Erica Kuhl & Brian Oblinger

In Before The Lock

Business EN ↓ 110 episodes

In Before The Lock is a podcast from Erica Kuhl and Brian Oblinger about community, customer experience, and leadership at scale.

Author

Erica Kuhl & Brian Oblinger

Category

Business

Podcast website

ib4tl.fm

Latest episode

Jun 29, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

🔓 110: Uniquely people-powered 29.06.2026

Erica and Brian return to discuss the impact of AI on community, customer marketing, and education — and what to do about it. Erica joined Gainsight Brian's Slides on AI-Forward Community Strategy Google's doc on GEO Evan Hamilton's post on AI communities

🔓 109: Various forms of hybridity 31.07.2024

Should your community be public, private, or a hybrid of both? What about free vs. paid? Erica and Brian break it all down.

🔓 108: The Ericas 09.07.2024

And The Erica Goes To…Erica! 🏆🥳 Brian is joined by a gaggle of family, friends, and co-workers to present Erica with awards on her birthday.

🔓 107: Under the surface 09.04.2024

Erica and Brian talk about the bones of your community and how they work together to create a cohesive experience. Previous episodes about the "above the surface" bits: 🔓 76: Combo pages 🔓 91: A list of links 🔓 101: They want the ugly Resources: Structures & Modalities Examples Permissions & Roles Template

🔓 106: The Golden Hoodie 05.03.2024

Brian and Erica deep dive into customer awards programs and how to get them right. 🔓 5: A whole bag of crap The Golden Hoodie Alteryx Excellence Awards  

🔓 105: Measurin' vibes 30.01.2024

Erica and Brian push back hard on the idea that measuring community ROI isn't important (we can't believe we had to talk about this or are typing this right now, but here we are). Measurement resources: 🔓 8: Just say No to Page Views 🔓 9: Everyone wants a cool dashboard 🧵 70: Behaviors and indicators 🧵 92: Early indicators Community Metrics Template Erica's blog:  It's All About That Data Bria...

🔓 104: A really great activation 12.12.2023

Erica and Brian talk about their favorite community activations for in-person conferences.

🔓 103: Part of the master plan 12.09.2023

Brian and Erica discuss the launch of Community Strategy Academy . Use code INBEFORE at checkout for 15% off of any course, bundle, or membership.

🔓 102: Scale, success, service, and hubs 11.07.2023

The state of the market, why Customer Success is driving community inside of organizations, and how we can partner to deliver value. Resources about CS + Community: Podcast: 🔓 34: The "S" stands for "Success" Blog: Building Scalable Customer Success Through Communities

🔓 101: They want the ugly 21.03.2023

Erica and Brian navigate through developer landing pages and communities from Google, Salesforce, Apple, Visa, and more. Developer Community 🔓 60: Just a couple lines of code Developer Landing Pages/Communities: Google Developers   Salesforce Developers   Apple Developers Intel Developer Zone Fusion Fabric Developers SAP Developers Visa Developer Center  

🔓 100: Win the interview 19.01.2023

Erica and Brian run down the most common interview questions and how to answer them. Community Industry News: Quinn McCully joined Vesta as Community Management and Engagement Specialist Maren Hamilton was promoted to Director of Social & Community at The North Face Ami Defesche joined The Wildcard Alliance as Director of Community Corey Strausman joined Weights & Biases as Community Manager, Grow...

🔓 99: Looking to break in 03.01.2023

How to build a career in community from scratch. Community Industry News: Hugh Lashbrooke joined Constantia.io as Director of Community Melissa Spinella was promoted to Principal Community Manager at UKG A word on Generative AI and communities… Giving ChatGPT a spin with community queries A thread about potential community use cases StackOverflow is already trying to ban AI-generated code samples...

🔓 98: 10x Community Pros 20.12.2022

Erica and Brian talk through the traits and skills required to become an elite community professional and people to look to for inspiration. Community Industry News: Amanda Boyle was promoted to Director of Community Engagement at GitHub Christina Brashear joined Colibra as Senior Manager, Community Success Erin Mikail Staples joined Heartex as Senior Developer Community Advocate Sean Dahlberg joi...

🔓 97: People, time, money, and outcomes 06.12.2022

How to operationalize your plans and collaborate for success from pre-launch to maturity. Community Industry News: Holly Rieke joined Board International as Director of Community Jay Elango joined Sprinklr as Community Manager Allison Fasching joined LogicMontior as Director of Customer Community Nichol Goldstein was promoted to Community Manager at Progress Daniel Cmejla joined Apollo.io as Vice...

🔓 96: Our favorite things 22.11.2022

On this special Thanksgiving episode, Erica and Brian dig into the things that make their personal and professional lives easier. Community Industry News: Anne Mbugua joined Analog Devices as Community Content Manager Neval Dalgic joined BARTKA INOVASYON as Community Lead Francisco Fonseca joined Lymbus as Community Manager Biswajeeta Rath was promoted to Senior Online Community Manager at BMC Den...

🔓 95: An expectation that you're listening 08.11.2022

How to get started collecting feedback and ideas from your community when you can't commit to full-blown ideation and complex processes. Community Industry News: Jessica Mendez joined Contentsquare as CX Specialist, Community Manager Steven Demoya joined TelevisaUnivision as Help Center Community Manager Mariana Rodriguez joined Coinshift as Community Manager V.J. Watkins joined FinancialForce as...

🧵 94: Popping up every day 01.11.2022

"There are lots of new community platforms and tools coming up. How to keep up with all of them?" — Tiffany Oda

🔓 93: Do more with less 25.10.2022

Why community is one of the best investments a company can make during an economic downturn. Community Industry News: Rachel Basoco joined Fidelity Investments as Digital Communities Advancement and Growth Director Jeffrey Roe joined DecisionLink as Senior Community Manager Manouska Jeantus joined Miro as Community Lead   Blake Ethridge joined Plex Systems as Community Manager Devan La Spisa was p...

🧵 92: Early indicators 04.10.2022

"What do you do if you don't have access to relevant data to be able to measure the impact your community efforts are having on the business?" — Alex Angel

🔓 91: A list of links 27.09.2022

How to make navigating your community intuitive and fast for your users. Community Industry News: Colleen Curtis joined Reddit Will Manchin joined AWS as Senior Community Manager Vera DeVera joined Vareto as Head of Community Lauren Clevenger joined Block as Square's Global Head of Seller Community Adrian's book is out. Go get it. Navigation: Comcast Portal Community Swisscom Optimizely Apple Fitb...

🧵 90: Opportunities 20.09.2022

"Thinking more about ambassador programs. The problem with most is that the benefits to the ambassador don't immediately benefit them personally or professionally. I think that needs to change. Any good examples from programs you've seen?" — Joshua Grose

🔓 89: To delete or not to delete 13.09.2022

How to handle the archiving of old, outdated, and irrelevant content from your community. Community Industry News: Work with Brian Work with Alex Angel Work with Noele Flowers Maria Ogneva was promoted to Sr. Director, Community and Customer Marketing at Invoca Andrew Mishalove joined Matillion as VP, Community Michael Pascucci joined Validity, Inc as Sr. Manager, Online Customer Community Mike Ri...

🧵 88: A part of who they are 06.09.2022

"What are some crucial qualities of a community leader? Do you suggest promoting from within and how do I know who to target?" — Kelly Klein

🔓 87: Acceptable trash talk 30.08.2022

Erica and Brian take a close look at how to create compelling community user guidelines. Community Industry News: Evan Patterson joined tender.ai as Head of Community & Partnerships Lizzie LaCour joined Softr as Community Lead Gabrielle Leith joined Grapevine as Community Manager Paola Johnson was promoted to Director, Community and Customer Advocacy at Thoughtspot Kristen Meren joined TalkBase as...

🧵 86: It's all about culture 23.08.2022

"Are there certain company characteristics that are indicators whether a community will have a higher chance of success?" — Brian Koffler

Listen to the In Before The Lock podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.