Building customer advocacy through ambassador programs.

The PioNear Community is an award-nominated educator community that brings together staunch Nearpod and Flocabulary advocates across the globe.

Scaled & Unified: Merged Nearpod and Flocabulary ambassador programs post-acquisition, boosting membership 50 % while maintaining a tight-knit culture.

Certification Powerhouse: Introduced Flocabulary’s educator certification (mirroring Nearpod’s), driving a combined 2,500 + completions and adding tiered “levels” that lifted certified-user product engagement 50 % YoY.

Community Rituals: Instituted an annual, multi-day “PioNear Appreciation Days” virtual summit for product updates, feedback, and networking—110 ambassadors ran 230 live trainings during 2020’s shift to virtual teaching.

Onboarding & Mentorship: Launched a Welcome Webinar series, month-long activity track, and 1:1 mentor-matching program to accelerate newcomer belonging and contribution.

Social Reach: Created the #NearpodWednesday campaign, spiking Twitter engagement 47 % and unifying advocates around a weekly call-to-share.

Building advocacy through certifications and product-led growth

Re-engineered in-product certifications and badges to lift 30-day retention 40 % and drive 5 K+ badge redemptions—converting power users into vocal champions.

In-Product Certification Overhaul: Migrated the certification flow from an external form into Nearpod, awarding habit-forming actions. We incorporated elements of the Community into the product by creating a new user profile and badge collection for those who completed the certification.

Lifecycle Targeting: Surfaced the certification at the optimal moment in the user journey, boosting 30-day retention 40 % among certified educators.

Rapid Distance-Learning Enablement: Led a cross-functional task force (Curriculum, Customer Success, GTM) to spin up feature-specific online courses, a resource hub, and promo toolkits within two weeks of school closures. We dded three new product-focused badges; 5,000 + educators have redeemed them, accelerating mastery of key workflows during the shift to virtual teaching

Camp Engage: Community learning and unity in action

Conceived and launched Camp Engage, a quarterly virtual conference that blends PD sessions, live product demos, and peer networking to spark adoption and deepen loyalty.

In 2022 alone:

  • Camp Engage events had an influence on $4.8 million in opportunities generated and $1.2 million in closed-won opportunities in 2022

  • 200,000 cumulative joins, brought in 2,000 new users, and generated 800 qualified leads.

  • Of those who attended these events, 85% remained steadily active or were newly activated for the remainder of the year

“It was the BEST PD I have ever attended, and I’ve been teaching since 1993”
— Teacher, Florida

Celebrating the community and sparking creativity

Community-led award programs (Educator of the Year, student contests) amplified under-represented voices, pulled in 2.5 K nominations / 6.8 K votes, and landed national press—turning recognition into brand reach.

Educator of the Year Awards

In 2021, Nearpod launched its first-ever Educator of the Year Award with 2,000 nominations and 4,000 votes. The engagement was there, but there was untapped opportunity to align the awards with Nearpod’s values in 2022.

New Approach:

  • With the aim of spotlighting the community in a more equitable and authentic manner, we divided the awards into five different categories, each mirroring Nearpod and Flocabulary's values.

  • By creating multiple awards that aligned with different values, we were able to gather user stories that could be repurposed for content marketing.

  • The result was 2,500 nominations and 6,800 votes, indicating an increase in both nominations and votes from the previous year.

  • Press coverage:

Nearpod and Flocabulary host several student contest series throughout each school year, with the goal of uplifting underrepresented histories and student voices.

Student Creativity Contests

These contests celebrate the creativity of teachers and students by providing them with a platform for recognition. They also engage our educator audience in using Flocabulary and Nearpod to support various heritage-dedicated months.