There’s a place where anyone can put themselves out there and share with the people who matter most. A place for round tables, karaoke nights, talent shows, classes, and some of the worst (best) puns ever heard by human ears. A place where the audience accepts you for who you are.

You may have seen our recent Stage Channels video. If you haven’t, here’s a small glimpse of the incredible, surprising, heartfelt, and hilarious moments channels have already experienced:

For a more in-depth look, we asked a few of those servers to share with us how Stage Channels have helped their communities grow closer. Check out how the Beatboxing Community, Gay Geeks, and Art Club servers have used Stages to give their members a sense of belonging, whether they’re in the spotlight or watching from the audience. They’re here to share their experiences — plus some tips for hosting your own successful events.

Beatboxing Community

Discord is home to millions of unique communities coming together for a singular purpose. If you don’t find a place that fits what you’re looking for, you can easily create it.

That’s what David did when he founded the Beatbox Community, now the defacto hangout where beatboxers and beatbox enthusiasts come to level up their craft. Beatboxing in particular is a hobby without many opportunities to network in person and practice with one another, which makes an online community ideal for helping to sharpen some skills. Not only does the Discord server help experienced beatboxers connect, it also creates a space for newcomers to gain valuable experience before entering the fray of live competitions.

Because beatboxing is all about vocal talent, it’s a great fit for voice-focused Stage channels. The Beatbox Community recently ran an event called “Escape the Cypher,” offering a space for some of the most talented beatboxers from all across the world to come together for a beautiful freestyle jam session. Multiple performers showed off their unique stylings, and because of the low-key atmosphere, nobody had to worry about competing or comparing themselves to the other participants. Removed from the stress of heated competition, Escape the Cypher offered a day just for showcasing the art form and the creativity in it.

Just because the event was a lot chiller than a full competition doesn’t mean it was less organized, however. David always makes sure there’s a sufficient amount of staff around, plus a proper, prepared host who can spread the energy of the event well and engage the audience. He was also careful to make the tone and structure reflect the culture of the Beatbox Community, something he recommends other server owners do: “Lots of servers have been doing similar style events, such as talent shows, which I think makes it harder to stand out as a community overall. Make the event personal and personalized [to your community].”

For those who want to catch a slightly more high-stakes event, the “Online World Beatbox Championship” is being held by the Beatboxing Community between August 21st and 22nd. You’ll be able to witness some of the best and brightest beatboxers in the world duke it out for the title of Online World Beatbox Champion. For more info, or to make sure you don’t miss the event, check out the server now.

Art Club

Shaun and Kat needed a way to share their artistic side, and they figured other people needed the same thing. That’s why the two co-founded the Art Club, a place for creators everywhere to talk shop, trade tips, and work through their projects with one another.

The community offers a lot of support to its members, and it doesn’t stop at idle chatting. For one thing, there’s such a staggeringly large library of artistic assistance assets available that they’ve had to make a second server as a dedicated resource directory. One of its newest resources is a Stage Event series supporting the discovery of “underground artists,” as-yet undiscovered creators whose talent hasn’t been recognized by the public. The three-part event also helped inspire Art Club’s artist community through motivational talks from renowned artists and professionals sharing their career journeys and stories.

“I know a lot of times, it can be pretty isolating and lonely, lost in your own head with your own thoughts — especially if they are discouraging. Hearing how others have faced the same challenges, thought of the same ideas, and voiced the same beliefs can be truly inspirational and motivating. It can make the world feel like a much less lonely place. I was really happy to see this happen within the audience at each of the speaker segments.”

“Everybody starts somewhere, and at some point, everyone is an underground artist,” says Shaun. “We hope by giving these professionals a platform on which to share their journeys and how they overcome the hardships they faced, we can encourage and motivate smaller artists to keep trying and to not give up.”

When asked about advice for running your first Stage event, Shaun and Kat encourage folks to “have a good time and learn from mistakes.” After all, learning and creating is what being an artist is all about.

Does running an event focused on art sound like something you’d be interested in? Check out this article about using Stage channels to share art of any kind!

Gay Geeks

Trophias founded the Gay Geeks group all the way back in 2010, but they didn’t make the jump to Discord until 2017. In all that time, their mission has remained the same: give people a place to share their passions and make friends in an atmosphere free of judgment or bad vibes. You can read more about them in one of our past blogs, How Discord Communities Celebrate Pride.

When you’re helping to manage a community of thousands of people from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, maintaining the trust and confidence of your members is crucial. Since their last appearance on the Discord Blog, they’ve been able to incorporate Stage Channels as a natural extension of their community and help support their members.

One of Gay Geek’s recent events was a sort of round table between the moderation staff and the community, an opportunity to share stories and offer guidance to one another. Trophias and the team soon learned when you lead by example, others will gain the inspiration to share their own journeys.

“Members gave inspiring stories about their coming out story, which in turn made more of the audience want to share their stories as well! Others spoke about their journey and shed light on some of the struggles that many in the LGBTQ+ community face daily. We never expected it would have turned out so well.”

Depending on how large your own community is, building relationships with your community may mean taking special steps to protect your members. Trophias advises making sure your moderation team is ready to roll when your Stage starts. “Ensure you have enough staff to be able to moderate any channels that you have with the event, but also to grab bad actors who may look to crash the event,” he explains. “Your community will thank you and see that you are trying to protect the community even further.”

If Gay Geeks sounds like a place you’d like to call home, you’ll find them with a quick search in Server Discovery. They’re planning to host an Open Mic Night soon, too — perhaps it’s time to share a story of your own?

Set Your Own Stage and Share Your Community’s Shining Stars

Inspired by these success stories? Ready to go forth and set the Stage for something incredible? We have a set of six helpful articles on our Stage Channels site offering more advice on how to get you and your community ready to present, sing, tell stories or share art together. You can check those out here.

We also have a few support articles to walk you through the finer details of Stages — take a peek at both the Stage Channels FAQ and the Stage Discovery FAQ for more guidance.