How to launch your group on Geneva

When you create a group on Geneva, you are creating what we call a 'home'. One of the most exciting parts of creating a home is getting to decide how you want to design your space. You can mix and match from the different room types (chat, post, audio, video, and broadcast), layer on gates like new member surveys, and even host welcome events to introduce new members to the space.

Because of this, no two homes on Geneva look the same — each one has its own feel and experience. For casual conversations, some Homeowners load up on chat rooms while others use post rooms for more structured content, courses, or announcements (and many do both)! Some review new members at the door with multi-question new member surveys, while others take a "the more the merrier" approach.

Whichever direction you choose, you may want some inspiration, so we asked a few Homeowners to share their firsthand advice on how to get started, what they've learned so far, and a few things you may not think of...

Who we are: Per is a community for next generation women in the workforce. Our Geneva home is the “connection” part of the larger online platform that we’re building, which also includes content that is hosted on our website.

How we've set up our home: Our rooms are meant to facilitate conversations about a variety of topics related to “work life”. For now, every room is relevant to all members of the community, but as we grow we will create more specific rooms for women across different industries.

Our must-have room: We have a room called “Ask Pauline” which is inspired by the famous advice column Dear Abby. Abby was in fact the pen name for the real author, Pauline Phillips. In this room I share community members’ questions anonymously with the entire group to get feedback and advice without revealing their name or identity. Members will DM me the questions that they want to have anonymously shared!

Who we are: We are a close knit group of fierce ladies who love the band BTS. There is a lot of content out there, and we wanted to have a centralized group where we could all talk about and consume the content together. BTS's fanbase (army) is very close knit and armys instantly connect with each other no matter what, just because they share love for BTS.

How we've set up our home: As we all have different biases (a favorite BTS member), we have special BTS member-focused rooms where our home members can collectively bond over their unabashed love for a specific person. They are all post rooms so that updates and photos don't get lost easily!

A favorite moment in the home: A fond memory I have is when I streamed some BTS tunes for the first time in our Bangtan Radio FM audio room. It really made me feel connected with our members, who were just enjoying and vibing to their listen-along from across the Atlantic Ocean. We had this ‘request the next song’ radio DJ-type situation, which made it feel all too real! It had us really psyched to see the boys perform live one day.

Who we are: The Inner Cycle is a tight-knit community of menstruators AND non-menstruators working everyday to reimagine the period experience to be more empowering and inclusive.

How we're setting up our home: We wanted to create a space that is conducive to open and vulnerable conversations, whether they are about periods, mental health, or everyday life experiences. Periods alone are such a stigmatized topic, and often as menstruators, we shy away from talking about our own bodies without shame. We wanted to reimagine this narrative and provide a virtual space to encourage our Inner Cycle family to unapologetically do so! What that meant for our Geneva home was that most of the rooms are chat-based, but for conversation topics that can be informative and useful for reference in the future, we also created a few rooms based on posts!

A ritual in our group: Whenever an Inner Cycle member is on their period, they add a 🩸 emoji next to their name! It’s a small way that we continue to break the period stigma within our Community! No one needs to bleed alone!

Our #1 piece of advice: Be open to changing the structure of your Geneva home, whether that be deleting a room or changing the format of a weekly Community check-in! Your home serves people, so let the people tell you what they want most out of this experience!

Who we are: The Kode With Klossy alumni community includes over a thousand inspirational young women and non-binary individuals who have participated in the program. The community uses our home on Geneva to connect, share opportunities, and inspire one another as they continue pursuing their passions in STEAM.

Our advice for launching your home: Get feedback early and often from the members and use it to make adjustments along the way! Before launching to the entire alumni community, we piloted Geneva with a smaller group. They helped us to develop the vision for how we used Geneva - from the rooms we used to the way we catalyzed engagement and built investment in the platform. That group became our “hype squad” when we launched - drumming up excitement for the space, welcoming everyone onto the platform, jumpstarting conversation, and sharing feedback with our team about how to improve the experience for all.

Our must-have room in our home: Events & Opportunities is one of the most frequently used rooms. We set it up as a “post” room so it serves as a virtual board where alumni can easily find events that may be of interest to them as they continue on their coding journey and pursue opportunities in the STEAM world. The “College Chatter” room has also been an invaluable space for alumni to gain clarity on the college application process, connect with other alumni of the program attending the same school, and uplift one another while navigating the challenging process of making it to and through college.

Who we are: TheAList is an exclusive community of senior and C-Suite executives of color at brands & companies across all industries who control P&Ls, simplifying access to influence business and culture, while curating authentic connections. TheAList is a platform where our members can build personal and business relationships, in an open forum. We want our members to conduct business with each other, share experiences, and learn from each other in a safe space that they may not find so easily outside of TheAList.

A ritual in our group: We have created “Look What Happened!” and “Take A Minute To Focus On…” moments in our home, where we spotlight members in our community. These are usually daily notes that highlight a major life change for some of our members, such as a major career change, or the addition of a new family member. We love to highlight our members' greatness and celebrate those important moments in their personal and professional lives. These rituals allow us to learn more about each other and help bring us together.

Our advice for starting your group: Think about your members and what it is they want from your community. Ask them questions. With all of the digital platforms that people are on, you have to make sure that you are creating something unique and personal to them. Let them drive what your home should look like. Also don’t be afraid to start slow. Growth takes time. You can build out your home as needs arise. Simplicity is usually the best route.

And with that, happy building!