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Oh, summertime... when people get out of school, go on vacation, spend more time outdoors and in the movie theaters and less in your community. Summer seems to slow down the pace everywhere. In France, the entire month of August is considered the "saison morte" - the dead season. How do you keep your community active and engaged when all they want to do is be at the beach?
Give your mods a break. Your mods are suffering from the same summertime blues as your community. Why don't you give them a break? Let them take a week off from the community. The time away will bring them back refreshed and ready to go. During their time away, encourage other mods to help cover for them, take on new responsibilities and learn new skills.
Relish in the Off-Topic. No more teachers, no more books... pretend like school's out for summer and relish in all the off-topic conversations that are likely to go on. Sponsor a weekly 'Out to the Movies' post where members share what films they are going to watch this weekend and what they thought of them.
It's all Fun and Games. No, really... give your community some fun and games to engage them. If you incorporate gamification elements into your community (or even if you don't usually), run special contests and double point weekends to spur activity.
What other ideas do you have to keep your community engaged throughout the summer?
(Image: Summertime Sunshine, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from stewart's photostream)
