Community Makers Panel Summary

The Community Makers panel was moderated by Chris Tardio and included a variety of entrepreneurs who focus on building tight-knit communities. After the introductory round of descriptions, Chris asked the panelists where the genesis of their idea came from, and the panelists answered with thorough descriptions and stories. Emily McKhann of The Motherhood described the way the problems posed by Hurricane Katrina served as a catalyst for her “neighborhood for moms” model of an online community.
The panelists also discussed how they have built brands around excellent names, sustaining a community by patiently nurturing it as Barbara Pantuso does for her website Hey, Neighbor!
All of the speakers also focused on building connections around issues or problems– helping people to feel that they are not alone in their struggles or questions. Allison Floam of The Fix and Tereza Nemessanyi of Honestly Now particularly stood out in this respect. Amanda Hesser’s site Food 52 shows how important content curation is but also how important guidelines and serious structure are in order to encourage excellent content.
Overall, the exchange of ideas, personal stories and honest answers about monetizing websites was free-flowing and informative for all attendees.

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