Setting the scene - a few suggestions of helpful practice

Part of our challenge and our joy as the team hosting Evolutionary Nexus will be to become the kind of community that we want to see more of in this online space. Our first journey will be to have the experience ourselves of what it is to be in an online community.

By way of a little appreciative inquiry (I'll open this up in a new thread): What is the best experience I have had of a vibrant online community, and what made it possible?

Hosting ourselves to the next level

Our most experienced host and mentor in this online community hosting is George. He fully admits that most of his 20 years' experience in this activity came from before he ever encountered the Art of Hosting. As a good life-long learner, he welcomes the opportunity of reconsidering everything that he knows about online hosting and facilitation through the filters of the art of hosting. This is, of course, an invitation to all of us to be as creative as possible in how we host each other in this space.

Encouragement and feedback

One way we learn well is when our behaviour is positively reinforced by recognition and appreciation. So let each of us also take the perspective of the community of 'users' whom we wish to serve, so that we remain awake to the ways in which our mates host us in a manner that we find particularly helpful and welcoming.

Don't let conversations die through lack of response

One particularly important practice we can all undertake is to "adopt a conversation" (by subscribing to it) and make a point of responding to comments and contributions in ways that open up the conversation. Practice asking those wicked questions!

Help community members learn to improve and enrich their contributions

It is particularly helpful to encourage members to add links to their texts when this can be relevant, and also to use tags so that their contributions can 'find their mates' even when they themselves don't know what's out there!