# Webinar: Growing and Retaining Your Community
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245
**Category:** Events
**Tags:** webinar
**Created:** [May 15, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245 "2025-05-15T12:08:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Danielle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Danielle)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/1 "2025-05-15T12:08:45Z")
On, 2025-05-20T17:00:00Z we explored why people join and stay in communities!
### Watch the Replay
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3oNIrhmUC8)
### Key Takeaways
**What is participation, anyway?**
**Key Motivators for Community Participation**
- Getting help or solving a problem/practical need.
- Connecting with like-minded people.
- Building credibility or reputation.
- Giving back after receiving value.
- Staying informed or accessing exclusive content.
**Questions Answered in the Webinar**
We had over 100 people answer this registration question:
> What’s the biggest challenge you face in getting people to engage in your community?
Here are the top themes we saw across all questions, and members of the Product team and I go in-depth addressing these in the presentation!
1. **Getting People to Post First**
Many users visit and read but hesitate to make the first move or start a conversation.
2. **Low Participation After Launch**
Communities are started but fail to gain momentum—resulting in very few posts or ongoing activity.
3. **Time Constraints**
Both community managers and members feel too busy to engage consistently.
4. **Lack of Icebreakers or Starting Points**
Uncertainty around how to kick off conversations or guide first interactions.
5. **Large Member Base, But Low Engagement**
Even in communities with thousands of members, participation remains minimal.
6. **Overreliance on the Admin/Manager**
Engagement only happens when the community leader actively posts multiple times per day.
7. **Fear of Posting or Shyness**
Members may be hesitant to share due to social anxiety, fear of judgment, or unfamiliarity.
8. **Lack of Strategy or Know-How**
Some respondents admitted they don’t have a plan or aren’t sure what tactics will work.
9. **Unclear Value Proposition**
Members don’t immediately see why they should engage or what’s in it for them.
10. **Competing Platforms**
Some users prefer familiar platforms (e.g., Facebook), making it harder to transition them to a new space.
### Mentioned Discourse Tools & Resources
- [https://discover.discourse.com/](https://discover.discourse.com/)
- [Discourse Yearly Review](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-yearly-review/105713)
- [Post notices for first-time and returning users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-notices-for-first-time-and-returning-users/112078)
### What to Watch Next:
- [Webinar: Getting Buy-In for Your Community + Office Hours](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-getting-buy-in-for-your-community-office-hours/360736)
- [Webinar: Love Your Community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-love-your-community/351482)
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### Author:  [@Danielle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Danielle)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/2 "2025-05-15T15:34:37Z")
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2025, 9:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/3 "2025-05-16T09:26:48Z")
Just confirming, will the webinar be recorded?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Danielle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Danielle)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2025, 12:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/4 "2025-05-16T12:03:18Z")
Yes, it will! The replay will be posted in the OP a few days after the live event.
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### Author:  [@Thomas\_Rother](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Thomas_Rother)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/5 "2025-05-27T14:11:01Z")
@Danielle Did you post the slides from the webinar already? I want to translate and re-use them for some promotion among communities in Germany.
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### Author:  [@Danielle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Danielle)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/6 "2025-05-27T14:54:35Z")
Replay posted to the OP!
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### Author:  [@Thomas\_Rother](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Thomas_Rother)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/7 "2025-05-28T06:39:55Z")
What is “OP”? I was asking for the slides, not the replay. It would be handy if I could use your slides and just translate them. File format could be LibreOffice or MS Office, no problem …
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/8 "2025-05-28T14:38:40Z")
Hi Thomas, 👋
OP in this instance means ‘original post’ however, it can also mean ‘original poster’ As for the slides, I’ll let Danielle assist you.
Have a great day ☀ 😃
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### Author:  [@Danielle](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Danielle)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/9 "2025-05-28T19:05:21Z")
> [@Thomas\_Rother](#):
>
> It would be handy if I could use your slides and just translate them.
Made a copy for you with just a blank template. Shooting you a DM now.
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### Author:  [@Thomas\_Rother](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Thomas_Rother)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/webinar-growing-and-retaining-your-community/366245/10 "2025-07-24T15:32:02Z")
A German translation of the slides presented by @Danielle has been published here:
> **[Digitale Teilnahme mit Discourse](https://www.netzwissen.de/2025/07/24/digitale-teilnahme-mit-discourse/)**
>
> Warum Menschen einer digitalen Community beitreten und was man tun kann, damit sie bleiben Der Aufbau einer digitalen Community läuft oft nach demselben Schema ab: zuerst einigt man sich auf \[…\]
Download
> **[ownCloud](https://ocis.netzwissen.de/s/wgOBRoaACHZjnWh)**
(Filename _DISCOURSE\_Digitale\_Teilnahme\_DE.pdf)_