During DunCon 2025, I run a community building strategy workshop with @Screwtape. Going through the workshop gave me great insights into what I actually wanted out of my community and how to get there, so I figured sharing the session plan could be useful. If you end up following this plan, consider telling me whether it was useful!

Workshop plan

1-Hour Workshop Plan for DunCon 2025

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Welcome and context about organizers
• Concept: "Humans are not automatically strategic" - we don't naturally take time to think deeply about our goals and plans
• Today we'll engage in deliberate, manual strategic thinking about our local communities

Workshop Flow: Manual Strategic Thinking (40 minutes)

Step 1: What Do We Actually Want? (10 minutes)

Prompts:

• What specific elements from DunCon do you wish existed locally?
• What's missing from your community that you value most?
• If your local community were thriving in 5 years, what would it look like?
• What does the perfect, S-tier success where your wildest dreams came true look like?

Step 2: Get Specific About Goals (10 minutes)

Prompts:

• Drill down on your vision - what specifically would indicate success?
• What's a realistic intermediate objective given your constraints?
• What's your MVP version that could be achieved in 1-3 months?
• What's a hard-to-fake, concrete thing you could measure? (Beware goodharting!)

Step 3: Strategic Planning (10 minutes)

Prompts:

• What are 2-3 concrete steps that would move you toward your goal?
• What obstacles will you likely encounter and how might you address them?
• What resources and allies are available to you?
• What could help you stay motivated?

Step 4: Execute First Steps (10 minutes)

Prompts:

• Now we'll take the unusual step of actually implementing our first actions
• Use this time to send messages, create events, or set up what you need
• Don't let perfect be the enemy of done - take real action now

Participants actively complete their first actions during this time:

• Write the 2~3 sentence version of the plan and share it.
• Sending messages to potential collaborators
• Setting up calendar events or Doodle polls
• Creating Discord channels or communication groups
• Scheduling follow-up calls
• Drafting announcements or invitations

Conclusion (5 minutes)

• Staying connected after DunCon?
  • The Rationality Meetup Discord server is a great place to connect with other community builders.

Facilitator Notes

• Encourage depth rather than breadth in thinking
• This is not a discussion workshop until the final sharing - it's about creating dedicated space for strategic thought