Meet me in cyberspace.

"Meet me" takes on a new meaning for members when you offer them never-ending networking opportunities in a virtual community.

It's greetings without handshakes. It's communication without body language. It's paradise for people who are addicted to networking but cannot always get out. More to the point, it's "a group of people who have something significant in common but lack the opportunity to interact face-to-face on a regular basis" - that's Mark McDonough's definition of virtual community. With a title like his, lead architect of virtual communities [and you once thought webmaster was wild?], McDonough displays an inclination for embracing new concepts. At Knowledge Systems, Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, he designs meeting places for associations that want to bring members together in cyberspace.

Various terms are used to describe these meeting sites; this article uses three common terms interchangeably: virtual, electronic, and online communities. An association may acknowledge the interactive nature of all components of its Web site by calling the entire site an online community; this article, however, uses community, as many associations do, to refer specifically to the portion of the site that houses an online discussion forum. A discussion forum is built around a specific topic or area of interest and allows participants to post messages that others can read at a later time.

Such forums are increasingly popular, and this trend has triggered recent electronic-community development by many associations that not only want to serve members' emerging needs but also aim to do so before an enterprising for-profit organization enters the picture with an online community of its own. So long as associations embrace this technology, they have significant advantages over competitors, several executives concur. Here's why - plus what some associations are doing to create engaging discussion groups that can be joined without ever leaving home.

Eager to communicate via computer

Surprising study results showed the Society of Chemical Industry, London, England, that members of all ages are eager to communicate via their computers. SCI has approximately 8,000 members in 65 countries, served by 41 full-time and 7 part-time staff. In a recent survey of members, reports General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Richard Denyer, 70 percent of the respondents "were comfortable with electronic communication. That would seem to me to be a very high figure, given the wide range of ages in our membership. The members - more than 30 percent of whom are in the top echelons of corporate management - go to 100 years of age."

More electronic communities will be formed, Denyer promises his members, but for now SCI is keeping watch on the progress of its pilot project, "Tomorrow's Leaders." This discussion forum uses SCI's Web site to link young industry managers "who are recognized as high flyers in their companies," Denyer says. The forum, which is restricted to members 20-39 years of age, invites participants to submit essays, which are then the stimuli for discussion. The objectives, Denyer says, "are to broaden the horizons of the people who are taking part and to offer new networking opportunities to them."

Not meant to replace regular meetings. Denyer notes that Tomorrow's Leaders and future electronic communities are not meant to replace face-to-face meetings: "We hope and expect that we'll have meetings from time to time where people can physically be present - that they'll establish a rapport with one another that will allow them to visit with each other. So we want [the rapport] to go beyond the electronic community."

Does Denyer anticipate competition from for-profit online sites that might try to duplicate what SCI is doing electronically, only do so for a fee smaller than what the association is charging for dues?

"No," he responds, "because we're so broad. We cover an enormous breadth of areas - from agriculture to pharmaceuticals, for example. In particular niches, there probably will be competitors, but we're unlikely to have any competitors covering such a wide ground as we do."

A hard act to crack. Whether its scope is broad or narrow, a Web-savvy association is in a strong position to compete with for-profit competitors who are trying to lure away members, says Knowledge Systems' Mark McDonough. He believes that "any association that has been around for a while has two things that are really golden. One of them is name recognition, and the other is a large group of members who are interested in the focus area of the association. The association has marketing channels to its members; it has a human connection to them already, and that's a very important head start," he says.

Sharmion Linseisen-Kerley agrees. She is senior manager of Internet services at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, which hosts five members-only discussion forums on its Web site. The Lawrence, Kansas-based GCSAA (membership, nearly 19,000; staff, 110) has a competitor in the electronic arena, "but we've got the brand name," Linseisen-Kerley points out, "and because of our history of working for the profession, our members are very loyal to the association."

According to Linseisen-Kerley, the commercial Web site has a close-knit community that is growing, but the site doesn't offer the electronic educational components offered by GCSAA. She adds that the commercial community at times enjoys a more personal level of dialogue, but the strictly professional nature of GCSAA's discussion forums seems to be preferred by the association's members and adds to the site's credibility as a valuable resource.

Members "just can't get enough" of GCSAA's "phenomenally successful" online networking service, Linseisen-Kerley says. In the members-only area of the Web site, she counts 5,300 registrants, representing 28 percent of the membership; "and when we go through our logs every month we see that the discussion forums are the most popular items on the entire site.

"We have an association of members who are very hungry for information and absolutely relish the opportunity to communicate with each other," she continues. "As with most associations, the membership really carries the knowledge of the industry, so they need to be able to tap into that collective experience and wisdom and share their tips and tricks. We've structured our Web site to provide them with every opportunity to do so."

One component of this site makes matches among GCSAA members, based on their particular needs and interests. The association's online directory allows members to create profiles by answering such questions as the type of golf course they oversee, the types of grasses on their courses, the disease and insect problems they may be facing, and so forth. Members can search this database of profiles to find a colleague who's facing similar professional challenges and begin corresponding through e-mail.

Edge over anticipated competitors

Making cybermatches is a goal of the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Chamber of Commerce Executives with its soon-to-be-launched (sometime in September) second-generation Web site. According to Tamara Philbin, vice president of management information services, ACCE (which has 35 staff and 1,000 member chambers, representing 5,000 executives) set four objectives for the new site, the entirety of which is being referred to as a virtual community.

1. To extend all current products and services to the virtual community.

2. To foster member-to-member relationships through online discussions.

3. To create additional products and services from the online activity and form content partnerships with other organizations.

4. To create electronic commerce through online partnerships with vendors.

Number four is where some of the matchmaking comes in. ACCE will use its new Web site to gather more data on what members want and need from the association. "That will help us serve our members better," Philbin says. "It will also help us understand the people who are coming into our community, enabling us to identify which vendors are most appropriate to participate in our community."

Critical for this to work, Philbin points out, is for ACCE to own all data that comes into its new Web site. "We own the site, we own the software that the site was created from, we own all of the database that's behind it - we own everything," she explains. "We, not as a community organizer but as a member-driven organization, essentially are making sure that our members control their collective data. . . . That's important to us because we can mine that data at will."

Member-pleasing and revenue-generating opportunities abound, and Philbin credits her Web software vendor plus the book Net Gain (see side-bar, "Nuggets From Net Gain") for stimulating much of her thinking on the subject. Philbin believes that the book speaks to the vision ACCE had for its Web site and outlines steps for any organization to .take to remain viable in the cyberfuture.

Members on the mind. With all the thinking about improved links among vendors and members, though, the main purpose of ACCE's new Web site - enhancing member service - remains at the forefront, Philbin says. And sticking to that main purpose, she adds, is what will keep the association ahead of competitors.

"There are so many entrepreneurs out there who are taking the concept of virtual communities and eating away at what associations could be calling their niche," Philbin notes, "but what associations still have that these entrepreneurs will never have is the members' interests in mind. We're not just marketing, selling, delivering, and supporting; we're actually listening to understand what the members' needs are. We are tailoring our responses to those needs and delivering what members are saying they want.

"It's not just a sell," she continues. "Whatever we offer members is hopefully making their life better, and we're concerned about their lives. We have a much greater stake in our community members than these entrepreneurial sites have in their customers."

Philbin does believe that an association and a for-profit company can work as partners, though, to create a valuable resource for members. The potential advantages of such an arrangement to the association can be balanced out by the member loyalty that ACCE has to offer.

She acknowledges that the, members' dedication to the association cannot be taken for granted. "We need to make sure we keep their loyalty," she says, "by getting out there first with our virtual community."

Association's advantage hinges on early entry

Key in the strategy taken by the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Society for Training and Development with the latest version of its Web site was speed. The third-generation site, which is called the "ASTD Virtual Community" and includes discussion forums based on subject areas, was launched in early April, backed by a strategy that emphasized the need for ASTD to accelerate its participation in cyberspace to prevent competition. By acting quickly, ASTD could build on its advantages, which, according to its strategy statement, include "the aura of 'not-for-profit' status that gives us credibility for both our content as well as affiliation."

According to Edith Allen, director of information services for ASTD (staff, 140; membership, more than 70,000), a couple of trends have influenced the evolution of ASTD's Web site. "We've had an increasing amount of customer feedback indicating that the type of networking that customers get at a conference is very important to them and they want to have more ways to extend that beyond conferencing. Another trend that we're seeing is that people want to have ready access to each other. They don't want to wait for a conference. They value networking, and they value ready access."

Traditional operations turned upside down. Acting upon these trends has spurred much thought at ASTD about the traditional operations of the organization. As Allen explains, "a virtual community site involves members interacting with each other without the association necessarily being able to control or organize. That makes some associations nervous. They think very much in terms of, 'We publish information, and we hold events, and we choreograph everything.'

"The big shift for the association is how our role of adding value to information has changed," Allen continues. "We're so used to thinking in a print-publication or live-conference paradigm. It was a big revelation for us to realize that the value we provide in a virtual community comes from creating an arena where members create the content simply by interacting and participating in the dialogue. But we have to shift the emphasis away from the association collecting information and then making it perfect before sending it out. We have to shift to the members kind of creating the menu - an ongoing menu, with members coming together and sharing ideas and swapping things. Then the association has to take on the role of sifting through and archiving and tagging the information so that it can become a knowledge bank that is of value for the members."

Allen strongly backs staff participation in these electronic discussion forums and believes staff can do so "without making it seem like Big Brother is watching over, but rather, ASTD is sitting at the table with the rest of the field and taking part in the dialogue."

Staffing a discussion forum. Although encouraging staff to take part in discussions is important, an online forum does not manage itself. According to Allen, one of the key learnings from the ASTD Virtual Community is that it's important to provide structured events for the members to gather around electronically. Although natural leaders will emerge during discussions from among the participants, it takes planning and coordination - project management - for a successful discussion forum.

Following are staff roles she identified that contribute to a forum's success.

* Identifying "guest presenters" - authors of books or articles, conference presenters, and key leaders in the industry or profession - to participate in the forum.

* Getting background information from the presenters or other sources to post on the Web site to frame the discussion.

* Coaching the presenters to make them feel comfortable interacting in an online medium.

* Developing questions that promote a dialogue between the presenter and participants.

* Securing the appropriate rights from presenters to use the transcripts of the discussion sessions.

* Coordinating the discussion content with other initiatives to present an integrated approach for the associations' communications and information presentation.

Enabling members to have the lead voice. Encouraging and engaging in the dialogue with members, while enabling them to take the lead voice - that's the main role Allen sees for staff with virtual communities.

"It's a very different role than we've had with any of our pre-electronic activities," she says. "The conference comes close, because people submit RFPs, then we select, then we create an education event where people can pick and choose. But again, that's very structured and choreographed, whereas the electronic environment is much more organic, much more fluid. You have to be willing to let the members take over and do things themselves - which they will do, and which is great."

Recommended Reading

In addition to Net Gain (see separate sidebar), executives interviewed for this article recommend the following books:

* Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy, by Stanley M. Davis and Christopher Meyer (1998, Addison-Wesley)

* Webonomics: Nine Essential Principles for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web, by Eva I. Schwartz (1997, Broadway Books)

RELATED ARTICLE: ASAE Can Assist You

Where to go next for information about developing a virtual community? A good place is the ASAE-Microsoft Technology Alliance Web site (www.asaenet.org/alliance). There you'll find a "blueprint" for building an electronic community, including information about e-commerce.

This blueprint is only one offering of the ASAE-Microsoft Technology Alliance. ASAE entered into this alliance with Microsoft Corporation to help association executives stay on top of all technology trends, and in line with that objective, the alliance offers various services to ASAE members. For information about the resources and training available, check the Web site regularly for updates and additions or send an e-mail to [e-mail].

Also on its Web site, ASAE hosts an e-mail list for each section, where section members (only) may participate for free. Participants can not only read current messages and post responses but also search by subject area for past postings. To join your section's e-mail list and see firsthand how a discussion forum operates, go to http://lists.asaenet.org/scripts/lyris.pl.

RELATED ARTICLE: Advanced Networking Technology

If you went to ASAE's Management and Technology Conferences 1997 in December in Baltimore and attended the general sessions, you no doubt remember speaker Pattie Maes. This associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been concocting software in Cambridge-based MIT's media lab that takes online networking to new heights. Maes is a founder of the popular Firefly site (www.firefly.com), which uses a new type of software - "intelligent agents" - to create communities of common interest.

Sound familiar? Firefly, which was recently acquired by Microsoft Corporation, acts somewhat like an association in cyberspace. Here's how the technology behind Firefly works and what implications Maes sees for associations.

When you access a Web site powered by an agent, you are asked several questions, based on the purpose of the site, about your interests. Once you respond, the agent creates a profile of you, then searches for people, products, places, Web sites - all kinds of things - that are likely to be of particular interest to you. The agent acts as "your extra eyes and ears," explains Maes, by looking and listening for information that is tailored to your wants and needs. The agent then presents you this information, which includes, among other elements, the profiles of people with interests similar to yours - people you may be interested in contacting.

For example, say you are attending a major conference. You might log onto the conference Web site and find questions geared toward developing profiles of attendees. You might be probed about what types of topics you're most interested in, what types of after-conference activities appeal to you, what types of food you like, and so forth. A profile would be created that includes your name and contact information. If you directed the software agent to find potential dinner partners who share your interest in dining with other conference attendees at a particular type of restaurant while discussing Topic X, you would be supplied with profiles of good candidates for dinner. Likewise, other conference attendees would be able to call up your profile to determine whether you would make a desirable dinner companion and, if interested, contact you.

Opportunities, rather than threats

Maes sees wide-ranging applications for this technology. Think of linking organizations with like legislative interests; think of bringing customers, rather than mere browsers, to exhibitor booths; think about all the things your members want from your association. "You can exploit this software to create stronger networks and allow people to be even more effective at networking," Maes says. She urges association executives to think of ways to similarly tailor information to members' individual interests and to link members with common interests more closely, more easily.

Is this technology a threat to the existence of associations? No, says Maes; she considers software agents and the technology on the horizon "very complementary to associations." She elaborates: "We will always still need face-to-face meetings to discuss common issues. However, I believe that this technology will allow associations to be a lot more effective and to offer additional services that were never before possible. It will allow you to be more efficient and especially to gather more useful member feedback that will allow you to adapt to members' changing needs."

Maes offers this advice to associations: "Get involved now. Be the ones to run the electronic affinity groups. Base them on personalization and community-building technology. View them as a way to integrate old and new ways of doing things."

Stepping up to the challenge

As the main text of this article discusses, associations are boosting their ability to bring members together online. And even if an association is not using the advanced technology developed by Maes, the organization can still go a long way toward matching up members with like interests, says Mark McDonough, at Knowledge Systems.

"That sort of software personalization - using intelligent agents - is very interesting, but it is a complex and expensive thing to do," remarks McDonough. "It's still pretty much a high-end tool that you don't see on a lot of low- to medium-end Web sites; you see it on places like amazon.com. Like everything else, though, in time the software will become cheaper and easier to deal with."

Meanwhile, McDonough says, "there are some things that are very simple to do that are very much like personalization-other ways for people to find other people who share similar tastes or who have information that they're interested in. For example, you can have a searchable member directory, so that if somebody wants to find a lawyer in Kansas City who specializes in tort law, you can find one. You don't have to have personalization to do that.

Evolving software

As a "virtual community architect," McDonough tracks up-and-coming technologies. He mentions two new electronic-community enhancers:

* software that allows users to attach documents to discussion forum postings, allowing work groups and others to share and comment on documents; and

* software that integrates the "push" of e-mail with discussion forums (for example, automatically notifying forum users when someone has responded to their postings).

Whatever technological level your association is at, reminds McDonough, keep in mind this key point when developing a virtual community: "Start with who the people are, what they have in common, and what they might want to do. If you start the other way, with the technology, you often will get lost."

RELATED ARTICLE: Nuggets From Net Gain

Guiding some association executives in their development of virtual communities is the advice offered by John Hagel III and Arthur G. Armstrong in their 1997 book, Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities. According to the authors, "A key assumption driving the formation of virtual communities is that members will over time derive greater value from member-generated content than from more conventional forms of published content." Following are a few concepts from Hagel and Armstong that pertain to member-generated content in discussion forums:

* Integrate the published content at your site with an environment for communication. Foster member-generated content, enabling members to post messages related to the published content so they can interact with authors and with other members. This will enhance the benefit that members derive from the published material and will be seen as a prime benefit of your site.

* Provide technology at the site that will allow members to access one another and accumulate information quickly, easily, and inexpensively.

* Collect postings, organize and edit them into high-quality documents, and index them to create valuable resources. Members will develop a dependence on these resources, which they won't find duplicated in other communities.

* Monitor the content being posted to help keep out false and self-serving information. Deal directly with members who you believe are providing information that is damaging to your discussion forum.

Net Gain is available from the ASAE Bookstore for $24.95 (product AMR250116). To order, call [phone]; fax to (202) 3718315; or send an e-mail to [e-mail].

Gerry Romano, CAE, is a senior editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT.