The community of Technological Artisans

I went into my company, Roland DG Mid Europe, with the specific purpose of training those who had bought our product. We are talking about plotters for large format printing. During these hours of training, twenty “technological artisans” gathered weekly in the same classroom to talk about tips, best practices and technology: along the way, I noticed that once they had overcome their initial diffidence, they started to no longer see each other as competitors but rather to share their experiences. It would have been a pity to leave this magic closed in the classroom, so I opened a space for sharing on Yahoo Groups with the name “Forum of the technological Artisans”: now it has migrated to a more current platform but it still has the same spirit of sharing that it had on the first day ten years ago. Listening, consistency, and getting involved first-hand are the key elements for ensuring that a community grows healthily and happily. But this alone is not enough, we must look for ideas for sharing, be a source of inspiration, respect the intelligence of beginners, know what lies beyond and, the most important thing: follow a cause. In our case, we talk about and spread diversification as a single element for delivering value to the market. The live meetings are one of the most strengthening moments for the community. Physical relations. Hand shaking. Every participant is welcomed as a friend in order to create something constructive, otherwise he/she will only be a number: personally, I have never liked talking to numbers, I prefer talking to people! A community must come from the heart. You cannot take someone and say: “from today, you are the community manager”. He/she must feel it inside. I believe that in order to manage a community, you must believe in what you are doing with every fibre of your body, every moment of the day. It is not nine-to-five job. If you have a clear mission and a heart, and the people you help can improve their lives, then yes, you are ready to become a community manager. My motto is “Know, do, know how to do, inform”: click here to watch the video “At the heart of Roland, there is you.” Giovanni Re Community Manager at Roland DG Mid Europe. www.rolanddg.it www.rolandforum.com