Following on from our August community call, where we introduced some of the emerging trends from our forthcoming report on community manager roles, this fall we’ll be hosting a series of follow-on conversations to get at some of the challenges we identified. Each call will address at least one of the common challenges community managers face, and hold space for community reflection and feedback.
In this blog post, you’ll find a brief summary of what to expect from each call, as well as dates and details so that you can add each call to your calendar. We’re still working out some of the details for this series, so if you see something that particularly resonates with you and you’d like to be involved as a speaker or panelist, please let us know by emailing info@www.cscce.org (note: you don’t have to be a member of our community of practice to contribute to our monthly calls).
September: Advocating for yourself to chart a career path
- Date: 28 September 2022
- Time: 11am EDT / 3pm UTC
- Zoom link to join
- Add to calendar
Abstract
In this call, we’ll hear from STEM community managers who have navigated (or are in the process of working through) a career transition, either within their organization or by moving on. We’ll also consider ways that you can advocate for your own advancement, whatever that word might mean to you, and affirm your value to your community members and leaders.
October: Expectations for community success
- Date: 20 October 2022*
- Time: 11am EDT / 3pm UTC
- Zoom link to join
- Add to calendar
Abstract
One of the common challenges community managers face is that the expectations leaders have about community-engaged work do not match a community managers’ perception of success. We’ll be hearing from funders and organizational leaders to learn more about why they value community in STEM.
*Note that this month’s call will take place on a Thursday due to speaker availability.
November: Considering volunteer labor and overlapping communities in STEM
- Date: 16 November 2022
- Time: 11am EST / 4pm UTC (note: the US daylight savings time transition may change the time of the call in your time zone)
- Zoom link to join
- Add to calendar
Abstract
As more and more organizations turn to community building as a “fix-all” for a range of projects, volunteers are increasingly pulled in multiple directions as they join overlapping communities. In this call, we’ll consider the existing ecosystem of communities in STEM, whether it’s time to rein in the creation of new communities in favor of partnering with existing ones, and how to work with volunteers to reduce member (and ecosystem-level) burnout.
December: Annual Community Potluck
- Date: 14 December 2022
- Time: 11am EST / 4pm UTC
- Zoom link to join
- Add to calendar
Abstract
We’ll be closing out the calendar year with our annual potluck, a chance to connect and network with other professionals in STEM who are working to build and nurture communities. We hope you’ll join us to reflect on the past year, look ahead to 2023, and have a little fun before we take a break over the holidays.
Editors note: This post was edited to reflect a date change for our October community call. The Zoom link was also updated.