Forum One is hosting the 2009 Online Community Business Forum in Sonoma, CA March 19-20.

This is the third year for the Business Forum, and the intention of the event is to have a deep conversation about the business of online communities with senior executives. The conversation will certainly be spiced up a bit this year because of the economic challenges that most organizations are now trying to navigate.

As with our Online Community Summit, the Business Forum is invitation-based (meaning if you aren’t on the invite list, you need to request an invitation). We do this to help grow the event participant base by referral and word of mouth, as we feel this leads to the best quality of participant (and therefor, participation and content).

You can request an invitation here.

Agenda

Session 1 / Community Strategy: Thriving in a Challenging Economy
The economy is in a state of flux, but interest in and use of online communities and social media has never been higher. Hear from two leading CEOs about how they are guiding their community-based businesses through the economic challenges, and hear about the opportunities they see on the horizon.
Session Lead: Thor Muller, CEO – Satisfaction
Session Lead: Nova Spivack, CEO & Founder, Radar Networks / Twine.com

Session 2 / Managing Your Online Community Ecosystem
Smart community strategists think beyond the gates of their community destination. Hear how Digg and Salesforce.com engage their community on and beyond their destination sites.
Session Lead: Jen Burton, Community Manager – Digg
Session Lead: Erica Kuhl, Sr. Manager, AppExchange Marketing Programs – Salesforce.com

Session 3 / Measuring & Improving Community Performance
The value of online community building activities can be difficult to quantify for many organizations. Sylvia and Mike will provide specific examples and guidance on how to quantify community performance, and use that data to improve community engagements.

Session Lead: Sylvia Marino, Executive Director – Community Operations, Edmunds.com Inc.
Session Lead: Mike Rowland, President – Impact Interactions

Session 4 / Break Out Sessions – will be announced soon.

Session 5 / Embracing Community & Social Media: Getting
Key Departments and Execs Engaged
Internal stakeholder buy in and commitment is key to a successful and sustainable community strategy. Get perspective from two senior community strategists who regularly have to make the case for online community.
Session Lead: Sindy Braun, Title – VMWare
Second session lead will be announced soon.

Session 6 / The Business of Online Community
Businesses that rely on their communities face many business challenges, but also have many unique opportunities. Hear the perspectives of senior leadership from two leading online brands.
Session Lead: Allen Blue, Vice President, Product Strategy – LinkedIn
Session Lead: Craig Warner, Google

10:00 – 11:00: Session 7: Voice of the Customer Programs
Using Insight Communities to drive your business.
Session Lead: Matt Warburton, Independent Consultant
Second session lead will be announced soon.

11:30 – 12:30: Session 8: On the Horizon – Panel Discussion
A panel discussion about emerging trends shaping the business of online community in the next 12-18 months.
Panel participants will be announced soon.

Who’s Coming
The Business Forum is intended to be an intimate event that offers the opportunity for the group to really get to know each other, and to have deep conversations about online community in a conversational setting. As such, we limit the attendance to 70 people. It may seem silly not to try and maximize the number of folks we squeeze into the Forum, but we really want to host the best event possible, which in this case means that smaller is better. A partial list of current participants includes: Athena East, Autodesk, Cisco, Digg, Edmunds.com, EMC, Impact Interactions, Google, Leverage Software, Microsoft, Linden Lab and VMWare.

Location
We are holding the Online Community Business Forum at MacArthur Place, in downtown Sonoma. MacArthur place provides a very unique environment for the Forum’s sessions, as well as offering fantastic food and a funky and relaxed Farm-chic (it’s a Sonoma thing) atmosphere for activities outside of the Forum.

If you are interested in participating in the Online Community Business Forum, please request an invitation here.

If you are interested in discussing sponsorship opportunities (we have 2 slots open), please contact Chloe Caviness – ccaviness@forumone.com