Five lessons in community management | Ryuta Aoki | TEDxKobeSalon

Ryuta Aoki talks about five important lessons in community management he learned from joining TEDxTokyo volunteer activities and starting his own TEDxKids@Chiyoda community.

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Hi everyone!

(Applause)

Welcome!

(Applause)

This is really great!
I see you all smiling.

I heard you from backstage.

I feel a little shy and hesitant
giving this talk,

but today,

I'm going to share things I've learned
from running TEDx community.

I have a question for you.

Have any of you ever run a community?

"Community management"
may sound a bit intimidating,

but how many of you have talked
with friends or acquaintances

to start something new together
and actually translated into action?

Oh, there are many of you.

Perhaps, I don't need to give this talk.

(Laughter)

Upon running a community,
have you encountered problems like,

difficulty finding participants

or getting people
to do the job you requested?

Yes? So have I.

I was a programmer until 2009.

I currently work in what is called
community design and management.

As I was "a geek,"

managing a community did not come easy
since it involved people,

so I experienced some failures.

Today, I'm going to share some lessons
I've learned along the way.

What is a community in the first place?

Does anyone know?

Simply put, it's a human connection,
and there are several types.

One is a relationship determined
by family and bloodline,

called "blood relation."

Second is a relationship determined
by where you were born and raised.

This is called "territorial relationship,"
fostered in local communities.

Finally, there is a social relationship

that is determined
by the organization you belong to.

In other words,

it's a community that is bound
by a contractual relationship.

But the type of community
I want to address today is something else.

Before I get into it,

there is one thing I would like you to do.

Could everyone please stand up?

Please pair up with the person
next to you whom you've never spoken to.

We're short on time, so be quick!

(Laughter)

Please share three
of your favorite things,

such as hobbies, activities,
books, or anything.

Are you ready? Go!

(Audience Chatting) (Laughter)

(Audience Chatting) (Laughter)

May I? Are we done?

Please be seated.

Did any of you like the same activities

or have common interests?

Wow, there are more than I thought.

The community I'm going to adress today
is formed by shared common interests.

It's a relationship

that not only connects people
with common intellectual curiosity,

but also involves
a high degree of empathy.

This kind of community shares knowledge

and sometimes acts together
driven by a common goal.

Members normally volunteer.

The fundamental difference
from other communities

is that this community
has no sense of obligation.

How do you manage such a community?

There are things
I've learned from my mistakes.

Today, I'm going to share five lessons
I've learned in community management.

First -

oops -

"Fun is a principle of human behavior."

In 2009, I started working
with a community called TEDxTokyo,

but prior to this,
I never worked in a community.

So I had no idea what it would be like.

One day, I attended a meeting.

It was not at all what I had imagined.

I thought it would be something like

middle aged men wearing
formal suits sitting at a table

having serious discussions the whole time.

Instead, we all met at a cafe
on the second floor of a concert venue

that's like a hideout.

Attendees were not only Japanese
but also Americans, French, Indians.

There were designers, programmers,
consultants, marketers, etc.

People of many different nationalities
and professions gathered

and were just chatting away.

They made all sorts of small talk
for about 40 minutes out of the one hour.

Despite the lack of time,
girls' talk lingered on.

"I have a crush on him."

(Laughter)

They touched on broad subjects,
including background of war.

There were a lot
of intellectual exchanges.

It got me really excited.

That's when I felt, "This is so cool!"

I had no idea that such an exciting
and eclectic community existed.

Through the TEDx activities,

I started visiting other
communities as well.

Some communities were
as interesting as TEDx,

while others lacked
the excitement and vigor.

As I started to think why some
of the communities lacked the excitement,

I found a trend.

There were fewer participants.

I could tell by the look
on their faces that they were bored.

It was exactly what I had imagined
what "a community" would be like.

It's like having
an inconclusive meeting forever

in a fluorescent-lit office space.

It's just too boring!

(Laughter)

I had a chance to talk with the leaders,
and they too were troubled.

He said, "People attend our meetings

because they share our vision
for this community,

but it's hard to retain them."

That's when I realized,

the "fun factor" is very important
in this type of community.

If you don't deliberately design something
that piques their intellectual curiosity,

people run for the hills.

You have to be alarmed when you face
such a high turnover rate.

To combat this, you can choose
to bring in new people on a regular basis

or choose a theme
that interests everyone.

"A deliberate design" is necessary

in order to fulfil their curiosity.

The second lesson
is "the design of uncontrol."

As I said before,

variety of people join
this type of community.

So their lifestyle varies,

and everyone carries different workloads.

Some have completely
different days off from work,

so it's not easy choosing
a date for gatherings.

I actually have a story to tell
related to this lesson.

One member worked for a mega company,
in the corporate planning division.

His role with us was to find a venue.

He was usually very busy,

so he couldn't find a venue
for our upcoming event.

Everyone was getting impatient,

so we decided to hold an urgent meeting.

About 15 people came
to discuss this matter.

An hour before the meeting,
I got a call from him and he said,

"The medium-term business plan
has to be reworked from the beginning.

so I just can't attend the meeting."

I said, "What? I had
everyone come for you!"

(Laughter)

He just couldn't come.

I thought, "What do I do?"

Yet I thought honesty would be best

and decided to tell everyone,
fearing they'd be pissed

because everyone came
by setting their own schedule aside.

Contrary to my expectation,

they said, "No Problem! Let's focus
on other agendas and see what we can do!"

We did a lot of brainstorming,

and selected the presenters on the spot.

What I learned from this
is that even if you make plans ahead,

not everything goes according to schedule.

In such a diverse community,

where individuals have
different lifestyles,

everyone needs to be flexible and find
tasks they can work on at the moment.

No matter how hard you try,

you can't control
peoples' schedules or lives.

Therefore, you should not make
important decisions

or design too much ahead of time.

Instead, be flexible and embrace change.

The third lesson is, "Matching the Needs."

In 2011, I started TEDxKids
that uses TEDx format,

to reach younger audience.

I recruited a variety of volunteers
and worked with them.

One day, my friend introduced me
to this young lady.

She was a joyful person
who enjoyed chatting with everyone

but once in a while she sat at a table
and became an observer.

I wanted to know what she was up to
so I went over to her.

She said, "I'm not sure what I can do."

I thought about the tasks
she could take up

and was almost going to make suggestions
about how she could contribute.

But I held my tongue there.

Before I started TEDxKids,

I often asked people to do specific tasks.

But when I was assigning tasks
as an event organizer,

I was only sharing a portion of my work.

I learned from this event
that when people are "given" a task,

they won't be intrinsically motivated
as they don't see the task as their own.

Once they feel overwhelmed
with the workload, they quit.

I wanted to avoid making
the same mistake, so I held back.

But there was no progress
with her for about three weeks.

I decided to talk to her again.

Although I normally don't
make suggestions, I told her,

"We have some tasks available."

"You might be interested
in working on this or that."

She replied, "At work,
I'm always in the office

talking to the same people
about the same topic every day."

"When I was a university student,

I worked at NPO and talked
with various people about our future.

In this community, I want
to communicate with more people."

TEDx community has
what we call "Participant Team."

It's what the previous presenter
was talking about.

The team designs participants' experiences
through communication.

I mentioned it to her hoping
she'd jump at it but she didn't.

She said, "I'll think about it."

One week later, I received an email
with just one sentence: "I'll do it."

She became the most ardent volunteer.

She sorted out what she needed to do,
laid out all the tasks to be tackled,

and frequently communicated
with other participants though email.

At the time, I had just started
at TEDxKids, so my hands were full.

I couldn't pay attention to many details,

but because I had her,
I could let her take care of all that.

If I hadn't held myself back
and decided her job for her,

things would have turned out differently.

I realized that it's important
to give room and offer support

so that the person can paint the room
with their favorite color.

The fourth lesson is this:
"Leadership is action, not status".

As I mentioned previously,
various people come to the community.

Quite a few motivated people
show up saying,

"I want to be a leader!"
And they run for the leader.

But from my experience,

about half of them end up doing nothing
after taking up a leading role.

Their title on Facebook
still says "leader,"

but it makes me wonder,
"Are you actually doing anything?"

Once I started seeing this pattern,
when someone asked me for advise,

I began telling them,

"You'll need to translate your ambitions
into visible actions to prove yourself,

and people will consequently
acknowledge you as a leader."

Those who take my advice seriously
and take the necessary actions,

do make up a great team.

I realized that rather than
giving them a title,

it is important to stimulate them to act.

Because when people join
a community to volunteer,

"the leader" is just another stranger.

But if they dedicate themselves
to the team with a strong work ethics,

people will acknowledge the leadership,

which is crucial to becoming a leader.

The Fifth lesson is this:
"The design of a break."

When we work together for a long time,
members go through different life stages.

They get married, have children,
change jobs, launch a project and so on.

There is no consistency
in terms of how busy they are.

At times, they cannot fully commit
to the community.

Nonetheless, after all the working years,
a sense of fellowship develops,

and you start feeling obliged
to remain loyal to the team.

"I don't really have time for this,
but I have to attend since they need me."

This mindset not only jeopardizes
the quality of the output,

but also has a negative
influence on others.

So, after every event,

when it's time to plan for the next year,

I always ask members what they are up to.

If they are facing major life events,

I advise them to take a break
from volunteering.

To make things easier,

I also divide the community structure
into several layers.

The core team that does all the planning
is composed of members

who can fully commit.

In this team, I only include people
whose activity rate is about 80% to 90%.

I inform everyone
at the interview of this,

so they have an option
to join another team

with relatively loose constraints
and minimal commitment.

Members can choose to participate
in the community using social media.

They can share the latest posts
from the community on SNS

and still feel positive
about their participation.

When they become available again,

they can choose to fully participate
the following year.

Creating space
where they feel comfortable

allows them to commit on their terms.

Finally, many people ask me,

"What is most important to you
when you manage a community?"

My answer is always this:

"community temperature,"

meaning, how "hot" or enthusiastic
community members are.

I often compare this to a campfire.

Have you ever built a campfire?
Of course you have.

Have you ever set the fire?

Or handled charcoals at BBQ?

Isn't it pretty hard to set the fire?

You lay tissues and twigs

and stack thick and dry branches
on top and then light the fire.

Even if you can't start a fire
with your first attempt, you keep trying.

Once the fire is lit,

you add thick flammable wood
for the fire to burn steadily.

Community management
is comparable to this.

At first, it's rather hard
to light members' motivation,

but once everyone is on fire,
you can sit back.

Not interfering is advisable.

Occasionally, the wind blows
and the fire dwindles.

At this point, try to shield the wind
or add more flammable sticks

to control the "temperature."

Generally,

many people may think
that a community must go on forever.

But actually, once you achieve a goal,
you can put an end to the community.

I mean, when the BBQ you are grilling
is fully cooked, you stop the fire.

You can't eat if you
keep watching over the fire!

(Laughter)

At this point,

eating BBQ with all the members
becomes more important.

And once you achieve a goal,
you can end things there.

If you force yourselves to go on,
you put strain on yourself and others.

I think this is an important perspective.

Our world is full of problems.

Businesses can't always
generate solutions.

Many companies feel their businesses
are irrelevant to the problems.

So they end up not participating
in important activities or events.

If we can create a place
where various people share their ideas

and can truly feel
that they are part of the community,

working for "no money" may rather
become a rewarding experience.

If we can replicate places like this,

communities will be able
to solve more problems.

I truly believe this.

And if we can accomplish this,

we can create a wonderful world
that our children will be proud of.

Thank you for listening today.