By Jenda Perla, VP Marketing at Kentico
Jenda Perla is VP Marketing at Kentico, a Forbes Communication Council Member, and also an active participant in the Boye & Co community
I recently attended the SaaS Vegas community meetup organized by Karel Dytrych and Hana Weaver. This event was specifically for people from Czech SaaS startups and took place from Thursday to Sunday.
Yesterday, I was interviewed by Matthew McQueeny for the Konabos Konaverse podcast, where he asked me what community means to me.
This Thursday, I am excited to attend another community event called HackerCamp, where people from the Czech technology community come together in the woods.
So, what do communities mean to me?
๐ Importance of Trust
Being part of a community means being in a place of trust where individuals can share and encourage others to do the same. During the SaaS Vegas meetup, I appreciated the claim "What happens in SaaS Vegas stays in SaaS Vegas." ๐
This creates a sense of security and openness that encourages individuals to come together and share their experiences.
I also co-organize meetups for Brno-based CMOs and Marketing VPs from advanced B2B IT companies, where we openly discuss what works or doesn't work in our jobs and share our struggles.
๐ Building Relationships
Creating a community is about building and fostering relationships. Janus Boye is a great example of someone who does an excellent job of building relationships within the whole CMS & DXP community with his peer groups. At his meetups and conferences, I started many new professional relationships.
Jenda (to the left) hanging out with Janus Boye, Scott Brinker and Mirek Jirku, Director of Product Marketing at Kentico at the MarTech briefing in Hamburg back in May
Additionally, I built relationships in communities around student clubs at the university or poetry slam community, and I foster them on other occasions too.
๐ Sharing and Learning
Communities allow individuals to share valuable learnings and carefully listen to others. This is highly connected to trust.
Jenda speaking and sharing his experience with a startup community
If you have trust in the community, you can share much more and learn from others. I have observed this in communities around JIC - business with a purpose, the local South Moravian innovation center. Their team ensures that individuals have the right space to share and learn, namely Jana ล vecovรก and Eva Vacikova.
๐ค Networking Opportunities
Being part of a community provides great networking opportunities with new members.
Trusted community members, with whom you have built relationships, can also help you network at other events and introduce you to their peers. This makes networking easier and more effective.
๐ What about you and your communities?
How important are they for you, and why? Please leave a comment below to continue the conversation.
Learn more about the value of communities
Jenda was recently profiled on CMS Critic with a longer story that also covered how community is in his DNA. Read more in the post: Mastering the Poetry of Partnerships: An Interview with Kenticoโs Jenda Perla.
Rachel Happe is true thought-leader on the value of communities. She joined us at the Boye Aarhus 18 conference with this memorable angle: Control is for amateurs: Empower the community to change the culture in your organization.