Most of what I write here, I write with Web 2.0 Expo attendees in mind. A big part of my job is developing content and programs for our attendees, hoping to be in tune enough with this industry and community to help make something worth coming to. But I spend a fair amount of my time working with our exhibitors and sponsors as well, and I’m always on the lookout for ways to include them in the event that brings them value without creeping the attendees out. In fact, I work for two audiences of marketers: the one in our Marketing & Community track in the conference, and the one building booths and rolling out programs aimed at winning you over while you’re at the show. Both are struggling to find what works as the ground shifts beneath us.

I found myself the target of one particularly effective marketing strategy this weekend. I’m training to run a half marathon through Team In Training, a program that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and we had our send-off meeting this Saturday, the one where they tell you you’re ready, hand you your race day jersey, and wish you good luck. They also remind you to run with electrolytes, gels, a bandana, a stopwatch, a shoe wallet with $20 in it (for hailing a cab, natch!) and about thirty other things that I’ve made it all the way through training without acquiring. Which is why it was handy they held the meeting in a Sports Basement. And handed out 20% off cards to everyone for their shopping convenience. If it sounds a little heavy-handed, it wasn’t, and here’s why: this Sports Basement (and maybe others, I don’t know) featured a large meeting area furnished with old but insanely comfortable couches and overstuffed chairs, a whiteboard, and sideboard for serving food and drinks. We’d all just come from a seven mile run, so the cushy seating was pure heaven. I didn’t question it as I grabbed my coffee and bagel and put my sore feet up on the chair in front of me, but as I sat there it occurred to me that someone had had the forethought to set aside a significant chunk of space (and right near the front of the store, too) for us. Isn’t floor space the most valuable commodity in retail? Especially when you’re catering to every sport under the sun? Whatever their planner’s calculus, it paid off. Not only were 30 well-rested, well-fed runners let loose in the store with shopping lists, but we each felt like much more than a customer, we felt like honored guests of a host who shared our values.

Maybe it’s a small thing, but not as small as it seems. Someone had to decide that Sports Basement was going to be in the community business. Besides the initial decision to set aside the space, whose job is it to furnish it and to coordinate use of it? Who cleans up? These are tasks not often found on marketing job descriptions. And yet over time it’s probably won them more brand loyalty than most of their paid efforts.

As much as I live on the web, most of my work culminates in the creation of temporary IRL spaces, and I can pretty easily mimic this effect strategy at our events. I’m looking forward to working with some of the top brands on the web to create sponsored spaces for you to enjoy at Web 2.0 Expo. Other retailers are doing the same; one I know of is Design Within Reach, which has been hosting Biz Ladies meetups (yes, I’m outing myself as a DesignSponge fan.) Corporations do it too, when they lend meeting space for user groups and interest groups. Creating community on the web, on the other hand, is both easier (no couches needed) and much harder (30,000 members instead of 30 means a lot more clean up, even if the crumbs are digital). You start with the decision to be in the community business. You set aside the space, and find the tools. Then you find it’s more work than you thought, and you hire a community manager. If Micki Krimmel is right, this is when the fun starts:

Sure, the Community Manager can edit comments and moderate inappropriate forum posts but what else can she do? She can change the entire culture of your company. She can advocate for your community. She can keep you one step ahead of your competitors. She can help you build a sustainable business… if you let her.

Then you’re really in the community business.

Come hear Micki opine on What Would the Community Manager Do? On Wednesday April 1 at the Web 2.0 Expo.