Most digital learning rollouts start with the course and hope a community forms around it. The reality is the opposite: when you start with community and conversation, the learning becomes more meaningful, social and sticky. This blog tells the story of an organisation that flipped the order, and why ‘communities first, courses second’ is often the difference between a launch and a learning movement.

Imagine this…

You’ve just spent months developing a new digital learning programme. The design looks beautiful. The interactivity is polished. The content is spot on.

Launch day arrives. The LMS announcement goes out. People click in. Numbers look promising… for two days. Then everything stalls.

You refresh the analytics page.Again.Again.The curve keeps dropping.

And somewhere in the back of your mind, a familiar thought appears:‘We built a great course. Why didn’t it land?’

The problem wasn’t the content. It was the order.

We often imagine learning as a neat sequence:

1. Build the course

2. Launch the course

3. Hope people engage

4. (Maybe) start a community afterwards

But learning rarely works that way.

Humans don’t naturally gather around content. They gather around questions, challenges, identity and shared experiences. The stories that shape us - and the ones we remember - come from connection first, material second.

So when L&D teams begin with content, they’re asking people to care about something before giving them a reason to.

A different approach: Start with community, then build the course

Let’s rewind and imagine the same organisation trying something new.

This time, before a single storyboard is written, the L&D team hosts a short series of informal conversations with real employees. Not a focus group. Just simple prompts:

• ‘What’s hard about this right now?’

• ‘Where do you get stuck?’

• ‘What do you wish people understood?’

• ‘What have you learned the long way?’

  
  

People share stories. Someone talks about a customer call that went badly. Another describes a breakthrough moment in a cross-team project. A few swap tips in the chat. There’s laughter. There’s honesty.

And something interesting begins to happen:the community forms before the content exists.

Those conversations spark themes.Those themes shape the learning.The course no longer arrives cold. It arrives into a warm room.

The rollout becomes a story, not a broadcast

When the digital programme later goes live, the learners recognise themselves in it.

They hear their challenges in the scenarios. They see familiar moments reflected back at them. They feel like contributors, not consumers.

And because a community was active beforehand - sharing ideas, asking questions, debating ways of working - the course becomes a natural extension of that dialogue. It isn’t an instruction manual. It’s part of the conversation.

This is how movements start: people take ownership. They bring others along. They return for more, not because the LMS tells them to, but because their peers are there.

Why communities make digital learning work

1. They create the emotional ‘hook’ before the content arrives

No matter how well we design, a course on its own is still just material. A community creates relevance.

People engage because others like them are talking about the problem. This mirrors narrative psychology: tension comes from caring about what’s at stake, not from the information itself.

2. They spread the load

L&D teams don’t have to be the sole source of expertise. Communities capture tacit knowledge - the real experiences content teams rarely see - and lift the whole programme.

3. They boost application

When people discuss ideas publicly, they’re more likely to try them. And when they try them, they’re more likely to return to share what worked.

4. They extend the lifespan of a course

Most digital learning peaks in week one, then declines rapidly. Communities reverse the curve. A lively conversation space keeps a programme breathing long after launch.

An example scenario: Meet Sarah

Sarah is a first-line manager in a large organisation. She’s busy, stretched and trying her best.

When the new ‘Cyber Essentials’ course launches, she clicks in out of obligation. It looks fine… but she’s seen a lot of courses before. She tries three screens, closes the browser and goes back to her day.

Now imagine the alternative rollout.

Three weeks earlier, Sarah joined a short lunchtime discussion hosted by two experienced IT managers. They talked openly about navigating various phishing attempts.

People in the chat shared stories. Sarah shared one too. It felt good to know others had similar experiences.

Two weeks later, a follow-up post appeared in the community:‘We’re designing a digital programme around these challenges. What would you like it to help with?’

Sarah replied. Lots of others did too.

One week later, a short teaser video popped up - showing real quotes from the managers’ discussion. Sarah recognised one of her own lines.

So when the digital programme launched, it didn’t land like a new demand. It landed like an answer to a conversation she was already part of.

By the end of week one, Sarah wasn’t just completing the course. She was posting in the community about how she’d stopped a phishing attempt with one of her team members.

That’s the power of communities first, courses second.

How to rethink your next digital learning rollout

Here’s the principle:

Start with the people, not the product.Start with the conversation, not the content.Start with community, not completeness.

Popcorn’s best learning programmes follow this pattern instinctively: designing with people, not at them; using storytelling and authenticity to make learning feel relevant; keeping things simple, engaging and deeply connected to real work.

When the community sets the direction, the course becomes a tool - not the centrepiece - of the learning experience. It’s still beautifully designed. Still polished. Still purposeful. But it lands with impact because people asked for it, shaped it and already care about the challenge it’s here to help solve.

FAQs

Does this mean we build content last?

Not last - but later. Let the community shape the brief before you start designing.

What if our people don’t engage in communities?

They will if the conversation feels real and immediately useful. Start small. Start human.

Is this slower than the traditional rollout?

Surprisingly, no. When you build with the community first, the course requires fewer revisions and lands faster with better engagement.

Does this work for compliance training?

Yes. Even for compliance, people engage more when they understand the why and can discuss real scenarios, not just click through rules.