Our story

ACM began in 2009 as the Australian Community Manager Roundtables, informal gatherings for people doing a job most organisations had not yet named.

In 2011 the roundtables grew into Swarm, Australia's national community management conference, which ACM programmed and hosted until 2022. ACM was co-founded by Venessa Paech and Alison Michalk. Scott Drummond co-founded the ACM peer support community.

Today ACM is the region's centre for online community management and moderation practice. Its work spans specialist training, practical guides grounded in the Australian context, and the longest-running research series on the profession in Australia and New Zealand. ACM supports organisations with community and moderation consultancy, and advises government, researchers and peak bodies on moderation, governance and platform regulation.

Our mission

To grow and strengthen community management practice in Australia. Thriving, intentional communities are the bedrock of society and democracy, and they depend on skilled people to design and steward them. ACM exists to support those people and make the value of their work visible.

Our team

Dr Venessa Paech
Co-Founder and Director

Venessa is Australia's leading expert on online communities and their governance, with three decades of experience building, leading and studying them.

She has led community for Lonely Planet, REA Group and Australia Post among others, and consults on community strategy and governance for national and international clients.

She teaches community management at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne, serves as an expert witness on social media in Australian legal proceedings, and founded All Things in Moderation, the global conference for moderation practice.

Venessa’s MA research examined trolling and community exiles, and her PhD from the University of Sydney examined how AI is remaking online community management.