Community professionals don’t just run communities. We live them. Our work isn’t just part of our job—it’s part of our identity.

We pour our hearts into creating spaces where people feel seen, supported, and inspired. We push ourselves to the edge of burnout for our members. We balance business value against human value every single day. And because so much of what we do is based on relationships and nuance, the idea of handing all that off to someone else can feel... impossible.

You’ve probably heard of the “bus plan” or the “lottery plan”—having some kind of documentation or plan in place in case you get hit by a bus or win the lottery and don't come to work the next day. Those are great for ensuring consistency and documentation in case of emergencies. But this post is about something different: how to prepare yourself—and your community—for a handoff you know is coming.

Maybe you’re moving to a new role at a new company. Maybe the team is being reorganized and you're handing off a few programs. Maybe you’re taking some kind of extended leave. In my case, I’m Canadian and preparing for 14 months of parental leave (which I’m very grateful for). I gave my team four months’ notice and used that time to document every process and program so the community would remain supported, even if the new hire came after my departure.

So, here’s what I did—and what I recommend you do—to set your community (and yourself) up for success.

1. Capture Your Community’s Identity

Start by documenting the essence of your community — not just what it is, but why it exists.

Who is your community for? What do they care about? What brings them together, and what keeps them engaged? Why do people join this community instead of another one? Why might they leave?

It’s easy to assume your replacement will “get it,” but community identity lives in nuance. There are unspoken norms, rituals, and emotional truths that make your space what it is. Your job is to put those in writing as clearly as possible.

I wrote about the CMX Community’s shared values, the tone we use when we engage members, the reasons people join (connection, learning, validation), and even what tends to frustrate them (overwhelming platforms, lack of visibility, too much noise).

2. List Every Program You Run

This might be the single most grounding exercise of the entire handoff process.

Start by opening a blank doc and listing every community program, event, or initiative you currently run. Then, under each, write exactly what you do for it — every recurring task, every unseen piece of maintenance, every “quick thing” that somehow eats an hour of your week.

When you think you’re done, you’re probably not — go one level deeper. What prep work happens before each event? What follow-up tasks keep things running? What are the “small things” you do that no one sees but would probably break something if you stopped doing them?

The point isn’t to overwhelm your replacement (though it might). It’s to make visible what often stays invisible. Community professionals wear ten hats at once, and a list like this helps your leadership team see that.

In my case, it was also a reality check. After documenting every single responsibility across programs, I sat back, stared at the page, and laughed. “Ohhh,” I thought. “That’s why I feel so busy all the time.”

But beyond the catharsis, this list becomes a blueprint — a guide to what’s currently being done, what might be duplicated, and what could be improved while you’re away. It also helps whoever steps in to prioritize. If they can’t do it all, they’ll know what’s essential, what can wait, and what can evolve.

3. Build a “Proposed” Timeline

Once I wrote our all that I do, I mapped when I typically do it in ayear. I created a “proposed timeline” for the full 14 months I’d be gone — essentially, the timing and programs I would have run if I were staying. 

This timeline includes:

• When to open calls for speakers or nominations
• When to launch campaigns (and how long they typically run)
• Deadlines for content, marketing, and design work
• Event prep milestones
• Launch dates for surveys, reports, and major announcements

For example, I laid out the 2026 Community Industry Report from start to finish: When to build and launch the survey, when to promote it, when to close data collection, when to brief the designer, and when the report should go live. I even pre-built the survey using this year’s respondents' feedback, so the next person could just pick it up and start sharing and marketing the URL.

This exercise wasn’t just helpful for my replacement — it gives leadership a real sense of how community programs overlap and how strategic timing makes everything work.

4. Create a Master Doc for Each Program

This is where all your detailed documentation lives. I created a separate tab for each program or area of work, each one containing everything a new person would need to pick it up seamlessly.

Each included:

• Folder locations: Start by linking directly to every relevant Google Drive folder (or whatever shared system your company uses). Where can people find assets, templates, or past files?
• Roles and ownership: who’s involved and what they do. For example, I handle all operations and communications for the CMX Awards, but our designer creates Canva templates. That designer’s name and contact are listed.
• Automations and processes: Document any automation that runs in the background — especially if you set it up yourself. For example, part of our CMX Community onboarding is automated. I linked to every single email in the onboarding sequence and explained the logic behind them
• Contacts and partners: List every major contact your role touches: partners, vendors, speakers, volunteers, sponsors, and active members. If you can’t do a warm handoff email, this is the next best thing. It ensures your successor can pick up the conversation smoothly, without anyone feeling ghosted or forgotten.

5. Instructions for core tasks

These are the practical, “how do I actually do this?” pieces. Things like:

• How to create a discount code for the training program or tickets to the event
• How to download Slack metrics and input them into the engagement spreadsheet
• How to add someone to the community manually
• How to edit and schedule newsletters
• How to pull event data for reporting

Write them as step-by-step guides with links, screenshots, or even short Loom videos if you can. Future You (and future them) will be deeply grateful. 

Even if you never take a long leave, this level of documentation is a game changer. It builds resilience into your community operations — because no one person should hold all the knowledge.

6. Notes and Lessons Learned

Here’s the hard truth: some big changes will probably be made in your absence. Programs you love — the ones you’ve poured your heart, your late nights, and your best ideas into — might evolve in ways you never would’ve chosen. Some may be paused. Some may even be dissolved entirely. And that’s tough. It’s the emotional price of leadership: when you build something sustainable, you’re also building something that can exist without you. You can’t control what happens while you’re gone, but you can set your successor up to make thoughtful decisions.

For example, in my CMX Summit Master Doc, I included pages of suggestions:

• Potential new venues for future years
• Fresh session formats that create more interaction
• Fun attendee activations and experiential elements
• Ideas for integrating AI and networking in more meaningful, human-centered ways

None of this was me trying to control what happens next — it was about leaving a trail of inspiration, context, and possibility. The best handoffs don’t just document the what and the how; they also share the why and the what if. By giving your successor a window into your reasoning and your dreams for what’s next, you’re helping them evolve the community with care instead of chaos.

So yes, things will change. But by leaving behind thoughtful notes, suggestions, and ideas, you can at least help ensure that change is intentional, and maybe even exciting.

What Comes Next? 

So, while I can’t share my Master Doc, this post has included everything I thought about while building it, and everything I included before handing it over.

Do I personally feel like I’m missing information from my doc? Yes.
Have I tried my best? Also yes.

Now, my one last thought (and I’m telling myself this as much as I’m sharing it with you)… there’s a real possibility that it all may fall apart without you. Handing over a community is a difficult challenge, even when you get to meet and connect with the person taking over. If you don’t have that overlap, you’ll need to rely on trust. Trust that you’ve shared everything you can. Trust that you’ve built a sustainable community that can run without you. And trust that your organization values the community and will do everything they can to continue the magic.

I’ve worked hard to build a beautiful community with incredible programming, life-changing events, and a sustainable identity and set of values. While my leave isn’t permanent (and I’m genuinely excited to come back to CMX bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and as a mom of two), the idea that CMX will go on without me has been a tough feeling to sit with.

The truth is, you can’t always control or predict what will happen after a handover. Things could carry on smoothly or fall apart after you’re gone. If that happens, it’s not because you failed. It’s not because you didn’t prepare well enough or care hard enough. Sometimes, systems lose support and crumble. Sometimes, communities lose their footing if leadership priorities shift. And sometimes, change just happens.

But you can leave knowing you did your work with care, with excellence, and with heart.

Good luck!