+F3 Summit on Community
April 8-9, 1999, Atlanta, Georgia  USA
"Building, Sustaining, and Celebrating Community"

Conversation Descriptions

Soul in Community (Bill Price)
Scott Peck points out that people are either 'secular' (they believe they are the center of the universe) or they are 'spiritual' (they believe there is something greater than themselves). So, would a secularist (believing they are the center) be interested in true community? In a more powerful thought, turn this around... is Community, therefore, a powerful tool for increasing and understanding Spirituality?

The Context for Community (Bill Price)
What are the 'environmental' elements that give Community a chance to form?

  • Common interest?
  • Common personality type?
  • Spiritual participants?
  • Physical environment?
  • A triggering event?

Why have several Communities I have been involved with recently formed spontaneously? In these instances, there was no pre-existing clique... most of the members' lives merged at a single point in time.

Elements of Effective Community (Bill Price)
What are the elements which create an effective Community?  It appears to me I could start a list, but really want to share ideas from different perspectives and experiences.   An examples could be: Mask Removal... letting down your guard and being willing to be vulnerable.

The Role of the Leader (Bill Price)
What must the Leader of a community do to get it started?  To maintain it?  When does that role become to strong, and the Community lapse into cultism?  How can this be avoided?  Can the Community be healthy if leadership is not shared?  What are the implications of a strong leader tuning out for a period, or permanently?  How can a Community leader be compared and contrasted to other forms of leadership?

Roles in Community (Bill Price)
OK, so we know the role of the community leader now.  So, what other roles are critical to a functioning community?  Historian?  Master of Ceremonies?   Social Director?  Are these roles universal (to all forms of Community)?

Ways to Access Spirit through Community Building (Arline Berman)
(no further description)

The Emergence of Virtual Aggregators (Bill Price)
The Internet seems to be causing a shift in business transaction processes, that it forming a pattern.  'Aggregators' of information are emerging.  Unlike traditional distributors or retailers, these aggregators handle no physical merchandise.   They fill a gap between the sellers and buyers, both of which are willing to 'outsource' the operation of the rapidly emerging e-commerce acitivities of their businesses.  Aggregators are emerging in the busines-to-business arena, as well as the business-to-consumer.  Defacto, these aggregators become the cornerstone of electroninc trading communities.  What are the implications, and the opportunities?


Last updated: 04/07/99
bprice@newsalem.com