Domain
Four research themes
Questions many operators share are grouped into these four.
- 01 — Showing impact
- 02 — Designing value
- 03 — Building buy-in
- 04 — Sustaining operations
The themes are revisited as the discussion moves.
A study group
for B2B operators
\ Who this is for /
- People running a user group or a customer community
- People planning and running events for customers
- People considering starting a community
Customer success, marketing, inside sales, sales, and other teams are all welcome.
People who run customer communities and events run into questions, and other operators are working through the same ones. BCL is where those operators meet once a month, bring what they have tried, and talk it through. What takes shape there is written up in session reports and worksheets, so members can try it at their own companies.
\ Who this is for /
- People running a user group or a customer community
- People planning and running events for customers
- People considering starting a community
Customer success, marketing, inside sales, sales, and other teams are all welcome.
ABOUT
No single answer,
with operators like you
How do you explain the results inside the company? What should people leave with? How do you bring sales and customer success in?
People who run B2B communities and events face these questions inside their own companies.
The experience that points toward an answer is already in each company's day-to-day work.
Much of it stays inside the company, or with one person.
Looking only at your own work, you miss a lot of options.
At BCL, a monthly session works through a question and turns what comes out of it into a form others can use.
It is also a place to stay in touch with operators in the same position, and to ask one of them for advice.
Host: Connexy, Inc.
Community
People you can ask
Questions you cannot raise inside your company can be talked about openly. As sessions add up, you find people you can contact without making it a big deal. Coming only to listen is a real way to take part.
Practice
What you can use
The discussion is written up as a session report you can use at your own company. It covers how the question was framed, what each company tried, and moves you can test in the next program.
THEMES
Four themes,
and the questions under them
Each question a session takes up sits under one of four research themes. The themes themselves are revisited with members as the discussion moves.
01 — Showing impact
Showing impact
How to explain the value of a community or an event inside the company
- Where to put a leading indicator
- Comparing attendees and others
- Explaining it to leadership
02 — Designing value
Designing value
What people need to leave with in order to feel glad they came
- What attendees gain
- How tightly to set the theme
- Why people come back
03 — Building buy-in
Building buy-in
How to bring sales, customer success, and leadership in
- What other teams gain
- Inviting the decision-maker
- How the team is evaluated
04 — Sustaining operations
Sustaining operations
How to keep operating with a small team
- Team and time
- Welcoming new people
- Tools and outside help
ACTIVITIES
Between sessions,
ways to learn together
The center of the activity is one in-person session a month. Coming only to the sessions you care about is fine.
The monthly session
The format is either a talk session or a group discussion. Both end with time to talk.
Talk session
Talk session
A guest talks about what they have tried at their own company, on that session's question.
Group discussion
Group discussion
People split into tables and talk. Everyone starts by writing their own situation on a worksheet, so a first-timer can join the conversation.
Networking
Time to talk
The session ends with time to talk. You can pick up a thread, or speak with participants and guests you have not met yet.
Report
Session report
The points of the discussion, and steps you can try next, are written up and shared with members.
Besides the session
Social
Get-together
Held now and then, separate from the session. Some gatherings are only the get-together, and there is more time to talk than at a session.
Community
The BCL space
A dedicated online space where you can read event notices and the full text of past session reports. You can also keep messaging people you met at a session.
REPORT
What the discussion showed
is kept in a session report
Each session is written up with the points of the discussion and steps you can try next. Part of the summary is public on this page. The full text is for BCL members.
From the session reports
For each of the four research questions, here is something the discussion brought out.
Showing impact
How to explain the value of a community or an event inside the company
Put a leading indicator the operators can influence between the activity and the business result
Tying the story straight to revenue or churn makes the explanation easy to break. Put a leading indicator in front of that, and tell it as a story.
Showing impact
How to explain the value of a community or an event inside the company
Change the unit of the metric from the event to the target customer
“30 people came, and satisfaction was 90%” is a weaker story than “how many of the target customers take part regularly.” The moves you make change with it.
Designing value
What people need to leave with in order to feel glad they came
Design what attendees gain as the change from before they came to after
Choose the one person you want to be useful to, and build the before, during, and after from the change in that person.
Designing value
What people need to leave with in order to feel glad they came
Offer at least one experience people cannot get online
If people only receive information, they can feel that online would have been enough. They need something that comes from being in the room: conversation with each other, an unplanned meeting, or a story they can hear only there.
Building buy-in
How to bring sales, customer success, and leadership in
Set the event's purpose on a business problem you want to solve
One team said that naming a concrete problem, why customers cancel in the second year of the contract, got their manager and customer success to help. An event whose only aim is to build excitement loses its reason, and does not last.
Sustaining operations
How to keep operating with a small team
Build the room together with the participants who care most
There was a discussion that asking people to help run the event or to speak, and making that work visible as content, raises how they are regarded inside and outside the company, and the circle of contribution grows.
MEMBERS ONLY
Join BCL to read
each session in full
The full text covers the discussion in detail, the examples, and steps you can try next. Every session report so far is included.
- The full session report for each meeting
- Notices of upcoming sessions
- The list of BCL members
- Who came to each session (visible once you register)
Join BCLFree to join. Reading along is welcome.
New here? Create a Connexy account, then press this button again.
FAQ
Questions people ask before joining
Does it cost anything to join?
No. Joining BCL is free, and so is attending a session. If a get-together has a cost for food or drink, the event notice says so.
Can I join if I am new to running a community?
Yes. People considering starting a community are part of who this is for. People still preparing to start one take part.
Can I follow the first session I come to?
Yes. Each session starts with an explanation of how it will run, so a first-timer is not left behind. On a group-discussion day there is time to write your own situation on a worksheet before the talk, so people who would rather not speak off the cuff can talk from what they wrote.
Do I have to come every time?
No. Coming only to the sessions you care about is fine. You can follow a session you missed in the session report.
What can I do once I join BCL?
You can read the full text of the session reports. Notices of upcoming sessions are also inside BCL.
Can more than one person from a company join?
Yes. If a team runs the community together, coming together is a good way to take part.
How much of my company's situation should I talk about?
Share only what you can. Please do not bring confidential information or a customer's personal information. Not taking what you hear at BCL outside the room is also part of the guidelines.
Will other participants solicit me?
We decline heavy solicitation that would make other participants uncomfortable. Solicitation for politics, religion, or multi-level marketing is not allowed. See the BCL guidelines for the details.
GUIDELINES
Rules for a place where people can speak frankly
Please follow these rules so the gathering stays useful for learning, exchanging information, and building relationships.
#1
Keep it in the room
Do not publish or repost information from BCL without the speaker's permission.
#2
No hard selling
Please refrain from sales or solicitation that would make other participants uncomfortable.
#3
No insults or harassment
Insults toward other participants, and conduct that amounts to harassment, are not allowed.
#4
No politics or religion
Solicitation for politics, religion, or multi-level marketing is not allowed.
#5
Don't share personal data
Do not share a participant's contact details, organization, or other personal information with a third party without their consent.
If a rule is broken
If the rules above are broken, the organizers may end that person's membership.
How personal information is handled
Personal information collected in running BCL is the responsibility of Connexy, Inc., and is handled under that company's privacy policy.
- Name, organization, contact details, attendance history, survey answers, and similar information are used to manage BCL participants, to announce and run events, to contact participants, to support conversation among them, and to improve the activity.
- Everyone involved in running BCL, not only employees of Connexy, Inc., handles personal information only as needed for the purposes above, and does not use it for their own sales, or for the sales of an organization they belong to, without the person's consent.
- Except where we entrust work needed to run BCL, or where the law allows it, we do not provide personal information to a third party without the person's consent.
- To ask for disclosure, correction, deletion, or a stop on use, contact Connexy, Inc.
JOIN US
Bring a question
from your own work
The question does not have to be tidy. Reading the session reports is enough, and so is joining only the discussions you care about. People who want to help run BCL, by speaking or by offering a venue, are welcome too.
01 — Read
Read
You can read the full text of the session reports. You can follow the discussion even for a session you cannot attend.
If you want to see how it works first
02 — Join
Join
You can read the full text of the session reports. You can follow the discussion even for a session you cannot attend.
If you have a question in front of you now
03 — Connect
Connect
You can keep talking, in the community space, with operators you meet at a session or a get-together. When you are stuck on how to run things, you find someone you can ask without making it a big deal.
If you want someone in the same position to ask
Joining is free.
Start with a session report.
- Joining only to read the reports is welcome
- You can come only to the sessions you care about
- More than one person from a company can join
- People still preparing to start a community take part
Join BCLFree to join. Reading along is welcome.
New here? Create a Connexy account, then press this button again.