SaaStr 235: How To Plan, Organise and Execute A World Class Virtual Event in a COVID World with David Spinks, Founder @ CMX Media
The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors - A podcast by SaaStr
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David Spinks is the Founder @ CMX Media, the premier network for community professionals. In 2019, CMX was acquired by Bevy, where David now serves as the VP of Community. Bevy is the leading provider of in-person community software, powering community programs at companies like Slack, Twitch, Salesforce, Atlassian, and Duolingo. Prior to CMX, David founded 2 prior startups centred around different forms of community building and before that was Community Managerin the early days of LeWeb the largest tech/startup conference in Europe.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
- How David made his way into the world of SaaS and came to found CMX? Why David believes that community is so central for all SaaS companies today?
- How does David advise teams on expectation setting around virtual events? How ambitious should they be? What big mistakes does David often see in the early days of the planning? How does this differ if you have an existing cohort of users vs are starting new with no audience?
- How dependent is the success of the community on the platform it is hosted on? What is the ideal size for Slack, Telegram and Whatsapp communities? Should the host seed the discussion or allow it to be natural? How important is it to establish a handbook of expected actions and behaviours? Should you cull members who are inactive?
- What does David believe separates good from great when it comes to discussion groups? What innovative strategies has David seen work when it comes to bringing a virtual event to life? What is the right amount of people in that discussion group? What is the core role of the moderator for the group?
David’s 60 Second SaaStr:
- Biggest misconception around virtual events?
- Virtual events: Permanent tide change or purely in the COVID world?
- What has been David’s favourite virtual event? Why?
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