Community is about connection, not big turnouts, says expert

While the phrase “building a community” is tossed around often in the D.C. region, one of the people committed to taking up the task is Pete Erickson, founder of community organization company Modev.

Erickson said he began organizing community meetups for tech entrepreneurs and developers in Seattle in 2008, and after the success of the first conference he hosted, realized that this would work as a business model.

“That sort of kicked the whole thing off. So, at that point, I decided to jump all-in, and do community as a business,” said Erickson. “Over the past seven years, we’ve gotten very adept at building communities from the ground up, from people who are just getting started all the way through to executives.”

“We have always worked hard to kind of maintain this Switzerland role. If we’re not trying to get somebody to enroll in a coding school, or trying to get them to take a job somewhere, we’re pure. We can actually offer them information, content, network, all these things that benefit them and their careers, without being conflicted, without needing to sell them anything,” said Erickson. Instead, Modev is funded by sponsors. Thus, it’s seen as a trusted resource, and is better able to build real communities.

“It’s fun to play this middle role, where we stay pure, and at the end of the day, hopefully people are improved through our actions,” he told What’s Working in Washington.

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As for joining meetup groups and communities, Erickson recommended joining smaller ones. “There are so many special interest meetups, I would say not necessarily join the biggest one. Join the smaller ones, and look for the consistency,” he said.

“We don’t seek to be the biggest, or have the biggest meetups. We seek to have really meaningful content that people need in order to advance,” Erickson said.

“Modev operates today on a very simple belief, and that belief is that human connectivity and human connection is absolutely vital in this era of digital transformation. As technology is moving faster and faster, it’s just that simple human connection that helps us advance our careers. It’s not the technology itself,” said Erickson.

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