Get Together: How to build a community with your people

Pinpoint people you share a purpose with, do something together, and get them talking.

Shareable assets allow Downtown Girls Basketball players to avoid starting from scratch every time they tell a story about the community or explain to a potential new member how to get involved. You can’t force people to spread the word. Instead, ask: How can I make it easier for them to do so on their own terms?

One-offs are the enemy. Relationships need time to flourish, and it’ll take a few cycles for some folks to warm up and begin actively contributing. Design the first activity with the intent to repeat it with your people over and over.

In his book Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam references

true communities are simply groups of people who keep coming together over what they care about. The most vibrant communities offer members a chance to act on their passions with one another.

Don’t just talk at people. You gathered them because they’re passionate, just like you! Give them the chance to contribute to the purpose you share.

“People feel their membership reflects well on them because it shows they look at the world in a slightly different way from others,”

With your first activity, you have an opportunity to make a statement about why your community comes together.

People participate in communities for a variety of reasons—to sing, to lose weight, to read stories that speak to them. But regardless of what drives people to show up for the first time, the relationships they form are what will bring them back.