Welcome!

Mission

Our mission is to create meaningful connections amongst online community management professionals living in the Los Angeles area. 

 

Who Can Join?

Our membership is open to any individual who works in, or adjacent to, the online community management profession. You do not have to live in the Los Angeles area to be a member, however, please know that our in-person events do take place in a specific region of LA (see map below). If you become a member, you are agreeing to follow the guidelines and principles outlined in this document and on this site. 

 

How to Participate

Our members will receive emails about upcoming events and announcements. The best way to meet our members and connect is to attend our in-person events. 

 

For the time being, events will be held anywhere within the area indicated on the map below. As our membership grows, we may expand this area. 

 

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Guiding Principles 

We are a collective, or guild, that sits above our individual companies and organizations. We are not a commercial enterprise (in fact, we are volunteer-led) -- we are an open and transparent peer-to-peer network where the good of the whole is primary and supersedes personal agendas. 

We’ve learned that a successful collective works best by following a few basic ground rules. We’ve observed that the following principles lead to productive interactions among peers and interesting conversations among professionals. 

• We honor and respect individual contributions and perspectives (different backgrounds, competitors, etc.). 

• We are guided by intellectual curiosity and work to elevate and influence this industry.

• We listen deeply in order to grow and learn as professionals (vs. talk at). 

• Members who are vendors take off their billable-by-the-hour and sales hats. 

• We invite multiple perspectives from many professionals adjacent to the online community management space (information architecture, knowledge management, IT, internal communications, human resources, customer experience, user experience, design, etc.). 

• We are an independent group and therefore platform/vendor agnostic. 

Things we don’t do.... 

• Use profanity, disrespect, or hateful, derogatory, or demeaning language. 

• Share personal or confidential information. (We do NOT sell or share our membership email list, even to sponsors.)

• Use the network for solicitation, self-promotion, or for any other commercial purpose.

We reserve the right to remove a member from the network who does not honor these guiding principles.

 

Member Benefits 

As with any guild or community of practice, the more we put in, the more we get out of it. We hope that being a member of CPLA conveys the following benefits: 

• Opportunities to build strong relationships on a professional level. 

• Ability to actively help others, by sharing expertise and contributing a different perspective. 

• Opportunities for networking / career support / coaching. 

• Create new ways of thinking about our industry and the changing roles we play in shaping the future. 

• Experience and visit unique coworking spaces and gathering places in Los Angeles.

• Have fun and enjoy the camaraderie of interesting people who know what you do! 

 

Drop-Ins

We know that Los Angeles can be a popular place to visit or conduct work in. If you're a community professional visiting our area, we'd be happy to set up an informal coffee or beverage meetup while you're in town. Please email us to let us know when you'll be here.  We will send an announcement out, via email, to our membership. We cannot guarantee attendance numbers for drop-ins. Also, drop-in meetups will ONLY be shared with our members (via email) and on our Instagram account. 

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Leadership

CPLA Leaders have an equal voice in a level playing field. We operate by consensus in order to facilitate the activities and conversations in the guild. Over time, we hope to expand this group to a Core Team that will manage/run CPLA. Interested? Contact us!

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FAQs

• How much does it cost to be a member? There is no cost for membership. Individual events may require a cost though.

• How do I sign up for membership? Please complete this form to become a member and get on our mailing list. 

• Where is the link to join the online community? At this time, we do not have an online community. The best way to meet our members and connect is to attend our in-person events. 

• How do I become a sponsor? Please contact us using the email address below.

• How do I create a Community Pros chapter for my city/region? Please contact us using the email address below.

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Special thanks to the Chicago Online Community Professionals group for allowing us to adopt and edit their guiding principles and documentation for our purposes. We regard them as our sister organization and are grateful for their willingness to share such important information that makes up the foundation of their group.