Led by Steadfast
Proving ROI Without Vanity Metrics: a Scorecard Leaders Respect
Pete Heslop
Building a community outcomes scorecard around retention influence, support deflection, product insight, advocacy and pipeline assist.
Attendee Briefing
London Community Week 2026.
An informal conference where speakers from around the world, all specialists in building and scaling communities, share their expertise. Ross and Pete will be at the full event and would love to swap notes, compare talks and make any introductions that would be useful to you.
- Dates
- Wednesday 8th & Thursday 9th July 2026. Doors at 8:30, first session at 9:15.
- Venue
- Big Penny Social. Nearest train station: Blackhorse Road.
- Shape of the Day
- Mornings are given to talks; afternoons to roundtable conversation.
Steadfast at the event
Ross and Pete are here for both days. Grab either of us to compare notes on the talks, or to be introduced to someone in the room.
Pete leads a roundtable, Proving ROI Without Vanity Metrics, at 2:40 on the first day. A scorecard leaders actually respect.
8 July 2026
Day One · Conference & Roundtables
- 8:30 – 9:15 On now Check-in, Breakfast & Networking
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9:15 – 9:25
On now
Welcome to London Community Week 2026
Nicola Earle
Opening welcome, setting up the structure of the day and how to get the most from the sessions and conversations.
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9:25 – 9:50
On now
The New Community Manager Skillset
Marius Ciortea
A keynote on how community managers can use AI well, not by handing everything over to it, but by using it to free up more human community work.
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9:55 – 10:20
On now
The Half-Life Problem: Your Members Are Decaying on Schedule
Jillian Bejtlich
On member engagement decay: why some drop-off is natural, and how to design around the lifecycle rather than treating disengagement as failure.
- 10:20 – 10:40 On now Coffee Break
-
10:45 – 11:05
On now
Building a Community for People Who Don't Fit in a Box
Francisco Opazo · Ece Kurtaraner · Milly Tamati
A fireside chat on how Generalist World turned a hard-to-define professional identity into a growing community, brand and partnership engine.
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11:10 – 11:25
On now
From Private to Public: What Really Happens When You Open Up Your Community
Jennifer Hanley
A practical look at what changes when a private community opens up: culture, trust, metrics, member expectations and internal pressure.
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11:30 – 11:55
On now
Community, Rebuilt: From Engagement Layer to Business Driver
Ruthie Berber
How Grow Therapy rebuilt a sprawling 26k+ member community into something more strategic, focused on retention, trust and provider performance.
-
12:00 – 12:10
On now
Top 5 Mistakes You're Making in Your Ambassador Programme
Ewa Magiera · Lightning Talk
Common ambassador-programme traps: scaling too quickly, over-relying on swag, copying big-company models and turning community into a rigid programme.
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12:15 – 12:40
On now
Hard Truths about Champions Programs: Giving and Taking While Raising the Bar
Esther Trapadoux
A deeper look at the differences between contributor and ambassador programmes, using Zed's programmes as the example.
-
12:45 – 12:55
On now
Promoted in a Year: Why Community Leaders Need Strategic Visibility
Isabella Leslie-Miller
Making community work visible to the business through clearer storytelling, better alignment to company priorities and stronger leadership communication.
-
1:00 – 1:30
On now
Community-Led Growth, Without the Buzzwords: How Community Actually Drives Pipeline
Imogen Marić · Sasja Beerendonk · Sarah Masterton-Brown · Mohan Ram
A panel on the real mechanics of community-led growth: community-qualified leads, attribution, sales handoff, pipeline influence and what not to do with members.
- 1:30 – 2:30 On now Lunch Break
-
2:30 – 2:40
On now
Introduction to Roundtable Sessions
Nicola Earle
A short introduction to how the roundtables work, what to expect and how to get value from the conversations.
Roundtable sessions
On now 2:40–3:40 & 4:00–5:00 · Coffee 3:40–4:00Choose the conversations you'd most like to join. Each one runs across both afternoon blocks.
Designing an Enterprise Member Journey that Actually Gets Used
Jan Biller
Mapping the journey from first login to first contribution, spotting where members get stuck and improving the first 30 days.
Community Governance for Complex Orgs: Roles, Rules, and Decision Rights
Isabella Leslie-Miller
Governance models for complex B2B communities: role clarity, moderation authority, escalation paths and internal boundaries.
From Tickets to Conversations: Building a Support-led Community that Scales
Brian Kling
Turning support communities into peer-help spaces without reducing service quality: deflection, accepted answers and escalation.
Community as a Product: Content Types, Templates, and Experience Design
Speaker to be confirmed
Designing structured content models, templates and resource libraries that reduce noise and improve the member experience.
Executive Engagement Without Tokenism: Making Leaders Useful in Community
Speaker to be confirmed
Making executive involvement genuinely useful: AMAs, listening sessions, themed office hours, response loops and follow-through.
Building Advocacy in Regulated or High-stakes Industries
Speaker to be confirmed
Safe advocacy in stricter environments: peer learning, approved stories, permissions, confidentiality and public proof.
From Community Events to Revenue: Building Programmes That Support Growth
Michelle Sims
Designing community events that support trust, partnerships, pipeline, sponsorship, retention and brand growth.
Community as a Product: Designing Experiences People Return To
James Thornton
Treating community like a product: onboarding journeys, participation loops, repeatable formats and useful experiences.
Using AI in Community: Practical Applications and Lessons Learned
Nicole Saunders
Practical AI use across content creation, onboarding, insights, knowledge management, governance and member trust.
Redefining What a Community Role Can Be
Ece Kurtaraner · Mildred Cheng
Shifting from operational community work to strategic influence, and making community value legible to leadership.
The Connected Ecosystem: Cultivating Community Across Social Networks
Imogen Marić
Connecting fragmented activity across TikTok, Reddit, Threads, newsletters and private spaces into one clearer ecosystem.
Meet Your Members Where They Are: How to Pick a Platform
Zach Hawtof
Choosing platforms based on where members already are, not just features. Lessons from hundreds of Slack and Salesforce communities.
-
5:00 – 5:15
On now
Wrap-up
Nicola Earle
Closing reflection on the day's sessions and discussions, with key insights and momentum into the final day.
9 July 2026
Day Two · Conference & Unconference
- 8:30 – 9:15 On now Check-in, Breakfast & Networking
-
9:15 – 9:25
On now
Welcome Back to London Community Week 2026
Nicola Earle
Opening welcome for the final day, setting expectations for the last sessions and conversations.
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9:25 – 9:50
On now
Level Up or Log Off: Why Members Leave When They Stop Growing
Antonios Meimaris · Vellanki Sriharsha
A keynote on using game-design principles to improve retention: progress loops, motivation and meaningful progression without turning community into a badge farm.
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9:55 – 10:20
On now
A Playbook for a Successful Community Operations Team
Alfredo Morresi
How community operations teams form and scale, with lessons from running developer community operations at Google.
- 10:20 – 10:40 On now Coffee Break
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10:45 – 11:10
On now
How TeamViewer Builds Community Support at Global Scale
Francisco Opazo · Alena Fengler · Juulia Ruha
A fireside chat on building a global support community that reduces repetitive work, helps customers and feeds insight back into the product.
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11:15 – 11:25
On now
Use AI... Or Not: Build Agents That Realistically Free Up Your Time and Help You Scale
Claudia Caféo · Lightning Talk
How AI agents can help with community ops such as applications, matching, intros and follow-ups, while keeping human judgement in the right places.
-
11:30 – 11:55
On now
Session to Be Announced
To be confirmed
A placeholder in the running order. Details to follow closer to the day.
-
12:00 – 12:10
On now
Why Open Source Community Frameworks Could Be the Future of Community
Jan Biller · Lightning Talk
Why open-source community frameworks could give organisations more flexibility, ownership and resilience as the platform market changes.
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12:15 – 12:40
On now
Inside the AstraZeneca Community Ecosystem: Building Connection at Scale
Francisco Opazo · Annamaria Isnard · Vera Hazelwood
How AstraZeneca approaches community across a large, complex organisation: different audiences, member experiences, operations and connection across teams.
-
12:45 – 12:55
On now
Migration Mishaps and Resilience: A True Story
Brian Kling
A migration story of platform issues, vendor challenges and resilience. What actually drove growth when the tooling let the team down.
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1:00 – 1:30
On now
Trust, Safety, and the Hard Conversations: Moderation, Crisis, and Burnout in 2026
Francisco Opazo · Michelle Sims
A panel on moderation, crisis handling, harassment, member conflict, legal and PR involvement, and protecting the people doing moderation work.
- 1:30 – 2:30 On now Lunch Break
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2:30 – 2:50
On now
Unconference: Brainstorming Time
Attendees
The agenda opens up to attendees, who bring questions, challenges and ideas to shape the unconference topics.
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2:50 – 3:50
On now
Unconference: Session One
Attendees
Participant-led discussion on a topic chosen during the brainstorming session.
- 3:50 – 4:10 On now Coffee Break
-
4:10 – 5:10
On now
Unconference: Session Two
Attendees
A second participant-led discussion, another chance to explore a topic or go deeper into a conversation.
-
5:10 – 5:20
On now
Wrap-up
Nicola Earle
The final close to London Community Week 2026, reflecting on the days, key learnings, connections made and what comes next.