Speaking Engagements
Demystify digital connection, community leadership, and community management by bringing in an expert speaker and facilitator in community management.
Carrie’s Bio
Carrie Melissa Jones is an author, entrepreneur, and strategist whose work is dedicated to community and belonging. Named by Salesforce as one of three community experts to follow, Jones has been building online communities since the early days of web forums and chat technology.
Today, her work influences the world’s leading brands and organizations, including Airbnb, Discord, Google, Microsoft, and two US presidential campaigns.
As the founder of The CMJ Group, she teaches and guides brands through the application of digital leadership, community building, and community strategy. Her company has worked with organizations including the American Medical Association, Equinix, The Ken Blanchard Companies, Project Management Institute, Patreon, Microsoft, and many more. Together these brands connect well over 100 million people worldwide.
Carrie’s book, Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging, co-written with bestselling author Charles Vogl, helps leaders understand and explore the concepts of authentic community building. Building Brand Communities is the recipient of the gold medal in Networking & Communication from the Axiom Business Book Awards in 2020.
Beginning in 2014, Jones served as co-founder and COO of CMX Media. CMX (acquired by Bevy Labs in 2019) provides forums, events, and content for community builders around the world. It now boasts a 20,000-person and growing membership.
Her writing on communities has appeared in VentureBeat, The Next Web, and First Round Review. She has a B.A. from UCLA in both English and Mass Communication and an M.A. in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where her research focused on online communities, belonging, and virtual leadership.
Carrie’s personal mission is to help everyone find somewhere they feel they belong.
Speaker Programs
Invite Carrie to speak on any of these topics, or contact us to customize a presentation for your audience.
The Inner Work of Community Building
Community building is more than meets the eye. This session walks you through the five crucial inner shifts needed to show up as a community leader with confidence and integrity.
Increasing Engagement in Your Community
Without the right frameworks, creating community engagement can feel like a nebulous and unachievable goal. In this session, you will learn the three frameworks you need for increasing engagement with intention and focus.
Designing Powerful Shared Experiences
Most of us assume that great community experiences happen magically. Nothing could be further from the truth. Powerful shared experiences are a result of the application of the time-tested principles you will learn in this session.
Community KPIs
Navigate the complexities of community measurement with practical methods for determining KPIs that will showcase your impact and tell a compelling story—whether to yourself and your team, your boss, or the board.
Community Leadership
Distributing leadership is the key to scaling community. This session establishes why leadership programs are critical, the key components of a successful leadership program, and the differences between rewards and incentives.
Getting the Foundations Right
If your foundation is shaky, it doesn’t matter what you build on it. In this session, you will learn the critical elements of a community foundation and identify what you might be missing.
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“Carrie nailed her talk at our foundation’s inaugural conference. Much of what she shared in her talk has and continues to inform the substance of the work we do. She has a warm, approachable yet tenacious quality that is rare – and makes her a dynamic and value-adding presence.”
— Sara Morris, President Of The Beecher’s Foundation
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“Carrie’s team is extremely professional, responsive, and pleasant to work with. If you decide to work with her, your success is basically guaranteed. Very much recommended!”
— Máté László Tagaj, Sr Communications & Membership Officer at European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP)