Home Run! Power of Community at Empire Builders

Last week Nick Ehret, CPA and I hosted Empire Builders. It was our 9th keystone event for Hill Capital Corporation . The goal of the event has always been to provide entrepreneurs and business executives (Hill Capital Ambassadors) with time and space to connect and build community.?

We are inspired by the feedback we receive and it motivates us to keep building. A theme of the feedback is that Empire Builders is something special - very different from what entrepreneurs experience at other events. Nick and I designed it that way. We designed Empire Builders as something we want to attend.?And, like you, we want to attend events that can provide a return on the time and resources invested.

Attendees that lean in and make meaningful connections receive an asymmetrical return on their investment in attending Empire Builders. I wrote about “Community vs. Networking” in my book Breakout Valuation . In reflecting upon the magic of Empire Builders, here are some of the design elements of Community building.?

Simplicity. The design thinking for Empire Builders is more about creating space for people to come together and learn from each other. This results in an agenda that is flexible and provides time for quality conversations among attendees. The simplicity of the agenda provides time for attendees to learn from each other vs. simply consuming content delivered by barrage of keynote speakers.?

Everyone Serves a Purpose. The magic of Empire Builders is that you never know who can be helpful to you and that resources they can make available to you. Everyone is there for a purpose and has bountiful connections and experiences to share. Attendees that get the best experience explore this in each person they meet. Quality conversations is intentional community building, not transactional networking.?

Actively Listening. Receiving is giving. See people. Hear people. Honor people with the gift of your attention - your eyes, ears, mind and talent. Connection before content. When attendees see people - see the human being - and the rest takes care of itself. The design of our roundtable experience sharing promotes active listening among participants.

When you think about attending events that provided you with a meaningful return - what design elements worked for you to get your return??

Please post below, or reach out to me [email protected]

All my Best,

Patrick Donohue