Our Gardian of the Month is Michael Hoffman, CEO for Gather Voices.
EG: What’s one professional development goal you’ve set for yourself this year (2025)?
MH: In 2025 I want to learn how to build a paid online community. I believe that increasingly folks are looking for community off social media and within a network that aligns with their personal and professional goals. Community is about connecting people to each other, more than it is simply about providing information. I believe that this is the same for successful in-person events. People travel not for data or learning, which they can do at home, but for connections. I want to get better at facilitating these connections between people.
EG: What tip or trick would you share with someone not super comfortable with networking?
MH: Too many events have relied on alcohol and extroverts for networking and so I’d like to push some of the effort here back on to the organizers of networking events and conferences to do a better job of facilitating connections between people. It is much easier to meet and connect with others within a framework of shared interests and discussion prompts which take the guesswork and awkwardness out of the whole process. For someone dreading networking, I would suggest facing it like you would face an evening of karaoke. You go into karaoke knowing what your go-to song is.
For a networking event, have a go-to story, a way to introduce yourself and ask questions that are not boring. For example, rather than say, “Hi my name is Michael and I work with video at Gather Voices,” I could say “Did you know that 80% more time is spent on web pages that have video? Hi, my name is Michael Hoffman, and I’m the founder and CEO at Gather Voices where we make video simple for events.” And rather than ask someone “What do you do?” ask them something more open-ended which gives them permission to speak more freely. For example, “Hi, so what are you working on these days?” or “What excites you these days?”
EG: What strategies do you employ to encourage knowledge sharing within your team or organization?
MH: At Gather Voices, we encourage sharing between the team in several ways. First, we have three short meetings per week, a kind of virtual stand-up meeting, where each person talks a little bit about what they are going to be working on (on Monday), get deeper into the weeds of their work (on Wednesday) and give a bit of a recap of the most interesting learnings (on Friday).
We also have a Slack channel for sharing interesting posts and interesting client wins that can help educate all of us on what works and what to encourage.
EG: Just for Fun - If you could have an all-expenses paid trip to anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?
MH: Japan would be first on my list for an all-expense paid trip. The culture and artistry, the mountains and the sea, and, of course, the food! I would eat my way through the whole country!
EG: What is a resource that has been valuable to you in your work, and what makes you appreciate it?
Click the video below to see Michael's response!
Links to resources:
