Hello and welcome to Community Case Studies. This is a look at how belonging is really built. I'm your host. My name is Seth Wrestler, and in every episode I invite somebody on who is actually in the trenches running a real community so that we can talk to them about what that looks like, and we can see how there are certain universal community building principles that apply no matter what type of community you are building. My guest today is a seasoned entrepreneur with experience in biotech, FinTech and consumer brands. And we're probably not gonna talk to him about any of that because he's also a runner and he's a community builder. He is the founder of the FFP Running Clubs. The FFP stands for Fitness, fun and Philanthropy. It's a nonprofit network built around the idea that fitness can be a gateway to connection. It started as a single social running club and has grown into a network of more than 40 clubs across multiple states and even in other countries. Please welcome Dave Lee.
Hi, Dave. How are you?
I'm great, thank you, Seth. Uh, thank you so much for coming on and talking to me about this. Uh, you know, I want to get to the story of the FFP Running clubs. It's something that I found out about through Evan Hamilton who, uh, has a fantastic newsletter about community building. So hat tip to him. But, but tell us the story. How did this actually start?
Um, sure. It was, uh, really
kind of a, just a fun little side project that I had. I was in the midst of, uh, launching a medical device company in Houston.
Uh, so it was a kind of an intense period in, in my life. And I had this idea seeded in my head for probably a little over a year,
um, about a social running club that would start and finish at a pub. There happened to be a local Irish pub right by Rice University where, uh, I was working my co-founders and I,
and, um, and it, you know, the, i the concept of kind of bringing together,
you know, uh, a bunch of different folks. 'cause I was kind of just really getting into serious running and triathlons at the time. So I had friends on one side of the spectrum that were like,
like super ambitious, elite level marathoners and, and even professional level triathletes. And I had friends who were on the other side spectrum, like just getting into running, maybe
thinking about tackling their first 5K. So this concept of kind of bringing everyone together in a very low key environment where you can, you know, run three miles or something, approximate to a 5K, uh, at your own pace, and then meet back together, you know, grab a beer or two afterwards. Um, I, I just thought was kind of interesting. And, uh, I'm not the one that invented it. I had read about a club like this in Colorado Springs
and, um, and so one day I just kind of pitched that concept to the bar manager.
They loved it, talked to with the owners. They, they wanted to host us. They wanted to, you know, provide us whatever we needed.
Um, and in fact, in the early days, they had like food and, you know, free beer that would get for, from their suppliers. And,
and so it was just a, a very fun kind of unintimidating environment.
And so, uh, that's all it was. I had no thoughts beyond that. I just wanted to do something interesting and fun. Um, that first night that we ran it, this is back in 2008, so this was a long time ago. Um, you know, we just, you know, posted flyers. I told some of my friends,
we had, I think 25 people show up that first, uh, night. We had a blast. Um, everyone went home. They told everyone else about it. The next Tuesday we had 50 people show up. I'm like, whoa. Like, this is kind of interesting. And then it just kept going. It kept, you know, grew to 75 and a hundred and we were averaging, you know, close to 300 people on a Tuesday night. This, this pub, by the way, only fit about 250 people. So we were maxing this place out on a, on a, a low key Tuesday night.
Um, and, uh, you know, it just kind of morphed and it kind of grew on its own. I was doing everything on my own. People started helping out pitching in. They asked if I needed, you know, help running it, which of course I did.
Um, and so it became a real community type of event without me realizing it,
you know, and then soon enough, someone wanted to see if we could maybe start something like this on the other side of town.
Um, so we opened up a second one, uh, on the west side of Houston called City Center. And then we opened on one in Northern suburbs, um, in the Woodlands.
And I realized then I'm like, wow, this is, you know, this is kind of interesting that these are growing, but at the same time, like, you know,
we have hundreds of people not participation. We should maybe do something,
you know, you know, productive with that type of energy. And so the idea of raising money for local charities kind of came in. So that was the philanthropy piece. So we started doing little fundraisers, you know, small little pub run events. People would donate,
you know, 15, $20. But we were able to, you know, donate $10,000 checks at a time.
And, and I think people really
kind of got drawn into that concept, uh, of belonging. And this is when it really kind of took off. And so from there, I, I set up a, a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit, not with
a business entity idea. Like it, the idea wasn't like to create a business structure out of it. I did it simply to
have kind of this umbrella organization so that I can give people a blueprint to be able to do this
in any city or town in the world, right? If they, if they want to do something like this, I, I can help them do it. And that's how it's organically grown from one to, you know, 40 plus.
Wow.
That's an amazing story. And I love this. Um,
you, I, I will make a confession right here. I am not a runner. If you see me running, it's probably because there was an explosion nearby, and I'm trying to get away.
But, but what I love about this is that I was a swimmer in high school, and, and this reminds me of my experience as a swimmer, because I grew up as a club swimmer on a swim team. And for me, it was really about the social aspect of it. It was about, you know, that's where my friends were. That was where I hang out. I was not an athlete. I was not a particularly good swimmer.
Um, and then I went into high school and there was a swim team, and I joined the swim team. 'cause I was like, oh, that's what you do. I'm a I'm a swimmer. I should join the swim team. And that was very much for people who were really into being very good swimmers. Mm-hmm. And the social aspect of it was not the thing.
And I sort of learned accidentally. I went, oh, this is actually not the place for me because, you know, even though it's swimming, it's not offering exactly what I'm looking for. I was looking for this other aspect of it. And it sounds to me like that's what you're doing with this running club is that you, it's fine if you are a hardcore runner and, and that's your thing and you wanna be into it, but you are also making it welcome to people who are just using the running as a reason to be social and a reason to get together with other people. Is that correct?
Yeah, absolutely. What, you know, what's really interesting is your background and mine are very similar. I, I was a swimmer too,
and
if you're a swimmer,
running is a punishment,
right? Like, I did not enjoy running. Like, to me, the idea back in the day of running a marathon was just crazy. I'm like, who would do such a thing? Like that sounded nuts to me.
Um, I did it kind of just to get back into shape.
Uh, I don't view myself as a great runner. Like even at my peak form, you know, I'm not like a naturally gifted runner. The only thing I knew was that there was this common, common thread that I felt reached a lot of people, right? This,
this idea of doing something active fitness related,
you know, regardless of what level that you were. And what I didn't realize back in the day was the importance of kind of this social element that this feeling of belonging
to a group,
you know, like that's in, in our society, that's becoming harder and harder to do, right? Like, if you think about, particularly now, so many people working remotely, that takes away this layer of just daily interaction that you would normally get. You would, you would build,
you know, your friendship circles and, and peer circles around that, you know, day-to-day activity. It might be getting drinks after work. Like all of those things kind of evaporated over the days. You've got, you know, dating happens virtually online nowadays.
So, you know, that human to human interaction is rare, believe it or not. And so, I didn't realize this when we started it, but that was maybe the most important element of what we created was this low barrier of entry. Like the, the, the carrot was the running or the idea of, of, of bringing people that were fitness, uh, you know, interest enthusiasts.
But really what kept people together was like, wow, this is kind of a, a cool group that I feel like now I belong to.
And I think that's the essence of building communities, right? Like you can see that common thread between probably everyone that you've spoken to that are building communities. It's like the real magic happens is when people feel like they're a part of something special or unique. That's the engagement that you're trying to create.
Yeah.
Um, you wrote a fantastic blog post, uh, about this. Uh, it's titled How Running Communities Actually Grow and Why Most Fail.
And frankly, reading the blog post, I don't think you need the word running in there. I think it works for, for all types of communities. I mean, one of the things you said is running communities don't grow because of marketing.
They grow because people feel something when they show up. Can you
elaborate on that? Tell me a little bit more about what you mean by that.
Yeah, I, I mean, I think the most, if you, if I look back on the history of my running clubs and how they grew, the most important element
really was
the, you know, was the immediate feeling that someone, um, received on the way in. So if they felt welcome,
uh, and, you know, 'cause it can be very intimidating, right? Like, like you said about running, if you, your background's not running, the idea of joining a run club can be very intimidating for someone. So if you are,
you know, if you're made to feel welcome and you're introduced to people, you know, running's just the, the side element to it. Um, if, if you leave that event,
uh, feeling like, wow, that was a really unique experience, I felt, you know, so comfortable there, um, you're gonna not only come back, you're probably gonna invite other people, um, with you. And, and that's,
you know, without me realizing what was happening, um,
you know, I didn't think out to say, oh, we gotta really think about the experience of someone coming in. I was just kind of like, well, it's like we want it to be inclusive, right? I didn't want people, if they were walkers, I didn't want them to not show up. I wanted them to be able to be able to do that. So we made it, you know, you know, very conscientiously open to everyone. But, you know, it's, it was not, this is not a marketing exercise, right? Like, if, if you're looking at it that way, you're, you're thinking about growing communities, um, incorrectly.
It's really the human element of, of belonging to something. And so that experience becomes real critical.
So I wanna walk through some of the different,
you know, points that you make in this blog post. And the first one, your first tip is consistency is everything.
And
I want you to tell me a little bit more about what you mean by that. Why is consistency so important as you set out to build a community?
Yeah. You know, I, when I thought about the activity of, uh, running
or physical, um, you know, training, if you're an athlete, like one of the hardest things is like starting, right? Like, if you're starting to work out, like, it's really hard to do. And so I knew kind of inherently from my athletic backgrounds, like,
if we want to try to do this, we gotta make it as easy as possible.
And so the consistency came in and that I wanted to make sure that
if we were there on a consistent basis, people don't have to think about it. Where it was always the same place, same time, rain or shine.
Like you wouldn't have to really think about it. You, you, you didn't, you didn't have little excuses that popped up that might prevent someone from,
you know, skipping that workout or, or skipping that run. So I wanted to make it just as easy as possible. So if someone knew that they, they lived in the Houston, uh, area, they knew that this group showed up every Tuesday night at 6:00 PM rain or shine,
um, they couldn't throw their running shoes in the back of their car. And
just know that every Tuesday, if if they're up for it, they're gonna come for the run. So that was really the,
you know, the essence of, of, of it. But what I realized was that
that simple consistency,
uh, of, and simplicity is, is what makes it successful, right? It just, it, people can depend on it.
Um,
it running can be very lonely. And so if you really enjoy the idea of being able to run shoulder to shoulder with someone else, being able to chat or have a beer afterwards, like it's, that's kind of a cool concept. And so if you can rely on that group, someone being there all the time, whether it was one person or a hundred people, uh, it, I think it made it like really comfortable and easy for them to do. I didn't really know this or notice the importance of this until like, one of the first like real bad weather events, right? Like, so we were holding this every Tuesday night, started in October. You know, the weather in Houston can kind of get sketchy, uh, as you approach winter.
And, um, the first night, that first Tuesday night that there was like this wicked rainstorm, I'm like, oh man, what do we do? Like, uh, like should we just cancel it?
Um, you know, we didn't have at the time like kind of a, a rule of like, we'll always be here, but like, we're just kind of intuitive. So like, you know, we'll we, we'll, we'll run here every Tuesday night pub's open, we'll be here.
And this was a crazy rainstorm,
uh, and like made it difficult to drive. I called the pub, they were open. I'm like, if it, they're up, like, someone's gonna show up. So I'm like, I gotta show up. So I, I, I didn't wanna run in that, but I showed up and sure enough, like 15 people showed up and it was probably, you know, in, in all the years I've been doing this, it was maybe one of the most fun times I ever had. Like, it was hilarious, right? We, we came back, we're like, we're just completely drained. It looked like we came out of a pool.
Um, but we were all laughing about like how ridiculous it was, but how awesome it was that we actually did it. You know, we, we, we, we hung out longer that night. Like, it was just a really fun time. And so that taught me, I'm like, alright man, we, we, we have to do this, you know,
all the time. We gotta be consistent. Like, if anything, we just gotta be reliable for people so that they know that we'll always be here.
So I think if you have that authenticity built into your community, you become dependable to those folks. And that, and I, and that might be one of the most important lessons from it.
Yeah.
You know, one of the things that's implied there is that
the relationships that form between your members, they don't form after just one interaction. It's not like two people meet and then they get married, or their best friends or whatever. They have to encounter each other and over and over again. And the consistency facilitates that. It makes that more likely to happen, that people are gonna show up over and over knowing that other people are going to show up over and over and, and, you know, those relationships are gonna be there and the people that they're showing up are. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Just like any human relationship, like it's, it's all, you know, fundamentally the same. Like, you can't,
you can't just, you know, make that happen. It, it has to be organic, it has to be authentic. And so the more you might see someone,
the easier it becomes to approach them or have conversations with them the next time you come up and they're there. That makes it really simple. And so, you know, I think one of the coolest things about these clubs is that the, I mean, these have created lifelong, you know, relationships and friendships. Um, like I get, I mean, that's maybe the, the most rewarding aspect of it is I get, you know, emails from people that I've never met, like in a city that I have never even been to where we have a run club, but I get emails saying like, this, this has literally changed their lives. Like, this has become their social epicenter. This is where they have met their closest friends. Uh, in many cases, this is where they met their spouse. Uh, it's, it's really cool to see.
That's amazing. I love stories like that. Uh, and that leads right into, you know, one of the next things that you said in the blog post, which is the experience matters more than the run.
Tell me what you mean by that.
Yeah, I, you know, there were times where, you know, we didn't do it well. Like, I can tell when we were growing
that new people would show up
and, you know, I was so busy like running around and, but I would know, like, there'd be someone like you, it was obvious. Like they, they didn't know anybody. They just showed first time. There might be a hundred people there. So it is, despite our efforts, a little intimidating.
Um, and then I realized like, I never saw that person again.
I'm like, man, that cannot happen. You know, it's like, if, think about it, like if you, I ran a restaurant like, well, you would never want that to happen. And so that's when I realized like, man, this, the experience that every individual has coming in is so
important. And maybe that first experience is the most important. And so
I made it really, you know, a priority.
You know, at this time I had a small team of what I would call officers helping me, you know, run the week to week aspects of it,
you know, that. So this became part of what we did. Like, it was really important. Like, we gotta seek out people that are, are brand new. We gotta walk up to them, introduce ourselves, introduce them to other members. Like, we gotta really make sure that, that they feel welcome. Because as we grew, as we, we became more successful, it would've been easy to,
you know, n not pay attention to that. But if we did that, it would've become like, very cliquey. Like, if you remember days from high school, like once you become popular, then it's like, it becomes easy.
But, you know, I realized like, like, those are the most important folks because if they don't have a great experience
as a new runner, then we're, we're not gonna continue to grow. And so
it was really important that the experience that people had coming in
was always positive. So if they were all our friends, people that we've been running with for months, like, that's easy. 'cause they're like, they, they, they're on their own. Like they, they've already kind of formed their own little relationships and friendships and groups. And depending on their personality, they might be very outgoing to kind of pull people in. Um, but even if they weren't outgoing, they might have a comfortable group that they've established. But if you're brand new to that, that can be, you know, polarizing. And so we were very conscious of kind of having that ex that positive experience coming in. And so we kind of built that into the, how we ran, you know, each of our weekly runs, like the introductions, making sure that we, you know, recognize the people that were first times they, they understood what was gonna happen next. Like, what happens when they're done running and when they, when they do finish that there was always people to kind of greet them, right? Like, we never left anyone behind. Like if someone's gonna walk the whole thing or they brought their dog and they're, they're walking it, we made sure that somebody in our circle always stayed back to kind of finish with them. So those little things became very important.
You know, when you're first starting out building a community, there is a temptation to feel like you as the person managing that community has to do everything.
Uh, and you mentioned that you have officers, and obviously now you've got chapters in all different cities. Um, you actually say no, the opposite is true, that great communities actually empower local leaders. Uh, why is that so important and what does that look like in your organization?
Yeah, that's, that's a really an important point. Something that, um, I had to learn over time.
Um, early days I did everything out of necessity.
Um, I didn't e even really think about reaching out for help,
uh, 'cause I was just, you know, I was just too busy, you know, running it. And then I quickly realized like, there's no way that one can person can do this,
especially for over an extended period of time. Plus, when you have multiple people kind of helping, you know, helping out, you, you, you get the, you get to leverage kind of the diversity of thought and different ideas that come through. So, you know, obviously
a group of us helping to lead this stuff is gonna be better than one person. Um, but when it came to scale, you know, when we went from one to a few to many, that's when it, you know, when I really realized like, okay, this is probably the most important thing I cannot
replicate. You know, one person cannot just replicate what we do.
Um, if we're successful one club, you can't do that in multiple clubs, right? Like, so, so what is
the, the, the, the secret sauce in that?
Well, it's like I, you know, you're not every person has different personality. They're gonna have, you know, they're gonna be, you know, more introverted or more extroverted.
So I didn't want to change
how they did things. Uh, I wanted them to, you know, use their own, you know,
uh, the personality to how they might run the introduction of a run club. But I knew that there were certain things that needed to happen to, to create that welcoming environment.
And that's what I kind of focused in on. It's like,
uh, and I wish I had done this earlier, right? Like really proactively recruiting, uh, leaders within, uh, run clubs so that they understood what made FFP successful,
um, and giving them the tools to be successful, and then allowing them to kind of, you know, put their own flavor to it.
And so if you and I were to jump on a plane and travel to all of these different clubs, certainly they'd all be a little bit different. They'd all have different personalities. They demographically might be different.
But I think that you and I would agree that there is a commonality between all the FFP clubs and it, it is that,
um, openness and kind of opened arms, right? Like the, the ability to come in regardless of your fitness or running level to, and feel welcome. Um, I, I'm, I'm certain, even though I haven't been to all of them, right? Like, we, we have a club in Ozo, Norway. I haven't been to that one yet, although I've been to Ozo, but it wasn't, it was pre-run club. Um, so I haven't been to all of them, but I'm certain I'm a hundred percent certain that they would all feel similar in that respect. And so the only way to do that in scale is to
really kind of select, um, the individuals, the leaders, to do it the way that we think is the right
approach.
You know, you talk about how you had to learn to let other people or ask other people to do stuff. And I think a lot of community builders when they first do that, they feel like they're asking for favors. You know, Hey, can you help me out with this? And I've had a number of community, uh, leaders tell me that, uh, they have actually found that people want to contribute, they want to give back, they want to participate in that way. Was that your experience? Did you find that people were willing to step up?
Yeah, totally. It's, it, people raise their hand because they care, right? Like if you were to ask any of the club presidents today, and you would ask 'em like, why do you do this? 'cause none of them are paid to do it, right? This is, you know, there's a decent amount of time that goes into orchestrating these clubs on a, on a weekly, if not daily basis. And so this is not their job. Um, so if you were to ask them, why do you do it? It's because they love, they love the community that they've built what it represents. And so they want to give back. This is a hundred percent why everyone raises their hand.
Um, I didn't of course know that at first, like, I was too naive to realize that it, that the run club, that very first run club meant that much to anybody else.
Uh, I knew they were having fun, but I didn't really realize that like, man, these people really dig it, you know, like, they really enjoy being here. And so when they approached me,
uh, and, and you're right, like, I kind of felt that way. I'm like, man, I don't wanna bother people with this stuff. Like, I, this is my idea. Like, I'll, I'll, I'll carry the burden. But that's really not the point. Like, the point is like, once you build an actual community, people actually care about it. They, they want to lift it up and, and, and contribute in that way. So it, it's, it's, it's actually not hard. Like, it's like I would tell someone who's in that step of growing that community, it's like,
you know, kind of put that guard down and proactively go out there to find the people that this is already resonating with
and see if they can help you. 'cause I'm sure they would love to, if they've, if they've gained value from it, they're gonna want to give back.
So this has grown quite a bit. You said you started this in 2008. It is now in over 40 cities, but one of your pieces of advice was not to start big, not to do a grand opening and get hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of people there. It was actually to start small and get it right. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Yeah, I mean, I think it really speaks to, you know, authenticity. You can't really shortcut like relationships and, you know, the, the, the feeling of, of belonging.
Um, you know, you can certainly create
buzz and PR and you could have TV cameras out there and you can get hundreds of people to show up, you know, in a single time. But if you don't get those early steps right, then it won't, you know, at least my belief is it won't last very long. Right? And the, and I think
the clubs that I look at today that are like powerhouse clubs that have been around for more than eight years, they have hundreds if not thousands of members.
You know, those all grew very similarly, you know,
uh, organically, you know, kind of brick by brick. It's like the, the, the relationships were built, um, you know, without taking shortcuts. Like these were true friendships that were built. And so the younger clubs that, um, are starting out,
and I highlighted on recently in, in one of our social media posts in, in Muncie, Indiana.
It's like, if you look at their social media page, like to me it's really cool. It's like, it's a small group. They, they have morning runs, they have an evening run, so they're running twice a week. It's, um, you can tell it's like a pretty tight core, 'cause it's usually very similar faces that you see, maybe five, maybe 10 on a given time, but it's not a huge number. But that's exactly how all of our best run clubs started. It was a small cluster of people that
depended on one another.
They enjoyed that, uh, experience and they, you know, and they brought in other members and it's, the organically grows from there. And so I just, I don't think there's a, a shortcut method, nor do I think it's important to, you know, race to become this huge,
uh, uh, run club within numbers. For me, if the value is in the relationships and, and what they gain out of it. Like, it's much, you know, better to create this positive energy than to just grow,
you know, statistical numbers like that. Those are meaningless.
Do you have a mechanism for getting feedback from your members and, and, you know, has that changed what the run clubs look like over time or maybe how they look in different cities? And is the way that you get input or feedback changed from how you did it at the beginning to maybe how you do it now?
Yeah, I mean,
I wish there was, uh, I can tell you that there's a, a, a real systematic way of doing it.
Um, and you know, we've certainly, we've done things like surveys on a local, regional, and national level. But I think
what's most relevant and probably most impactful is, um, feedback that is informal,
but happens immediately,
you know, in person right? Conversations before and after the run. So if you're an officer, an FFP, like, that's where the feedback loops need to be. Uh, not from like a systemic survey type approach. It's like, oh, look at, let's look at the,
the diagnostics of the, the feedback that we got back from our group. No, like the most important is like,
how did these people enjoy that first experience? You know, what was it like coming in, you know, and how can we get better that, what was it like after the run? Like I think the immediacy
is more honest.
And so like, that's the feedback loop. I think that that is, is really critical to us. So that's not a systematic thing. Like we don't have it like, Hey, you gotta, you should be collecting feedback on a, on this type of basis. Um, it's, it's, it's a little bit more organic than that. But I think if, you know, if, if you were to go to each of these run clubs, like that's where our officers probably have the best pulse is if they're doing that on a daily basis, it gives 'em a much,
uh, greater idea of, of how things are happening.
You also outline a number of mistakes that, uh, you've seen chapters make or, or just communities make. Um, I wanna talk about some of those too. 'cause I think these are also fascinating. Uh, the first one is an overreliance on social media. Tell me a little bit more about that.
More about that. Yeah, I mean, I think this is where, you know, obviously we're an in-person kind of platform, right? Like, all of this is designed for the purposes of be meeting people in person.
And so I think when you start blending
the criteria and the importance on certain measurements
between the digital and in person, that's, that's I think where it can get a little blurred. Um, so, you know, social media for us is simply a tool to communicate,
um, you know, what's happening, to let people know a little bit about this group, if, if they're on the social media channels. It is not our main,
you know, kind of premise for how we operate our clubs. Uh, in other words, it would
be meaningless if we had a run club that had a following of a hundred thousand followers on Instagram,
um, and had 20 people show up on a weekly basis, right? Like, the measures on one side are very impressive,
but if the people that are showing up aren't having a great time, they're not having, you know, this connectivity, uh, and they don't feel part of something special, then like that's, we're missing the whole point of having that run club.
And so the emphasis for us is not
on those kind of digital measures, it's just let's use the digital platforms, um, that we have, um, where our members and future members might reside so that we can share our experiences and, and draw interest. But really our, our focus concentration is in person. Like what happens once they arrive, that's much more important.
You know, as I hear you talk about this, um, it reminds me of a distinction that has come up quite a bit as I've been dealing with communities, which is the distinction between an invitation
and an announcement where an announcement is just kind of blasted out into ether. You know, anybody might see it and maybe, Hey, we're having a run and if you wanna come, come and maybe some people show up. Whereas an invitation,
regardless of how you do it, whether it's an email, a phone call, a text message, a carrier pigeon, uh,
the person who receives the invitation understands that they will be missed if they don't show up, that somebody is saying, Hey, I'd really like to see you here, and, and it'll, they'll be noticed if they're, if they're absent from it. Um, do you see that playing out that distinction in your run clubs?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, again, we're talking about the, the human element here, right? It's like,
you know, if, if, if you
think of it from a, a digital standpoint, like
the, the point
of growing any community, whether it's in person or digital, should not be this one-to-one interaction with the platform. Like it needs to be, you know,
between the members. And so the more personalized that becomes,
uh, the, the, the more that resonates with individuals. So the invitation piece is a personalized approach to feel like, oh, this is, you know, like someone's reaching out and inviting me to participate in this. Like, that's just the first step.
Once they
show up, like then the interaction that they have not with me or our officer is important. It's the interaction between them and the other members. Like that's, when you look at digital communities, like
that's the most important when you have people within a single platform that are now engaged with one another,
you know, like it's not like they don't have to come to me. Like I should not be the epicenter of it, and if I'm the platform, I shouldn't be the epicenter of it. It's really like, okay, like how do we, how do we
pull everyone in together and create a space where now that they can engage? So I think that personalization is super important, but I think it's the invitation is just the first step really.
Now, another mistake that you mentioned is having no clear meeting structure. Um, talk to me about what the meeting structure for these runs are and how you discovered that having that structure was so important.
Yeah, I mean this, uh, it is similar to, you know, what I was explaining on
kind of this consistency and kind of this welcoming process. I didn't, you know, in the early days, I, we, we didn't really, I didn't have a
a playbook for it, right? Like,
people showed up, I'm like, oh, maybe I should say something, right? So we got a group of people standing there 'cause they're kinda waiting for direction or announcements. And so, you know, that became the, the, the pre-run
kind of gathering. Um, and as we grew, you know, like if, if you can imagine a group that has a hundred people showing up
at, you know, on the surface level, it might be like, oh, these people already kind of know what's going on. And you know, they, they, they seem to know each other, you know, like, maybe we don't need this announcement, but there's will always be people within that a hundred that have never been there before. They have no idea
where the run starts, where the run is, how they, what happens when they get back. Like, there's a lot of questions that might be floating around for someone that's brand new to it. And so,
you know, you know, that
kind of, uh, uh, recipe is what what became, you know, uh, uh, important as we folded these out, it's like we have to have a really clear approach
in what we say, you know, to communicate so that people are comfortable with what's happening. And we have to remind ourselves that there are always gonna be new members there that might have questions. And so
we want to be able to kind of communicate all of those things through. And so we just, we just,
you know, learn that in the process, right? We just, we by, by trial and error. Um, and so they're all very different, I'm sure run club by run club. This is where I think the personality of whoever's leading those, you know, announcements, uh, makes a big difference. I'm sure there, you know, I've seen run clubs with big megaphones and you know, the, it's real jovial and active and um, but you know, there's some imp important stuff that's, you know, typically discussed there, uh, in terms of safety and, and, and protocol and things like that. But I think the most important element is like, that's the welcome, right? It's the welcome message where it's the first part where you feel like, oh, this is
like, I'm part of this group and this is what we do. Um, and without that, I think you, you, you lose an important element of, of the beginning.
Yeah. That welcoming is so important and, and just making people feel, you know, you, you touched on safety. I mean, what does safety in your community look like? Or, or what makes people feel comfortable there?
Um, yeah, I, that's a great question. I mean, I think there's, obviously, there's physical safety. So there are the logistics involved in how we get from point A to point B. So we want to make sure that people are comfortable in understanding, you know, either what that run route is or, you know, whatever the protocols might be, just to have a safe run. So we, that's the most important.
Um, but also, you know, the social net of, of safety, it's like, you know, we want people feel welcome. We don't want them to be intimidated. Like, it's completely okay if you can't run the whole three mile route or whatever that route is. It's okay if you're gonna walk it, we'll make sure people are there with you. We'll make sure that we check up on you. And so I think
it's all encompassing. It's like you, you, you gotta create this safe space where people feel self, uh, safe physically, but also emotionally, uh, and, and socially. Like we want to hit all three of those.
Nice. Uh, well, I love everything that you're doing. I mean, this is fantastic. And what I really love about it is that it started as just one club and has really grown into all these clubs all over the country and, and even in other parts of the world. Um, I hope you get to Oslo to run. So, um, if people wanna learn more about it and, and even if they're interested in starting one, they can go to the website. It is, uh, fp running clubs.org. Um, yeah, what does somebody do if they want to start a running club?
Yeah. On the website, um, there, there's actually a section where they can fill out a short form that'll come directly to me. Um, so if you reach out to me, I'll definitely tell you what it takes, uh, to do, like the kind of the first steps to be able to do it. I mean, to be honest with you, probably
90% of all the clubs that exist today came from somebody
learning about this run club and reaching out. Um,
and, uh, it, it doesn't take a lot. I mean, there are just a, a few things that we gotta figure out, you know, it's like location, you know, what night of the week you wanna run, like who, you know, how to, how do we get the initial group of officers? Um, but all they have to do is reach out to me and I'll, I'll, I'll kind of give you the recipe for how it's done. It's pretty simple. There's no fees involved. Like it's, it, it's a pretty easy process. Just start small and, and grow it. So, yeah, exactly. I love it, Dave, thanks. So thank you so much. First of all, it's amazing what you're doing and, and thanks for coming on and sharing with us because I think that there's so much that even people who are starting clubs or organizations or communities that aren't running can learn from what you're doing. So I really appreciate you sharing all of your insights here.
Thank you so much. I love what you're doing and, and kind of sharing these best practices with communities. So I'm a big fan of yours as well, and, uh, it's been really fun. So thank you.
