Marco Polo groups: Bring people together

Want to build community, accountability, and a space for mutual learning? Create a Marco Polo group! Groups make it possible to reach lots of people at once, with the convenience of connection on your own time. 

Types of groups

Your group can serve any purpose. If you’re a coach or educator, you can create a group to teach a course, hold Q&A sessions, or create accountability. If you’re a business leader, you can use groups for status check-ins or team projects. If you’re in a community organization, you can create a group to help members get to know each other face-to-face or keep upcoming events on track. Groups can be moderated or unmoderated, and everyone can chime in and talk to each other. 

Group size

Depending on your program and level of activity, you may want more or fewer members within a group. If closeness and relationship building is a goal, then groups of 6-10 people strike a nice balance. There are enough people to keep things lively, but the volume of information doesn’t become so overwhelming that people fall behind, get discouraged, or disengage. 

If you’re interested in one-to-many information sharing, you can include up to 200 people. In larger groups, you might consider adding a group leader, mentor, or moderator who can help guide or oversee the group. 

You can also create a Sharecast, a private space in which you have the ease of communicating to a group without the cross conversations. 

Get your group up and running

1. Create the group. We recommend starting with an empty group so you can get everything set up before inviting people. 
2. Set your admin parameters, such as restricting the group and creating group admins. In a restricted group, admins can add and remove group members, delete Polos, and manage invitation links. In larger groups it can be helpful to add one or two admins besides yourself. Watch this tutorial for more info on admin settings.  
3. Record a Welcome Message. Your Welcome Message will be group members’ introduction to the group. Set the stage! Share the purpose of your group, what you’ll be discussing, and any ground rules for group interactions.  ‍
4. Add members. You can invite group members via phone number, from your Contacts, or by sharing a link to join.