Rachel Elnar is a creative-community builder who designs experiences that turn audiences into communities.
Two guys, tequila under a bathroom sink, and the radical idea that tradition isn’t a good enough excuse. How AIGA Philly broke all the rules.
Podcast Episodes
Whether your “team” is literally just you, your dog, ChatGPT, and 32 open browser tabs... or you’ve got a full production crew running the show behind the scenes, we all start somewhere.
Livestreaming
What happens when two people who are now design royalty spend an hour talking about feeling like outsiders? Debbie brought receipts (literally—a 1998 letter from Michael), and I’m still processing what they said about saying yes.
What do $5,000 in petty cash, a pyramid that hotel staff had to stop, and moving to a new city have in common? They're all part of how AIGA retreats built a community that still shows up for each other years later.
Most webinars don’t fail because of bad content. They fail because the first six minutes leave the room on its own.
Event Hosting
Missing those leadership retreat days? Me too. Join our email list at chapter2.media so we can keep reliving the glory days together.
I attended three corporate events in a row where the chat begged for acknowledgment like ghosts in the machine. No one looked. No one cared. This is the story of how we let “content delivery” replace connection... and how to fix it before everyone stops showing up.
Event Programming
+1
From student chapters to national impact, here’s how two AIGA leaders turned board service into a career-defining friendship (with karaoke).
Last week, I watched something that shouldn’t be remarkable: 50+ volunteer leaders getting a night off.
Creative Community
Or: How Refusing to Dance at a Design Conference Led to Marriage, 3,000 Student Competition Entries, and an Air Horn That Didn’t Last Long
I watched a student’s prototype crash before presenting—then witnessed the moment that changed everything I knew about virtual events. This isn’t about better production; it’s about the profound difference between building an audience and activating a community.
Some leaders craft five-year strategic plans. Others accidentally save a chapter through shared hotel rooms, tactical pyramid deployment, and the revolutionary discovery that you can’t recruit members when you’re hemorrhaging money on every single event.
Just because your webinar platform can do everything doesn't mean it should. After years of hosting virtual events, I've learned that sometimes the most powerful choice is deciding what to leave out.
Some leaders plan their legacy. Others stumble into it with a cooler full of beer, a can of Pringles, and an unshakeable belief that work should be fun.
And most companies are having them all wrong.
The Secret to Design Leadership? Say “Sure, Why Not?” to Strangers.
The most powerful creative communities aren't the biggest ones—they’re the ones where expertise gets passed hand-to-hand like family recipes.
Why our conversation with Seth Johnson and Jenny Price on Cheers & Tiers is required listening for any designer who's ever wondered if volunteer leadership actually matters
Why some digital experiences feel like magic (and others feel like watching someone explain how to maneuver Excel pivot tables through a broken headset). Oh, and get the bonus resource: the complete STREAM + Behavioral Psychology quick reference guide.
The moment I realized I'd been designing competitive events backwards—and how shifting from audience-first to community-first thinking changed everything about engagement, retention, and lasting impact.
Which part of your event planning could use a glow-up? You told me where you’re stuck in your event process, and honestly, I felt seen.
Poll Advice
We've all been there—staring at a screen while someone clicks through slides, desperately hoping for something, anything, to break the monotony of yet another "exciting product announcement."
We threw out a poll about your #1 business goal right now. Whether you voted or not, these are the four core challenges that keep coming up in my conversations with creative professionals... and here’s how to tackle each one.
Who’s on Your Event Dream Team? You shared where you’re at today—here’s how to make the most of your current setup while building toward your next level of ease, flow, and support.
Your audience doesn’t want another polished presentation. They want connection, curiosity, and the feeling that they belong somewhere. Time to stop performing and start hosting like a human. Just use my bonus resource: the Human-First Host guide.
