My presentation at the Blog Business Summit for Building Communities Online.

1. Community or
Commodity?

2. brand vs. personality

3. efficient vs. fun

4. consistent vs.
adventurous

5. competitive vs.
collaborative

6. people use vs.
people enjoy

7. talk vs. participate

8. protected vs. vulnerable

9. focus on bottom line vs.
focus on people

10. short term vs. long term

11. order vs. chaos

12. generalized vs.
personalized

13. Commodity is cheap,
simple and far-reaching

14. Community is
inexpensive, complex &
slow growing

15. Commodity requires
you to cut overhead to
undercut the
competition

16. Community is all about
creating excellent
experiences to delight
customers

17. “How low can you go?”

18. vs.

19. “How do I make myself
unforgettable?”

20. Commodity is a zero-
sum game:
there is one winner

21. Community is a non-
zero-sum outcome:
everyone benefits

22. Commodity is the
modern reality

23. Community is the
return to craft

24. If you still want
community rather than
to be a commodity,
then...

25. community is not a
buzzword

26. ask yourself:
“why should anyone
give a flying snake?”

27. what you can count on:

28. #1.
it takes time and
patience

29. #2.
it requires
introspection,
commitment and
honesty

30. #3.
you’ll need to stop
outgoing messages and
start listening to
incoming messages

31. #4.
you will need to open
up more than you are
comfortable with

32. #5.
you will have to put
community first...above
all else

33. #6.
there will be chaos

34. #7.
it will be the most
rewarding thing you
have ever done...for
yourself and your
business

35. *tips*

36. find ways to increase
the ‘win’ for your
customers

37. create open
communication between
customers...participate

38. be real

39. get a personality

40. reward your customers

41. “to be extraordinary,
the first step is to stop
being ordinary.”