What are the three main reasons people go to conferences and events? To learn about what's new, to find resources, and to network with peers. Arguably, face-to-face is the best way to impart knowledge and achieve these goals, but until recently, the networking part and the ability to search and find the best resources and content were often crapshoots.

That's where Web 2.0 tools - blogs, wikis, social networking programs - come in. Their real power lies in their ability to connect individuals and create a sense of community around your event and your organization. Some corporations have built community-based brands by:

• creating community-centric festivals and events (such as Camp Jeep, a company-organized event for Jeep owners and their families)
• cultivating endorsements of real-world users (such as has been done with the Toyota Prius) 
•  supporting uncensored blogs (Linux)
• creating communal environments (Starbucks) ‰ sharing experiences (iPod and iTunes)
• being a trusted network (such as craigslist)
• community member suggestions (a valuable element of Amazon.com)
• community-only benefits (such as CVS ExpressCare).

Communal brand building requires that executives actually give up micromanaging and try to become tribal leaders. Allowing constituents to largely define your brand is the biggest challenge marketers will need to overcome in the future. Here are five ways to keep your communities vital and growing without ceding all control:

1. Use market research as a barometer, not a compass. Don't force communities to head in any one direction. Listen to supporters and naysayers.
2. Give members reason to meet and give them the encouragement to interact. Offer ideas and share stories. Events that educate and entertain can be the most powerful medium to turn prospects into customers and customers into advocates.
3. Protect members. Your role is to be a guardian, not the police. Communities like eHarmony use compatibility matching to help their members find significant others, but they also create a much safer environment for doing so.
4. Create discussions, not product sheets. Community members want access to the most useful and trustworthy information, not the usual compilations of features and benefits. Consider the power of the online Linux community in building the first meaningful competitor to the Microsoft technology platform, and the growing market for online communities of customers and peers.
5. Think lifetime value, not transaction value. You can't build long-term relationships with short-term expectations. Once they take hold, however, the growth of communities can be exponential.

Michael Westcott is president of The Concentric Group. He can be reached via www.theconcentricgroup.com or (617) 803-9383.

This Megatrends column is part of a continuing series examining the forces shaping the meetings industry, sponsored by the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre: Where Australia Meets the World, www.mecc.com.au.