Francisco has done something that most creators only dream of doing some day. He created the Community Everywhere Summit, the leading conference for the community industry that brought together over 200 industry professionals from around the world.

He did it all bootstrapped - putting his own money down, while working a full-time job. He is the definition of a relentlessly resourceful entrepreneur.

Last year, this conference brought together 200+ attendees from all over the world, top speakers from companies like LinkedIn, Calendly and Circle and counts companies like Khoros, Gainsight, Gradual and more.

In this ~90 minute interview, he shares his story, his hard earned lessons and his magic sauce:

• How to bootstrap a conference with limited resources
• Strategies for securing venue and managing budgets
• Building relationships with speakers and sponsors
• Creative marketing approaches that actually work
• Tools and systems for running a conference
• Building and managing volunteer teams effectively
• How to approach sponsors and create a pitch deck

Check it out to understand the stubbornness, grit, and the sheer force-of-energy spirit that Francisco has shown in order to make an industry-leading conference and bring it to life as a solo creator.

Raw transcript of the episode (edited for readability by ChatGPT)

Nityesh Agarwal: Welcome to Beginner Maps, where we interview operators of top community businesses to unpack their magic sauce. Today, I am thrilled to have Francisco Opazo with us. Francisco is the founder of Led by Community, an online and now in-person community for community professionals.

Last year, Francisco did something that most creators dream of—he created the Community Everywhere Summit, an in-person conference that brought together over 200 industry professionals from around the world. That’s amazing. I believe Francisco is unique in this field because I’ve never heard of any creator who has managed to establish one of the industry’s leading conferences. I’m really excited to have you here, Francisco, and can’t wait to dig into your journey.

Francisco Opazo: That sounds too big for me! But thank you. I’m really pumped. I’ve seen some of your episodes and interviews, and I’ve learned so much. I’ll do my best today to share my learnings, my mistakes, and the good moments of this journey.

The Journey of Lead by Community

Francisco Opazo: Led by Community has been around for about three and a half years now. It started as a way to keep track of community resources. At the time, I was the first marketing hire at Circle, working directly with co-founder Andrew Guthornson. I learned so much from him during that time.

I always had the desire to contribute more to the community side of things, even though my role was in marketing. I even asked if I could dedicate some time to helping the community team, but the response was that my impact on revenue was much greater in marketing. I understood that, but deep down, I was looking for a way to get more involved.

Before moving to the UK nine years ago, I ran my own digital agency in Latin America for about eight years. We built websites and mobile apps for customers, and over time, they started asking if we did social media and paid acquisition. Initially, we didn’t, but I pivoted and learned everything about it. Eventually, we started offering marketing services, managing social media for about 40 brands. Each brand had a Facebook group, and my team and I spent our days managing these groups, which was my first real experience in community building.

From Digital Agency to BuddyBoss

Francisco Opazo: After moving to the UK, I wanted to improve my English while helping people. So, I created a Facebook group to teach people how to build communities on WordPress. The group, called “BuddyBoss Users,” was dedicated to a plugin for community-building on WordPress. Within two months, the group grew to 600 members. I was actively helping people, answering questions, and even warning them about product bugs.

One day, I received a Facebook message from Tom, the co-founder and CEO of BuddyBoss. At first, I thought he was going to shut my group down! But instead, he thanked me for helping their customers and invited me to chat. That first call lasted three hours. After several more conversations, he said he wanted me to join the team but wasn’t sure in what capacity.

At that time, BuddyBoss had about 30 employees. A few days later, Tom and his co-founder made me an offer to join as Head of Community. However, before my official start date, they gave me access to their Slack workspace. I started joining calls and giving feedback—pointing out clunky features and suggesting improvements. Three days before I was supposed to start, Tom called me again and said, “Francisco, I think we have the right person in the wrong role.”

I thought they were rescinding the offer! But instead, they offered me a position as Marketing Manager. My role quickly evolved, and within a year, I was promoted to Director of Marketing. I built a marketing team from scratch, growing it to 18 people. During that time, BuddyBoss saw incredible growth, fueled in part by the pandemic, which accelerated demand for online communities.

Even though my title was in marketing, I continued leading the BuddyBoss community. What started as my personal group eventually became the official BuddyBoss Facebook group. When I left the company after two and a half years, I officially handed over ownership of the community to them. Today, the group has thousands of members, but it started as my little project from scratch.

Nityesh Agarwal: A cool origin story.

Francisco Opazo: Yeah, Tracy's story—so many things were happening. Honestly, no one has any idea about this. When people see this guy, they wonder, "Where did he come from?" They haven't connected the dots because they don't know the whole background.

Well, at least my English improved with that community, and that was the best perk.

Joining Circle and Expanding Horizons

Francisco Opazo: During the pandemic, WordPress was always a part of my life—it's been 14 to 16 years now. I created a community to help people running WooCommerce stores on WordPress. But then I thought, "I should try running this on different platforms, not just WordPress." That’s how I found Circle.

I launched "Goo Launcher," which still exists today as a blog (goolauncher.com). At its peak, I had about 400 eCommerce owners in the community, all online during the pandemic. Since I needed to share feedback with the Circle team—features we needed, improvements—I joined the Circle community. It was very active, and I was helping others there as well.

One day, they announced they were hiring their first marketer. I thought, "This is for me." So, I sent an email—not to the CEO, but to the co-founder, Andrew, who was leading growth. A month passed with no response. I figured maybe I wasn’t at that level yet.

Then, out of the blue, Andrew replied. He apologized for the delay, saying they were overwhelmed with their summit, but he wanted to chat. I ended up speaking with Andrew, then Sid (the current CEO), Rudy (the product design lead), and finally Mathilde and a few other team members. Eventually, I joined Circle as their first marketing hire, building everything from scratch.

At that time, Circle’s entire marketing site was a single page. I developed the workshops page, the webinar replays page, and set up operations from the ground up, including paid acquisition. That year was amazing. We grew revenue, and everything went up. But I still felt like I needed to contribute to the industry in a bigger way—not just as a marketer, but with a higher impact.

Starting Led by Community

Even today, Led by Community isn't something that makes me rich. It’s about creating value. Since it started, I’ve been working full-time at different companies, so it’s not my sole focus. With the support of different brands and partners, we’ve run summits and events on a budget-friendly model.

When I started, I had an advantage—one that no one else had. Because I worked closely with community platforms, I was always benchmarking them. I had a list of 47 community platforms, so I knew whenever they published something useful. I also tracked consultants, podcasts, and newsletters, compiling all this into a weekly newsletter.

I did it alone for two months and quickly realized the task was massive. The newsletter wasn’t growing fast—30 new subscribers in the first month, 25 in the second. But a few of them reached out, thanking me and saying it was really helpful. That kept me going.

One day, Jey Elango, an Indian community builder, reached out. She asked if I needed help. I told her I wanted to run online events to create a bigger impact. She volunteered to pitch speakers for our events. That was a dream come true.

Two weeks later, Nicola Earl reached out. She asked if I needed help, and I told her we needed a host. I wasn’t comfortable hosting events myself, so she took over. That’s how we became a team—Jey handling speakers, Nicola hosting, and me managing operations and content.

At first, we ran one event per month with around 20-25 attendees, mostly newsletter readers. But slowly, the momentum built up. Today, we run four online events every month, all free to join.

Growing the Newsletter

By 2023, our online events were thriving, but the newsletter wasn’t growing as fast as I wanted. In September 2023, after nine months of hard work, we had only about 1,000 readers. That felt disheartening—I had put in so much effort, but the growth was slow.

So, I knew I had to come up with a new idea to accelerate the newsletter’s growth...

Francisco Opazo: And that was the Community Everywhere Online Summit. I'll drop the link here so you can include it later as a resource.

We created and launched communityeverywhere.com. I actually bought the domain. Around that time, my friend Richard Millington started pitching the idea of "Community Everywhere" and bringing it back into discussion. So, in November 2023, we ran the very first Community Everywhere Summit online.

It was an intense event—three days of sessions, or rather, two days with seven hours of talks each. We recorded all 40 sessions, and they are available on YouTube. It was an incredible experience. We had amazing professionals like Brian, Jamie Langsdorff, and Richard Millington participating and contributing. In total, around 40 industry experts helped make it happen.

Nityesh Agarwal: Was it still just you, Nicola, and one other person running everything?

Francisco Opazo: By then, we had two more volunteers helping us. Over time, people began offering to help more frequently. Today, we have 28 volunteers actively involved.

Nityesh Agarwal: Wow, that’s impressive.

Francisco Opazo: Yes! In our private community membership, we have a dedicated chat space for our volunteers. I learned the term "Community Hero" from my friends at CMX, and I use it to refer to these volunteers. I actually led the CMX London chapter for a year before launching Led By Community.

Currently, we have 28 volunteers contributing in various ways, along with a nine-member Community Advisory Board. The board consists of professionals from diverse backgrounds, ensuring a broad range of perspectives. We meet quarterly to review our progress—sometimes they tell me what needs improvement, other times they encourage me to keep going. It’s an incredibly valuable group for brainstorming and shaping the community.

The big news from the Community Everywhere Summit in November 2023 was that 1,200 people RSVP'd. Since it was a free event, the only requirement was to join our newsletter. That decision paid off—after the summit, my newsletter subscriptions doubled in a month! It was a major breakthrough, and we finally crossed the 2,000-subscriber mark.

Nityesh Agarwal: So you basically created an entire summit just to increase your newsletter subscribers.

Francisco Opazo: Well...

Nityesh Agarwal: That might be the most work anybody has ever done to grow their newsletter.

Francisco Opazo: It was a big contribution. Even today, the sessions are valuable for everyone. One of the big goals was to grow the newsletter faster because that impacts everything else.

Francisco Opazo: At that time, the idea of hosting an in-person conference wasn't in my mind. It felt like a massive commitment. But while running the summit, I saw 1,200 people RSVP. A company called Gradual, founded by Jerry Lee with Kyle in operations and Laura supporting, provided the platform to run the online summit. That was our first big collaboration with an enterprise brand, and Gradual was a key partner in making it happen. Their platform is fantastic for conferences.

During the Community Everywhere Summit, I managed the entire streaming process behind the scenes—seven hours per day. My wife was frustrated, saying, "You can't be on the screen all day!" and I just replied, "It's only three days."

The first day, we had an average of 200 people watching live. It was incredible and encouraging. I started thinking: How can I turn this into an in-person conference in London? That’s when I reached out to Valentina Ruffoni, who was managing another conference. I asked her if she knew of a reasonably priced venue in London that could hold 100–120 people. She recommended one, and I called them right away.

I chose July 10th as the date because that was the anniversary of when I sent out my first newsletter in 2022. So, in 2024, exactly two years later, we ran the first Community Led World Summit in London.

Building a Tradition

Francisco Opazo: No one really knew this detail, but when we started the conference, I said, "It's no coincidence we are meeting today. Today, the LeadWars community celebrates two years." Now, every July 10th, we celebrate our anniversary with London Community Week.

At the end of Community Everywhere Online, I announced that we were going all-in and hosting an in-person event in London on July 10th, 2024. That’s when the madness started—handling speaker applications, organizing logistics, managing sponsorships, planning food, badges, programs, check-ins—everything a conference needs.

Up until that point, I hadn’t done much sponsorship outreach. Most things had been run by volunteers, requiring minimal costs. But for an in-person conference, food, venue, and production weren’t free. I needed financial support.

I designed my first sponsorship deck using Canva and started pitching. Thankfully, it worked! In 2024, we secured sponsors like Bettermode, Gainsight, Disco, Chorus, Talkbase, Vocal Video, Kretz, Gradual, Rosyland, Community Staging Academy, Community Collective, and Circle.

The Reality of Running a Conference

Francisco Opazo: The goal for this first conference wasn’t to make money. It was simply to make it happen and establish the event. After that, we could figure out growth potential.

At the time, I was also working full-time as Head of Growth and Community at Bettermode. Even during the event, it was my first time meeting the CEO of Bettermode, Mo, in person! After the summit, we had an offsite with the Bettermode team the very next day.

To be honest, from zero to one, I did almost everything. I didn’t want to rely too much on others because I wanted to learn every aspect of running a conference. If I ever lead a team for a large event in the future, I need to understand what they’re going through.

The biggest support came from Margot Miller, who reached out and said, "Francisco, I love your idea. I love that you're bringing people together in the UK." Unlike the US, where community events happen frequently, the UK didn’t have much happening in this space. I was upfront with her—I was struggling because I was funding everything myself until sponsors came through.

At the start, it was all out of my own pocket. Vendors don’t wait until the last minute to be paid. We even helped some speakers from Canada, the US, and Australia with travel costs. Most speakers participated in a goodwill partnership, without charging speaking fees, knowing that this was a fully bootstrapped effort—not a VC-backed initiative like CMX by Bevy.

Ironically, this year, Bevy is sponsoring the London Community Week, and their CEO will not only be speaking but also judging the hackathon. It’s great to see that they view this as an industry-wide effort rather than a competition.

Lessons Learned

Francisco Opazo: The biggest financial challenge was balancing costs. At first, everything was covered by my personal budget. Then, when sponsorships started coming in, we finally had some breathing room. But we still didn’t break even. I had to personally cover a lot to ensure things ran smoothly.

One major lesson: Live streaming was not worth the cost. We spent a significant amount, but the attendance was low, mainly due to the time zone difference between London and the US. This year, we’re skipping live streaming and focusing on recording sessions for attendees to access later.

Nityesh Agarwal: I love this. You’ve set the stage beautifully—this was an incredible feat. You handled an entire conference, end to end, by yourself. Who does that?!

Francisco Opazo: Only crazy people, man. Only crazy people.

Nityesh Agarwal: Exactly! I have so many questions for you, and I’m sure people listening will too—especially those who are thinking of organizing their own conference or even a smaller event. There’s a lot of hard-earned knowledge here that we need to unpack.

Francisco Opazo: Let’s do it!

Securing the Venue for the Conference

Nityesh Agarwal: First question—securing the location. You mentioned that you made a call and reserved the venue. Did you pay out of pocket to book it?

Francisco Opazo: Yeah, of course. We booked Rich Mix in the Shoreditch area, a very central location in London. It wasn’t the most high-end venue, but it was good and reasonably priced. I remember we spent around £8,000 to £9,000 in total. We needed two areas—one for the stage and another for sponsors and catering. We took over an entire floor for the event.

That price also covered unlimited coffee and tea, dedicated Wi-Fi, and a few operations staff from the venue who helped with lighting, audio setup, and general logistics.

At the start, I explained to the venue team that I was bootstrapping the event. I had a strong feeling that attendees and sponsors would commit, but I needed flexibility with payments. So, I proposed paying in three installments. To secure the venue, I put down £2,000 upfront and gradually added more each month. I completed the full payment just a week before the event.

Nityesh Agarwal: Wasn’t it scary to put down that deposit before you had any sponsors or ticket sales?

Francisco Opazo: It was scary, but I guess I’m just stubborn. Once I committed, there was no turning back. I had to make it happen, no matter what. It felt like the concept of "inception"—once the idea was planted, everything started falling into place. By the time the conference happened, everything had aligned.

Building an Attendee List

Nityesh Agarwal: At that point, you had about 2,500 emails from your online conference newsletter. Booking a 200-person venue meant aiming for nearly 10% of your entire email audience. What was your strategy to ensure attendance?

Francisco Opazo: I knew we had to build local momentum, so we started hosting London meetups. It felt like the universe was conspiring to help us because, right after I booked the venue, Fabric—a co-working space for community builders—opened in London.

A friend, Serena, connected me with Fabric’s founder. When they launched, they invited me to their event. During a private conversation, we explored a partnership: I had a community of builders, and they had space. They agreed to let me host monthly meetups there, even providing breakfast while I covered lunch.

We hosted four meetups leading up to the summit, which helped us build awareness locally. On average, we had 40 RSVPs per meetup, with 25–28 attendees. Some of them eventually attended the conference.

Nityesh Agarwal: That’s a smart way to gather local emails and engage potential attendees.

Francisco Opazo: Exactly. You don’t always know who on your list is based in London unless you specifically ask, and not everyone responds. Hosting meetups helped us bridge that gap. The venue was designed for 120 attendees, and we ended up with 130.

One of our sponsors, Khoros, bought an additional 20 tickets on top of their package to invite VIP clients. That was an unexpected boost. Originally, I was hoping for 100 attendees, but we hit 132. It was wild—we even ran out of coffee by 3 PM!

Nityesh Agarwal: I love hearing these behind-the-scenes details.

Francisco Opazo: Running an in-person conference with limited resources is a massive challenge. But when everything came together, the feedback was incredible.

After the event, I sent out a Senja form and received 40 testimonials. If you visit the Community Led World Summit page, you’ll see them at the bottom. We also had industry influencers like Richard Millington, Brian Oblinger, and Carrie Melissa Jones attending.

Richard even gave us a huge shoutout on LinkedIn, saying:

"As someone who used to run events, I know how hard it is to deliver a great experience on a budget. You have to keep costs low while ensuring attendees enjoy the event. Francisco pulled it off—he brought amazing speakers to London and created an incredible vibe. Huge congrats to him and the entire team."

When I saw that post, it felt like a full-circle moment. All the stress, the risk, and the work were worth it. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

Marketing Strategy

Francisco Opazo: The vibe was really crazy. Even a whole week after the event, people were still sharing and reposting. We had a photographer capturing the whole day and recorded interviews throughout.

I’m not sure exactly when we discussed the marketing strategy, but as a marketer, I intentionally planned a few things. Let me know where you’d like me to start.

Nityesh Agarwal: The marketing.

Francisco Opazo: Okay, cool.

The foundation of everything is always a website. That part was easy for me since I’m a web designer and can build anything on WordPress without issues. But beyond that, I was always thinking strategically. I knew that my resources were going into this, and there was a chance no one else would contribute much to cover expenses. It might be entirely out of my pocket or at least 50% of it.

So I needed to use this opportunity wisely and build marketing assets for the next year. We hired a company to do the streaming with two cameras, plus a third camera flying around doing interviews.

The best part was that Khoros approached me—Sandrine, who was leading their community team at the time, said they wanted to contribute. They provided a large, branded backdrop, which became the perfect space for photos, interviews, and recordings. This was a great opportunity to capture the sponsor experience.

Now, if you visit our site’s sponsor page, you’ll see interviews with Sandrine from Khoros, people from Gainsight, the CEO of Bettermode, and Clara from TalkBase. I wanted to collect proof that what we did was valuable for brands. That was a priority on my marketing list.

The videographer had a checklist: interview these sponsors first, then move on to attendees. We recorded 24 interviews—20 attendees and four sponsors. This was invaluable because now we have a “wall of love” showcasing real testimonials from attendees and sponsors.

On top of that, I sent out a Senja form for text testimonials, and we collected 40 responses. These testimonials prove that the event helped attendees level up their careers.

Nityesh Agarwal: Mm-hmm.

Francisco Opazo: These steps are crucial when you're just starting because the biggest challenge is earning people's trust.

This year, we expanded the event to two days and planned an entire week of activities. Unfortunately, ticket prices had to be higher because we needed to cover more expenses—just the food alone is a significant cost. My goal this year is not to fund everything entirely out of my pocket, but that process is ongoing.

When I announced the next year’s event, I had to go through the same process—putting down my own money for the venue. The original summit barely broke even, so it’s not like we had profits to reinvest. But after seeing the overwhelming positive feedback, I committed to doing it again.

We also received feedback about the venue, so I wanted to level up the experience. I saw that London Tech Week was held at Plexal in Stratford, a modern and top-notch venue. I reached out, got the cost estimate, and started paying £1,000 per month to secure it.

Nityesh Agarwal: Okay.

Francisco Opazo: Slowly, sponsors are coming in, which helps with flexibility. But knowing that last year’s event was a success gives me confidence to invest more. I also learned from last year—what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved.

For instance, last year, the name badges arrived late, and I had to rush to pick them up at the last minute. Small details like that make a difference in the overall experience.

This year, we’ve built a team. While I’m still managing many operations, Valentina Ruffoni will take on a leadership role during the event. Last year, I ran everything myself, but this time, Valentina will co-manage the event with me.

Nityesh Agarwal: What tasks does that include? What does running the conference actually entail?

Francisco Opazo: Mostly, it’s about ensuring everything happens at the right time.

We have a program, so we need to make sure all tech is tested properly, speakers know the logistics, and they’re not stressed. They need to know when to arrive, where to go, and how the tech works.

Then there’s making sure food arrives on time, handling last-minute issues, and overseeing all operations. It’s not about making big decisions on the spot but ensuring everything flows smoothly.

Last year, I was running around managing all of this myself. This time, with Valentina’s support, we’ll be able to handle everything more efficiently.

Building a Volunteer Team

Francisco Opazo: We weren’t alone in organizing this. Last year, we had nine volunteers at the London conference. Many of them helped with tasks like organizing food, handling check-ins, and assisting with name tags. I remember Nicola and Rudy conducted video interviews while I was busy with operations.

This year, I built a proper team. If you check the community, you'll see there's now a structured team. I’m leading the effort, and alongside me, we have Valentina as the program manager. Margot Biller, previously just the MC, is now an official host and a partner in the conference. We also have Jennifer Serrat from Germany as a second host. She'll step in when Margot needs a break.

Francisco Opazo: This year, we have two tracks. We received 87 speaking applications, so we expanded. The main stage can host 230 people, and we have a second track called "Bleachers," which accommodates 50 attendees. We’re using silent seminar technology, where participants wear headphones to listen to speakers without external distractions.

The second track is designed to give more people a chance to speak. While senior professionals will likely take the main stage, many individuals who haven’t spoken publicly before have valuable insights to share. This format allows them to gain experience. Even I haven't spoken in front of 200 industry professionals before, so I might start small and work my way up.

The only sessions exclusive to the main stage are keynote speeches. Otherwise, both tracks run simultaneously, allowing attendees to move between sessions and support their peers.

Budgeting and Financial Challenges

Nityesh Agarwal: Let’s talk about budgeting. Hosting a conference is stressful, and you've taken on much of that responsibility. What should others expect if they plan to organize a similar event? What surprises might come their way?

Francisco Opazo: Looking back at the first year, things have definitely evolved. Many speakers, especially those traveling from the U.S., Canada, or Australia, attended in goodwill. For example, Brian Oblinger told me, "I'm happy to help—just cover my hotel and flights. I don’t need a speaking fee." That approach saved costs, but even then, covering accommodations and flights still amounted to around £2,000 per speaker.

Having partners who understand these costs and are willing to support the event financially is crucial. It’s all about balancing expenses while ensuring a great experience for everyone involved.

Community Support and Ecosystem

Francisco Opazo: We have built an ecosystem led by the community. It’s not just about bringing in speakers; we are forming close, tight-knit relationships because we help each other. For example, I help Richard Millington promote his courses, and when Brian launches something, I always give him a shoutout.

Now, my newsletter has 5,000 readers, so we have a bigger audience, and we help each other. These relationships are growing because people see the value—it’s not just goodwill anymore. We have something to offer in return.

Last year was an example of this. Margot came and didn’t ask for crazy money. She just said, “Help me come; I want to contribute.” And we made it happen. That’s the power of a community-led approach built on goodwill.

From the beginning, I have never been in "let’s make money" mode, and people noticed that. It has helped us save a lot on the budget. Of course, many speakers were paid—some received speaking fees ranging from £300 to £500, while others charged thousands. Senior speakers typically ask for £2K to £3K for a 30-minute talk, while mid-range speakers charge between £500 and £1K. It may seem expensive, but they bring years of experience and actionable insights.

For example, Valentina Ruffoni shared a framework on increasing event attendance, which was incredibly valuable. Nikki from Canada even came on her own to contribute—kudos to her! The support and love from the community have been overwhelming.

We haven’t even touched on the local chapters yet, but today, we have 16 local chapters worldwide, all run by volunteers. Along with Paz Pizarki, we organized 19 meetups globally for Community Managers Day—purely out of goodwill and a desire to contribute.

Last year, our biggest hard expenses were video production, food, and drinks. Providing decent food for 100-120 people isn’t cheap—it’s around £20-£25 per person. This year, our budget increased because we chose a more modern venue, nearly 1.5 times the cost of last year.

The total venue budget for two days of the conference is around £20K, not including other events happening that week. We’re taking over a large space with areas for sponsors, multiple tracks, networking spaces, and even a quiet room where attendees can take a break or work remotely if needed.

Nityesh Agarwal: That’s very thoughtful.

Francisco Opazo: This year, since we’re getting more support, even some friends who helped pro bono last year are getting paid. I always operate with fairness in mind—no one should feel taken advantage of. If volunteers contribute, I try to at least cover their coffee or breakfast.

Looking ahead, if we continue growing, I’d love to pay speakers the way CMX does—offering thousands in speaker fees. But for now, I want people to see that we are improving and that fairness remains a priority.

We’re building something together. Community-building in silos doesn’t work.

Nityesh Agarwal: I love your positive attitude. It must be stressful, knowing that the money comes out of your pocket until ticket sales or sponsorships cover it. Yet, you remain so appreciative of everyone’s contributions.

Francisco Opazo: It’s true. Just last night, I got an email from the corporate events director at Gainsight in the US, confirming that they are coming on as a global sponsor for Community Week. That was a huge relief! Gainsight is a top brand, and their support is invaluable.

We are also dreaming big—Community Week in New York in November 2025! This year, we have Community Week Online in March, London in July, and hopefully New York in November.

Nityesh Agarwal: That’s amazing. You’re going truly global.

Francisco Opazo: That’s the dream. I’m betting on it—it’s the only way. And the best part? Many US-based speakers won’t require travel expenses, which helps a lot.

Nityesh Agarwal: You’ll just have to cover your own flight.

Francisco Opazo: Exactly! But I want to bring my family too. I don’t want them thinking I’m partying in New York for a week. I told my wife, “We’re all going together!” It will be a full-circle moment for us.

Nityesh Agarwal: That’s inspiring. Your journey is incredible. Can we extend this conversation? I have a few more questions.

Francisco Opazo: Absolutely, I have 20 more minutes.

Nityesh Agarwal: Great! I also want to make sure we discuss Community Week. It’s open and free to join, right?

Francisco Opazo: Yes, and if possible, I’d love to showcase our platform. If your podcast allows screen-sharing, I can do a quick demo. The website is beautifully built, and seeing the hub in action would be really helpful for people to understand what we’re creating.

Nityesh Agarwal: Let’s do it.

Francisco Opazo: Perfect! Community Week will be the big thing moving forward—our global conference series. Community Everywhere was our first event back in 2017, but that brand will remain as history. Now, the focus is on Community Week—it’s simple, clear, and easy to remember.

Nityesh Agarwal: Makes a lot of sense. I have two big questions left, and then we’ll wrap up by discussing the future of Community Week.

Francisco Opazo: Sounds great. Let’s do it!

Sponsor Pitch Deck Walkthrough

Nityesh Agarwal: The first question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind is: how do you pitch big brands for sponsorships? What is that process like? And can you share a sample of your pitch deck?

Francisco Opazo: That's a good question. I actually created one for Community Week. Do you want me to show it?

Nityesh Agarwal: Yes, if you can share your screen, that would be great.

Francisco Opazo: Let me see if that's possible. I’ll clone it and remove the financial details. One second. Okay, done. Everything else is visible—no tricks.

Nityesh Agarwal: Perfect.

Francisco Opazo: Yeah, I'm okay with that. Actually, there's an interesting change I made for Community Week—I removed sponsorship levels like Gold, Platinum, and Silver. I felt it was too complicated. I'll show you the deck and explain everything as we go through it. Let me just set up the screen sharing… Okay, you should see it now.

Nityesh Agarwal: Yes, I can see it.

Francisco Opazo: Great. Let’s dive into the sponsorship packages and what it takes to bring in big sponsors. This is actually the sixth version of my deck. I’ve mostly learned through experience, observing how other brands do it. One community I admire is Partnership Leaders, founded by Asher and Chris. Their approach is impressive, and I almost ended up working for them last year.

One thing I’ve learned is that companies need leads—quality leads with usable data. It’s not enough to hand them a list of emails. They want location, role, company, LinkedIn profile—details that make the leads valuable. I ensure that only attendees who have consented to share their data with sponsors are included. For instance, in my summit registrations, I ask attendees what type of communications they want to receive.

Another key aspect is the onsite experience. If you're running a conference, make sure sponsors have everything they need—clear instructions, logistics support, and an organized setup. This makes them feel valued and ensures they have a smooth experience.

Now, onto the deck itself. Since Community Week is a new brand, I start by introducing it:

• Community Week Online (March)
• London Community Week (July, in-person)
• New York Community Week (November, in-person)

Each event has its own branding, and I highlight past successes to build credibility. I include statistics from previous events—number of attendees, sessions, speakers, and sponsorship opportunities.

For London, I showcase the schedule:

• July 8: Community Strategy Hackathon
• July 9-10: Community Network Summit (2-day event)
• July 12: Unconference Plus

I include testimonials and visuals to reinforce credibility. Social proof is crucial—sponsors want to see who has already invested. If I pitch to a company that previously sponsored, their logo is there as a reminder. Some brands have supported us for two years now.

For sponsorship packages, I offer:

1. Global Sponsorship – Presence across all three major events (Online, London, New York)
2. Week Sponsorship – Focused on a single in-person event (London or New York)
3. Online Sponsorship – A more affordable option with digital visibility

Each package includes perks like brand visibility, booth space, and promotional opportunities. I also offer add-ons—speaking opportunities are no longer bundled in the packages, allowing companies to opt-in if needed. This provides more flexibility and prevents unnecessary costs for sponsors who don’t need a speaking slot.

Another bonus I include is an online event within my community ecosystem, which guarantees 300+ RSVPs. This gives sponsors an additional marketing opportunity beyond the conference itself.

At the end of the deck, I summarize the details, including ticket allocations and tax considerations. There’s no perfect science to sponsorship decks; I refine mine based on sponsor feedback. If they suggest a clearer way to present something, I update it accordingly.

Nityesh Agarwal: That makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much for sharing this—it’s incredibly valuable for those watching. Seeing the sponsor deck is rare since it’s often considered a secretive part of conference planning.

Francisco Opazo: It’s not a secret! I genuinely want to help. If anyone listening needs guidance on getting started with conference sponsorships, just reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m happy to chat.

Nityesh Agarwal: Love that! Thanks again for this insightful walkthrough.

Tools

Nityesh Agarwal: One final question before we get into what's coming next—can you tell me about the tools you use to run this conference? Specifically, what tools do you use on the attendee side and the admin side?

Francisco Opazo: This is important—I hate Notion, so we will never use it.

The first thing for me is WordPress, which we use for website building, landing pages, and everything else. For page building, we use Elementor. We also use Canva a lot, and I personally use Figma. I'm not a fully-fledged Figma designer, but one of my best friends, Lawrence, handles that. We've been working together for six years—he was the creative director when I was the marketing director at Body Boss. Since then, we've partnered, and he handles all our branding. Everything you see visually is his work.

I take what he creates, make small adjustments—like resizing or modifying elements—and sometimes mess things up, but most of our designs are Figma-based. I export the templates and turn them into Canva templates so that people can use them without needing Figma, which can be intimidating for some.

For registration, last year we used Gradual. If your conference has a streaming component, Gradual is a strong solution. If it's in-person and you want to go lean, even Luma is enough. Our tickets this year are still being sold through Luma, which also provides some perks. If your initiative is strong enough, Luma can feature your tickets in the city. Last year, for instance, they featured the Community Network Summit for two months, which was very helpful.

We also use spreadsheets—unfortunately! But the good part is that Valentina manages them, and I just look at them. I prefer the creative side of things. For planning, mapping, and structuring, I use Whimsical instead of Miro. It’s cheaper and very effective. They even released a project management feature recently, so goodbye, Jira!

Another important tool we use is Behi. It’s our main email newsletter tool, but we also use it for communication, segmenting our audience, and sending targeted messages across our ecosystem.

For tracking, we use TalkBase, which integrates with Circle, Slack, and other tools. TalkBase helps us manage community applications, track analytics within our private community, and monitor engagement—who our top members are, who’s missing out, and how the community is growing over time. Their event functionality still has room for improvement, but their analytics are impressive. Clara has also been a great supporter of what we do.

Nityesh Agarwal: That's amazing! I love this. Thank you so much for being so open and sharing your knowledge with everyone listening, Francisco. It’s been so enlightening to get a peek into your brain and the empire you're building with community-led initiatives.

Francisco Opazo: Honestly, none of this would be possible without our 28 volunteers. It’s not about me—I'm just behind the scenes, moving things around. They’re the ones making things happen.

The Future: Community Week

Nityesh Agarwal: Let's talk about what's coming next. Let's talk about Community Week.

Francisco Opazo: Exciting stuff! Okay.

Nityesh Agarwal: Yes, let's go!

Francisco Opazo: If I'm allowed, let me quickly share my screen.

Nityesh Agarwal: Yes, let's do it.

Francisco Opazo: Alright, let me share my screen. Oh, sorry, some background noise here. So, we just launched Community Week as a new brand that will encompass all major summits and in-person conferences. From the time of this recording, it's about 24 days away—hopefully, this episode goes out before then!

Nityesh Agarwal: Yes, it will.

Francisco Opazo: We’ve gathered some top community professionals for this. For instance, we have Richard from Amplitude, Erica Kuhl, Mario, Andy from Glide, Jillian from Calendly, and many more. This online summit will be hosted by Victoria Kumberbatch. We also have Danny from LinkedIn, Giannini from Bridge, Ana Maria Dorgo—who's fantastic in learning and development—Kari, Christina Garnett, and Eric Martin, who leads Community Club and is currently the Head of Community at Me Journey. A truly exciting lineup!

One major difference this time is that we’ve built an entire hub for the sessions. Instead of just signing up with your email, you create an account, join the hub, and engage with other attendees. There's a space for introductions, an official announcement section, and a guide on how to make the most of the hub.

The key attraction is, of course, the sessions. Inside the hub, you can browse all sessions and join the ones you're interested in. For example, if you want to attend Jillian’s session, just click on it, see all the details, and RSVP. This triggers calendar invites and reminders, ensuring you don’t miss out.

We also wanted to provide flexibility—you choose your sessions. Additionally, we have after-party networking every day, so attendees can connect and have fun. Community Week runs from March 3rd to March 8th, five days of sessions, three hours each day. I think it will be a lot of fun!

Nityesh Agarwal: A lot of fun!

Francisco Opazo: If you're interested, you can also apply to join London Community Week or New York Community Week. You'll hear back from us soon.

This is a proper community—there's a members’ directory, you can follow other participants, and even DM people directly. Everything is integrated, including live streaming right inside the platform. That’s the idea—keeping everything in one place.

Nityesh Agarwal: I love this. It's beautiful.

Francisco Opazo: Don’t miss out! It’s free to join. Just click the link, join the hub, and you’re in.

Nityesh Agarwal: We’ll have a link in the show notes. If you're listening or watching, check the description for the link.

Francisco Opazo: Love it. Thank you.

Nityesh Agarwal: I can't wait! Unfortunately, I’m not in London or New York, but I’ll try to catch a few live streams. It sounds wonderful, especially knowing the backstory and all the passion you’ve put into this, Francisco.

Francisco Opazo: You’re the only one who has heard the whole story. No one else knows everything yet!

Nityesh Agarwal: Wow, I’m really honored to be the first to hear it.

Francisco Opazo: I’ll use this video to write a blog post and feature your podcast at the top of my newsletter—my story told by Nityesh!

Nityesh Agarwal: That would be amazing.

Francisco Opazo: I have another call waiting, so let me wrap up. Thank you so much for giving me the space to share my story. Honestly, this is becoming the story of my life. I love being part of communities and helping others—that's my mission.

I have guiding principles that push me to keep delivering value to others. And I really appreciate this opportunity. What you're doing is great—your platform is growing every day. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, so keep going!

Everyone is welcome to join Community Week. Looking forward to seeing you all there. Thank you!

Nityesh Agarwal: Thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a pleasure!