Communities of Practice (CoP) Resources

Introduction
For more than 10 years Fusion has been working with associations in supporting one of the core elements of an association’s value proposition: networking and collaboration.

Fundamentally, the physical paradigms of annual meetings, conferences, special interest groups or divisions, local brown bag lunches, after work topics, list servs, discussion boards, usenet groups have all contributed to the fabric of connecting people to help people do their jobs better, advance their competencies and or/careers, or just connect with someone who shares common interests.

This year’s DigitalNow 2007 brings together many of the leaders of the next generation in social networking in the association sector with APQC leading two sessions on building communities of practice and a workshop dedicated to associations sharing best practices in moving to the next level. Critical issues looking at social networking, blogging, wikis, and just plain old fashion “not enough time” will be explored.

For transparency purposes, Fusion has been involved in CoPs for many years and we provide several CoP platforms. As there are many types of associations with varying models, so too is there a continuum of options to consider. We have come to grow and understand the value of community and more importantly its underlying conditions in an association's value proposition as we have consistently endeavored to highlight at DigitalNow. Our primary “value add” has always been the knowledge and experience in enabling associations to advance their value proposition in the digital world.

In essence, DigitalNow, CoP, and all the services and products we offer are about you. So, we have committed ourselves to providing a comprehensive set of resources for those that are interested in getting started, advancing to the next level, and preparing for the journey.

Fusion has conducted more than five surveys in the past seven years looking at what associations have been doing to move communities of practice. We will share these results as well as what the association community itself is doing with communities to advance both the art and the science of CoPs.

2007 is marking a rebirth in online communities, with MySpace, Facebook; Conferences such as Community Next and Communities 2.0, John Hagel’s keynote address revisiting his landmark book in 1997, NetGain.

Download the CoP Resources List here.

Stay tuned and let us know what works and what needs to be addressed.

"Communities of practice help weave broader value webs created by relationships and exchanges which in turn create extended knowledge systems" (Wenger et al 2002; 220)

~DigitalNow 2007: April 11- 14 at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts~

SOLD OUT! DigitalNow- the proven leadership conference for associations - has officially sold out - again! Conference materials, workshop notes, survey result information, and up-to-the-minute on-site news will continue to be available before, during, and after the conference. Visit the conference web site at http://www.fusionproductions.com/digitalnow