Community is on the rise. It was just a few episodes ago that I spoke with Anamaria Dorgo about facilitating communities, but in this episode I’m looking further into the future.

What do communities look like in the metaverse? Can we connect in digital spaces? What needs to change or emerge for us to find community in virtual or augmented reality?

Daniel Liebeskind is just the person to address this question, as the co-founder and CEO of Topia. In such a nascent industry, Daniel is as experienced as anybody. Topia launched in 2020 and is at the forefront of world-building and virtual communities.

Join us for a conversation that touches everything from facilitation and design to NFTs and decentralisation.

Find out about:

• Why every community builder is a facilitator, even if they don’t realise it
• How prioritising accessibility helps us build stronger communities
• How Topia combines play, co-creation, and purpose to create communities in the metaverse
• Why your members need to bond with your platform as well as each other
• Why the best virtual worlds prioritise form and function ahead of visual beauty
• What tutorials and onboarding look like in a metaverse space - and why they’re so important

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Questions and Answers

Part one
[01:20] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator - if you do? 
[02:05] What was the trigger that moved you to found Topia? 
[04:17] Did you learn anything from your family taking over summer camps that applies to your work now? 
[06:36] What challenges did you encounter when trying to create communities - or facilitate the creation of communities - online? 
[13:27] Can the space you've created facilitate itself, so new members don't get lost in the world you've built? 
[19:59] Would you agree that online communities that emerged since 2020 have been very centralised in terms of power? 
[23:00] How do you create a social contract- shared rules and behaviours - for communities? [24:48] Do you have any best or worst practice examples? 
[27:37] What have you built into the tool to facilitate the sense of occupying a world together? 
[32:40] What would you say are the minimum requirements for somebody to facilitate in a Topia space? Where should they start?

Links

Topia’s website

Connect to Daniel:

On LinkedIn

On Twitter

Any thoughts? Share them with us!

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