Ask Me Anything (AMA) Guide: Plan, Promote and Engage
tl;dr
Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions boost engagement by giving community members direct access to experts, leaders or peers. AMAs build trust, spark conversation and create memorable experiences.
You need to pick the right guest, plan your AMA event, promote it and make sure that it’s moderated. In this guide, you will learn everything about running a successful AMA session for your community.
What is an AMA and Why It Works
AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything”. It’s a simple format where a guest answers live questions from the community. Members get a rare chance to interact directly with someone they admire, respect or want to learn from.
AMAs work because they break barriers. Instead of regular, static content; your members get authentic, real-time answers to their questions. It’s one of the best activities to build trust, transparency and stronger community bonds.
In almost all of the communities we’ve run, AMAs were one of the most attention-grabbing and crowd-pulling activities. When members get a chance to directly ask questions that matter to them, they feel more empowered and connected to your community.
If you want to learn more about member psychology and long-term retention, see - The Ultimate Guide to Community Engagement and Retention.
Benefits of Running AMAs in Your Community
AMAs are member driven and they create immense value for the community. In fact, AMAs have become a recurring event in most of the communities that we manage. Following are key benefits of running regular AMA events -
Engagement spikes. Members join actively, not passively.
Trust building. Direct answers from experts create credibility.
Knowledge sharing. Real questions bring practical, diverse insights.
Content creation. The transcript can be reused as articles, blogs, or short clips.
Community identity. Shared moments strengthen group belonging.
Checklist for Planning an AMA
A successful AMA requires careful planning, often weeks in advance. A structured preparation approach is essential. Here’s a step-by-step checklist -
1. Define your goals
What do you want to achieve: awareness, education, bonding?
Who benefits the most: new members, power users, or the whole community?
2. Select the right guest
Choose someone credible and relevant
Look for alignment with your community’s theme.
Consider diversity: founders, experts, customers, internal team members - can be your guests.
Confirm their availability
3. Fix the format
Depending upon your community platform, decide on live chat, video stream or hybrid
Set a time duration. Typically 45-60 minutes are enough.
Pick the right tool. Preferably, look for something that integrates with your community platform.
4. Prepare the guest
Build and share the list of expected questions in advance
Brief them about the tone and audience
Provide support for technical support.
Make sure the guest is familiar with the platform
5. Promote early and often
Announce the AMA at least a week or two in advance.
Share reminders across email, social and in-platform banners.
Use pinned posts, notices or welcome messages.
6. Collect questions ahead of time
Encourage members to post early questions
Use polls, forms to select the best questions
Keep a balance between pre-submitted and live questions
7. Moderate actively
Introduce the guest and set expectations
Filter out repetitive and irrelevant questions
Keep the pace smooth and respectful
8. Capture and repurpose
Record the session if it’s video. Archive the session or lock it
Summarise the top QnA in a blog or a separate article. Make it a part of your newsletter.
Share highlights, snippets through social media
9. Follow up
Send a thank you email, video to the guest. Write a ‘thank you’ note for the participants.
Post unanswered questions for written replies
Encourage feedback to improve the next AMA
Tips on Guest Selection for AMA
As I mentioned above, guest selection is the most important part of your AMA. You may fine-tune your selection based on these three filters:
Relevance: Guests should match your community’s niche and overall vibe. A SaaS founder fits a startup group better than a celebrity chef.
Authority: Experts bring credebility and knowlege. Members feel rewarded for attending.
Relatability: Guests should ‘connect’ with people and not ‘lecture’ them. Storytelling and openness matters (more than you think).
If you plan to make AMAs as a periodic ritual, I suggest rotating between big names and community members. Sometimes, an AMA with a long-time user is more engaging than a CEO talk.
Tips on AMA Moderation
We live in a world full of trolls. Unmoderated AMAs quickly go off-track. Good moderation keeps the flow valuable and inclusive.
Start with an ice-breaker question to warm up.
Mix pre-collected questions with live ones.
Be strict about the time limits for answers.
Redirect or politely skip relevant questions.
Encourage diverse voices instead of repeating popular ones.
Moderators act as both gatekeepers and guides. They keep the conversation healthy while ensuring members get the most out of the guest.
Follow Up Strategy After AMA
Most AMA organizers do not follow-up. Big mistake! A great AMA doesn’t end with the session. Follow-up is where the real value multiplies.
Publish a recap
Highlight the best answers
Add insights into your knowledge base
Ask for feedback
AMAs are valuable assets for your community marketing. Don’t waste this opportunity.
Experiment with Live Video and Live Chat
Text-based AMAs (made popular by Reddit) are easy to run. Live video adds authenticity and emotion connection. You get to experience real expressions and connection over video.
If you can, experiment with different formats:
LIve video with QnA
Audio-only sessions for podcast-like feel
Hybrid- A live AMA followed by asynchronous threads
There are several tools available. Zoom, Google Meet, Airmeet. At Jatra, you’ll soon be able to host a live chat with the guests. Over time, you will notice which format brings more engagement.
How to Promote Your AMA
Simply announcing the AMA to your community members is not enough. You need to promote your AMA outside of your community to bring more people, create community brand awareness and get more people into your community. Here are some of the ways you can promote your AMA -
Create event banners with sharp copy
Share teaser clips or guest quotes
Try and see if the Guest can record a video about the upcoming AMA
Send email reminders to create buzzz
If you can, try to block the time on your attendees calendars.
Candid Thoughts on Running AMAs
We’ve been running AMAs for over 15 years and they are engagement boosters. The key is experimentation with guests, topics and themes - and find out what works for your community.
If you are planning to host an AMA and have questions, ask them below.