Isn't it great? The counterintuitive truth behind the MoTaverse's Membership

In the MoTaverse, we are doing things differently, out of necessity and care. And there is a real, dare I say, vibe shift at the moment. It feels great. We've been saying this internally for a while, now it's time to be louder.

Isn't it great that we connect hundreds of people every single week to attend events, both in person and virtually. Most of this is free and more accessible than ever.

Isn't it great that we have no AI slop. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Whilst communities and online platforms everywhere are battling against this.

Isn't it great that we gather hundreds of people from across the globe at MoTaCon. And so many people have that opportunity to be the educator or learner. It's no small feat in this current climate.

Isn't it great that we can now host events anywhere, some small, some big, some in collaboration with partners, some free, some paid.

Isn't it great that it is cheaper than it has ever been, and it requires just one yearly payment. It's one click registration for MoTaCon, Roundtables, Dinners, Leading With Quality, Leading With AI…and more!

Isn't it great that you can build credibility for your career. Write a moment, share a link, attend or speak at events. Your MoT Profile builds up without you even realising.

Isn't it great that you can learn in a way that suits you best? Through courses, certifications, discussions, events and even socially.

Isn't it great that there's a team building and going out of their way and innovating this thing for you, to make our world better?

Isn't it great that our number one goal is to support your career and the tech industry.

Yes, some things are different, and it can feel counterintuitive

The boundaries we’ve put in place are likely to be the changes that stop people in their tracks.

Community is a funny thing, something that I care deeply enough to have written close to 1000 pieces of content over on Rosieland. If someone has done their research, it's me. I talk and write about it on Rosieland and TWiC, and then we take action to practice the best ideas in the MoTaverse. Isn't it great that we have somewhere to put these ideas to the test?

Community is also funny because by default people expect it for free. There are many debates to be had around this. And of course people are needed for communities to exist, but everywhere communities are dying and failing to become something of value because they are stretched to the brink to serve everyone. Community people just want to please and do good, but it's so hard to know where to draw the lines.

Community is a Service, as part of it we offer all of the above. It's a huge investment and as a business we have many responsibilities.

We are drawing those lines. Out of necessity, the need to find efficiencies, to create technology processes that support the community flywheel, and out of the need to create boundaries of care. Out of, quite frankly, limited resources. As much as we'd love to do all the things, a healthier way to operate is to sometimes admit that certain things no longer make sense to do.

Reality check. On face value, a paid Professional Membership might look like an exclusive club. That isn't what the MoTaverse is. We have always led the way with supporting speakers, in a whole variety of ways, and that hasn't changed. A whole generation of quality practitioners have grown with us over our 19 years of existence. We are a Community that provides a service that works.
Why now? The world has changed. Evolution is necessary. We can't be who we were in 2007, or 2012 or 2020. The MoTaverse is a place for people to grow their careers, and that takes investment and financial support, much like we'd invest in other ways to move our careers forward.
How it works. Professional Membership unlocks several ways to participate and be supported, including access to events, online and in real life. For anyone looking for work right now, we run a Professional Membership scholarship fund, unfortunately the workload to provide the scholarship beyond this is out of our reach, yet we believe it is still more generous than anywhere else.
What we've seen. It sounds counterintuitive, but it's working really well, way better than I ever imagined. The quality of submissions are higher overall. We've had more new and diverse speakers than ever before. We can make better decisions because we know the people better, and we can see their personal growth happening in real time. It's taken me a bit by surprise.
What if we can't pay the membership fee? This is what Chapters are for. They are volunteer led, as organisers and speakers. The counterintuitive part is that we are now serving more free people than ever.
Why not offer the ability for anyone to apply to speak? Again, it sounds counterintuitive, but gone are the days of reviewing hundreds of submissions, that in the past has taken immense effort to process, and often with very little information to go on to make a good decision. It's a huge cost. Partly on our side, but also for the people submitting. The MoTaverse is your stage, for the people who show up, and we want to respect the time of those who submit. We have also closed the feedback loop, why wait months for a reply to an abstract when you can start with a Moment today.
It's not pay to speak. Professional Membership isn't solely about applying to speak. It's a valuable offering. It gives everyone a whole bunch of things to help grow their career. And in a world where prices everywhere are going up, it's more affordable and better value than ever.
The tension. The challenge with community is that people expect it for free. We're pushing back, kindly, with care and out of necessity. Our thesis is Community as a Service (CaaS), and we can't serve everyone for free, it's unfair to expect that of us…unless, maybe, if we had millions in the bank, which we don't. :)
Go deeper. For those who like a definition, Community as a service is the intentional design, facilitation, and stewardship of a community so that its outcomes (learning, connection, network building, trust, knowledge, insight, opportunities, and change) are reliably delivered as an ongoing part of the infrastructure and service, rather than as one-off or incidental benefits. Simon and I talk about CaaS in more detail.