The Community Roundtable

Meet?Alex Blanton. ? Alex is the?Principal Community Program Manager, Office of the CTO / AI & ML Community at Microsoft.? ? Alex shared how he's using AI in his community and provides specific tools and prompts community professionals can use to harness the power of AI. https://lnkd.in/eHb5-HJ4? ?

Meet?Lauren Kelly! ? She's the Director of Membership and Community at?ISTE+ASCD. ? In this community case study, she?shares insights into their migration to a new platform and opening their doors wider than ever before. ? This move wasn’t just about retaining their existing pay-for membership; they wanted to create an accessible community where everyone in their audience could participate for free. ? https://lnkd.in/eUAKgBec

Launched in 2020, Community Food Navigator envisions a food system rooted in justice, in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control its production, distribution, and governance. Their mission is to expand food sovereignty — particularly in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities — by engaging Chicago-area food growers, producers, educators, and eaters; strengthening connections and collaboration; telling more truthful stories about the Chicago food ecosystem; and redistributing power. Their community already existed in Chicagoland, but the Community Food Navigator team recognized the need for an online place for collaboration amidst peak COVID-19 conditions. In-person meet-ups were not an option. It was critical to the team that members felt on-going ownership of the space they co-created, rather than handing them a tool that didn’t meet their needs. Learn how the Community Food Navigator community team built a mobile-first app to meet their members where they were. https://lnkd.in/e2W4JpZx

Meet ?? Andreea Tomescu.? ? She's the Senior Community Manager at?UiPath. ? In this community case study, she?shares insights into the dynamic UiPath Community, a thriving ecosystem that embodies the transformative power of automation and artificial intelligence. ? With over three million members worldwide, this community serves as a space for exploration, learning, collaboration, and success. https://lnkd.in/eTyZjc24

Marissa Rogers, Principal Knowledge Management Specialist at Pegasystems discusses the common support community?challenge of?converting customers who prefer traditional support channels (calls/tickets) to access self-support options first. ? Marissa also shares?exciting developments in the community, including personalized email notifications?for stalled posts to encourage responses and a new feedback module?for documentation. https://lnkd.in/ePm2qPWW

Jessica Langston, the Senior Director, Community at Autodesk explores the ways automation and AI can benefit online community programs, including language translations and localization, filtering and analyzing community data, and automating repetitive tasks. Jessica also offers advice for managing mature communities and the importance of co-designing with community members. https://lnkd.in/ekhMnmBy

When the?Microsoft AI/ML Connected Community team wanted to foster engagement they knew AI was the answer.? ? Read about their innovative, AI-based?program, centered around the community mascot Amelie, also affectionately known as AIMLEE, who helps create a memorable identity that resonates with community members.? ? Read the case study and meet Amelie! https://lnkd.in/etQsXad4

When Esri Community Team wanted to secure more resources for their community they let the numbers do the talking. Learn how the Esri Community Team built a Cost Impact Model for their online community program and design an impact model of your own in this community case study. https://lnkd.in/eVSmqqNr

The heart of the services we offer is our private peer community, The Network. For almost 15 years it's been a safe space for online community professionals to ask questions, solve problems and make friends in the community world. Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, and we wanted to send big love to our current Community Manager, Mary Emma Gary. If you've met her you know Mary Emma is pure sunshine. An incredible connector, she helps our members find the resources (ideas, templates, reports, connections) they need to thrive in their work building communities. Since 2009, we've had four people in this role and The Network, in all it's eras, has benefited from the guidance of Hillary Boucher (our very first #cmgr), Kelly Schott, Sean Marlin, and Mary Emma. Collectively, they worked with thousands of community professionals and made a huge mark on the community industry as a whole. Join us in thanking the amazing community professionals in our life today (although, you could thank them every day, that would be fine too!). #cmad #cmad2025

Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day! ?? We hope you use Community Manager Appreciation Day 2025 to reflect on the incredible work you do every day to help make global online communities safe, productive, and effective. We've always loved the?'thank it forward'?concept so in honor of Community Manager Appreciation Day we are encouraging everyone to take a moment and shine a spotlight on the work of a community manager you know. This might take the form of a shout-out or kudos in an internal comms channel, it could be a handwritten thank you note, or it could be an endorsement on linkedin! Feel free to use the image attached to show your appreciation! #cmad2025