What Happened At CMX 2024

465 community builders, leaders, and champions gathered in California for the CMX Summit in April 2024.

As my first time attending CMX Summit, I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I instantly knew I was surrounded by my people!

The event was a mix of time to meet others, fireside chats and keynote sessions.

My key takeaways from the CMX sessions

Kim Scott, the author of Radical Candor, shared her new book Radical Respect with us, highlighting how to speak truth to power, without blowing everything up.

Nada Zhody, from the Obama Foundation, delivered a compelling talk about her role and the foundation's community initiatives. She emphasised the importance of building a valuable community that transforms strangers into a supportive network, particularly for leaders who participate in their programmes. 

Nada stressed that online communities should be inherently global, making the most of today's technology to connect people across the world.

Karuana Gatimu from Microsoft, Kobi Fuller from Upfront Ventures, and Derek Andersen from Bevy provided a panel discussion on the impact of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in community management.

Kobi highlighted AI's potential to unlock new possibilities, while Katrina discussed how AI can enhance a community manager's role by:

• Handling administrative tasks (something we touched on in our Millington Talk Part 1 article)

• Allowing managers to focus on creating meaningful human connections

Karuana also shared an innovative approach where AI was used to manage and retrieve content, streamlining internal processes and improving efficiency.

Aaron Blackwell from Peloton shared practical advice on gaining internal stakeholder support and ensuring the community's objectives align with business goals. He emphasised the importance of clearly articulating the community's purpose and celebrating its successes to maintain visibility and respect within the organisation. 

Aaron's insights underscored the need for community managers to demonstrate the tangible benefits of their work to secure ongoing support and resources.

I’ll be digging into these in more detail soon but, for now, why not watch some of the recordings from CMX Summit here!