Connection & Community

I was lucky enough to participate in one well-conducted survey for a leading “sharing economy” company. Unexpected outcome was a realisation, how much fun and enjoyment it gave me. Well, being asked gives us a feeling of being valued. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to stop, observe or think about not very common topics.

Ok, connection and community could easily be labeled as “buzz words” of our era, but how do you really perceive them ? What feelings we experience, or how they shape us ? A good topic for a conversation.

Describe when you have felt a sense of connection within the past. Please provide as much detail as you can about who, what, when, where, why, or how it happened. 

I felt a sense a connection with the Eurochestries organization →

1) what is that → they organize musical festivals of orchestras and choirs in several countries (they are based in France)

2) with who → I realize there are special wide-spread connections (or bonds) between me and organizators (management, staff) and me and participants (our or other musical groups)

3) when / where → during our summer festival in France, mainly before the final concerts and at the end of the festival

4) why / how → since I participate on these festivals for a long time (10+ years) I realized and observed the joy of connection with multi-level / cross-functional entities (descirbed in point 2), that we understand each other and share common opinion about our daily activities (involving fun & work) and about long-term purpose (enriching self-development & social connections)

Based on what you just described, please define what a sense of connection means to you.

Sharing same idea / purpose with others, on which we hold (not necessarily) silent agreement, that we will participate on its continuing or fulfilment.

Describe when you have felt a sense of community within the past. Please provide as much detail as you can about who, what, when, where, why, or how it happened. 

1) who → I recognize myself as a part of non-professional musicians community

2) what → it is a sample of bigger population of people, which shares similar attitude to their hobby (considering it as a free-time activity, not as the primary source of money or living)

3) when / where → for example during the one-shot event in Seoul, where different non-professional players gathered and created an orchestra for a 4 days

4) why / how → during socializing we described each-other each own approach to our common purpose (non-professional level classical music activities), how we manage little projects in our local environments

Based on what you just described, please define what a sense of community means to you.

Sample of people which shares similar attitude to specific activity / purpose, but not working together on one common idea

In your opinion, what is the difference in meaning between connection and community? Which is more important to you and why?

Connection is having same attitude / purpose / approach to an idea, therefore working together (better say team-working → everyone brings its own skills and talents) on its continuous fulfilment.

Community is having similar attitude to an idea, but different approach how to use it, therefore working autonomously on its own projects.

Both are important, but each working on different level.

Connection is more focused, consistent with the greater hegemony → Like webs of spiders (they are more-or-less similar, different size, but same geometric disposition, color and material, same purpose)

Community is wider, with many variables and alternatives, more autonomous → Like clouds (they are all clouds, but different size, shape, purpose, origin…)

Please provide any additional comments.

I think, connection should be built inside the company (providers), community is built within its customers (users).