European Community of Practice

Report summary: As in most online communities in Europe, there was little activity in the commu-nity due to holidays. Some new members registered and browsed on the IMCoP site. The key activity achieved was the settlement of most of the facilitators' contracts.

While there was little activity in August, the newsletter is underway and some people have started to join the online space. September is an important month to focus attention on community building. Some key steps to do this include:

• Increase site resources. There are still very few resources on the site. This should be considered a priority for the next phase. This includes getting more resources and regular contributions of blog articles.
• Invite others. The single most effective way to get someone to join the community is to offer them a personal invitation. Facilitators, Steering Group members and any other existing community members should be encouraged to personally invite others to join.
• Emphasize and practice welcoming new members. Ideally the facilitators and Steering group will develop and implement a process to welcome new people into the online space. The welcome should include suggestions for how a member might use the space and participate in the community.
• Write and publish the newsletter a regular schedule with diverse contributions. The newsletter has been slow in being published this month and not all facilitators have been able to contribute.
• Continue to refine facilitator roles. It would be helpful if facilitators could see more clarity about their roles in the CoP and it is strongly recommended that they attend attend the next Steering Group meeting in Brussels.