE:

• Laid back, creative, thoughtful
• Respectful of each other's time, views, ideas
• Generous listening and low pressure sharing

WHERE WE'LL MEET:
Online! (Having sworn to avoid online meetings at all costs post-pandemic, I can now see advantages to an online version of this event:

• I’d love to meet community builders from around the world.
• My IRL events have had long waiting lists due to space constraints, but with an online meeting, no such constraints exist.
• When you're meeting first thing in the morning, its easier to do it online, than in person (unless you're a member of THE SUNRISE CLUB)

The link to join will be posted via private comment the day before the event, so you’ll need to RSVP in order to see it.

If you hate online more than I do, check out our IRL meeting: CREATIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING: THE SOCIAL

WHO SHOULD COME:
Everyone with an interest in community. This group is not about being experts, it is about learning together. That is, bringing our various experiences and lenses on the world together to support, inspire, and uplift one another. The more perspectives, the richer the conversation.

YOUR HOST:
I'm Bonny. I've created a couple of successful communities (e.g. THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS & THE SUNRISE CLUB) and have a lot of experience hosting groups in a range of places (from prison and hospitals, to private events). I'm always learning and my best ideas come out of conversations with others :-). You can read some of my thoughts on community building here.

One of my role models for community building is the Ancient Greek Goddess, Hestia:
Hestia is the goddess of the hearth (hence the former name for this group). She is also the goddess of community, hospitality towards strangers, home, and warmth. Known for her inner strength, calm demeanour, and commitment to peace, I think Hestia embodies qualities that can be very helpful when cultivating community! 🔥 I’m curious to hear who/what your influences are 😊

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I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your ideas!