On March 11 at 11:00 AM on the Adobe Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center, I did a book reading for “Managing Online Forums”, as part of South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive. Back in February, I had asked for your feedback in deciding what I would do a presentation about. I ended up with “Creating a Positive Environment on Your Forums”. I recapped the conference after I returned.

My friend Chris had agreed to take my camcorder and record the presentation, so that I could have it and, hopefully, upload it online. He did a good job and I’m glad that I was able to get it on tape.

It represents an interesting moment for me in that it was my first time ever speaking on stage. Really, it as my first time ever speaking to an assembled group of people that I didn’t know. So, I was a little nervous. But, I prepared and did the best that I could – once I got going, I knew what I had to say and my focus was really on getting the words out, speaking slowly, breathing and looking people in the eyes. I’m happy with how it went and I appreciate the support that I received from the crowd. It was a friendly crowd and that made it easier.

The footage is now available online and can be seen below (through Yahoo! Video) and also on YouTube (parts 1 and 2) in the ManagingCommunities.com channels on each (Yahoo! Video and YouTube channels). I am hoping to post more community management related videos in the future, so please subscribe if you have any interest.

I am going to include the slides I used for the presentation below the videos, as long as the point in time where the slide was supposed to be triggered, so that you can follow along with the slide sequence, as well. Thanks to Jake and everyone who gave me slide related advice.

Thank you for checking it out and please feel free to share any comments you might have, in the comments.

Amazon.com has made their search inside feature available on my book’s page. So, you can search for something that interests you and get a look at the contents.

AMACOM has issued a press release for the book. Here it is:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANAGING ONLINE FORUMS
New AMACOM Book Shows How to Create a Fun, Informative, and Harmonious Internet Community

Every day, millions of users log on to their favorite Internet forums and interact with others to get advice and discuss everything from the latest news and trends to their hobbies to their professions to whatever else strikes their fancy. Administrators have to lead these communities, deal with difficult users, and choose moderators. Legal constraints, spammers, and technical issues can turn the excitement of running an online community into chaos. With the right guidance, however, running forums can be a pleasure.

MANAGING ONLINE FORUMS: Everything You Need To Know To Create And Run Successful Community Discussion Boards (AMACOM; April 28, 2008; $24.00 Paperback) is the first comprehensive book to cover everything administrators need to know to launch and run a successful community forum. Patrick O’Keefe goes beyond the technical aspects of forum software and reveals how to develop a safe, engaging environment for people to come and share their thoughts. He has spent years building and managing online communities, so he understands the many challenges of running them firsthand. He explains: “As the administrator, you are the person who has to lead the community, take it to the next level, make the tough decisions, take the heat, deal with the people, manage the staff, and keep the community running smoothly on all fronts. This book targets those who are trying to maintain a professional, well-run operation.”

From creating a brand-new stand-alone community to taking over an existing community, administrators will learn how to:

• choose a name and domain name
• pick the right software
• decide on user options like avatars and private messaging
• set guidelines and deal with violators
• ensure that posts stay on topic
• settle online disputes among users
• involve their users and keep the site interesting
• choose and manage staff members
• generate revenue

Complete with a helpful section on online resources as well as a series of general templates for user guidelines, staff member guidelines, and contacting users, MANAGING ONLINE FORUMS is the one book that shows site owners and administrators how to create a safe and entertaining community that users will return to again and again.

“Online forums make up the very foundation of the social web. Unfortunately, there are few resources for the growing number of people who work behind the scenes to make them successful.  In this comprehensive book, Patrick O’Keefe brings his real world experiences to bear in the form of strategies, tactics and ideas that fill a knowledge gap that has begged to be filled for too long.” —Lee LeFever, Common Craft

About the Author:

Patrick O’Keefe is the founder and owner of the iFroggy Network (ifroggy.com), an Internet network featuring content, community and e-commerce sites. He manages seven communities, including phpBBHacks.com, SportsForums.net, KarateForums.com, CommunityAdmins.com and PhotoshopForums.com. He lives in Harbinger, NC.

Check out the book’s website at: http://www.managingonlineforums.com.

Title:   MANAGING ONLINE FORUMS:
  Everything You Need To Know To Create And Run
  Successful Community Discussion Boards
Author:         Patrick O’Keefe
ISBN:   978-0-8144-0197-2
Pub. Date: April 28, 2008
Price:  $24.00
Pages:  304

For review copies, call 212-903-7951 or fax 212-903-8083.
To purchase copies, call 1-800-714-6395.
Visit AMACOM online at www.amacombooks.org

I just got back from SXSW Interactive 2008. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. It was great to hang out with friends and meet new people. That was really the main part of the conference for me. I arrived in Austin on Thursday evening, March 6 and left Wednesday morning, March 12. So, I was in town for about a week. It was my first time at the conference and my first time in Austin, in addition to the most west I’ve ever been in my life. What follows is a community minded recap of my participation at the conference. However, if you’d like to read about everything else I did, please check out my personal blog.

The first and only panel that I attended was Edit Me! How Gamers are Adopting the Wiki Way on March 7. I wanted to hit this panel because, besides being community related, my good friends April Burba (of NCsoft) and Jake McKee were on it. I attended and it was a solid panel. I spoke with Jake briefly before and after (he was focused and busy) and April a bit afterward.

She invited me to a drink at Champions later that day. While there, I met other people from NCsoft (the company April works for) and also the other panelists that were on the Edit Me! panel – Angie Shelton of Wikia Gaming and George Pribul of WoWiki. Doug Kennedy, Marketing Manager for Wikia Gaming was also there. And I’m forgetting the names of the other people, unfortunately. But, it was cool to hang out with some community minded people and, especially, to get a chance to talk more with April.

March 8 was my brother Sean’s 19th birthday and it was the first time I’ve ever missed his birthday, so that was a little odd. I had wanted to attend the Managing Communities That Work panel – another one with Jake – but I got there late and it was packed. So, that wasn’t in the cards.

I’m back from SXSW. I’ll have a community related recap of my time there (as well as a more detailed recap) soon. Suffice to say, it went well and I had a lot of fun. Good to be back, though!

Through March 14, posting figures to be light (perhaps, there will not be any posts) as I will be attending South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive in Austin, Texas. As I posted about earlier, I have a book reading for my upcoming book, “Managing Online Forums” on the Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center on March 11 at 11:00 AM. So, if you happen to be attending – please stop by.

I’ll be around, but I am guessing that I will not find much time to post. I apologize, in advance, for this slow time.

Thank you for visiting ManagingCommunities.com.

I’ve just added some social networking and bookmarking links to the Managing Online Forums book site. If you are a user of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Goodreads, Shelfari or LibraryThing, please consider adding the book. If you use a social bookmarking site, please consider bookmarking the book, as well. I appreciate it.

You will have members on your forums (sometimes crazy people) who will speak in a way that will frustrate you or a member of your staff. Whether it’s the way they express themselves or what they are saying,  Maybe they’re just annoying, in some sort of way. However, they are still following your guidelines, so their posts remain and they must be treated with respect.

What I try to always keep in mind (and what I tell my staff members to keep in mind) is that when I reply to someone, I’m not just replying to them – I’m showing our members how to reply to them. As the administrator, or as a staff member, I must set an example for members to follow. So, even though I think BeeBooBop23 may be the biggest idiot on two feet, I’m not going to allow that to cause me to speak to him in a manner that could be perceived by members as disrespectful.

Why? Because my responsibility and the community are bigger. They are bigger than this moment, bigger than BeeBooBop23 and bigger than me. As a leader, or as a staff member, you must always consider how you words will be perceived and whether or not you are setting a suitable example that your members can follow.

After listening to feedback (and feedback that was offered on a one to one basis, I have decided to go with the idea that was most popular: Creating a Positive Environment on Your Forums.

Thanks for the feedback.

VideoJug has come up with a tongue-in-cheek guide to behaving on online forums. Worth a watch and good for some laughs. Warning: some inappropriate language and content. Watch below.

How To Behave On An Internet Forum

Via Brad Linder via Mark Fraunenfelder.