Clubhouse and the Weird Festival Spirit That Builds Real Connections
When you first open Clubhouse in Australia, it feels like walking into a room where everyone is mid-conversation. You hear voices, not text. You join a room about surf forecasting, then hop to one about property investment in Brisbane, then find yourself in a late-night chat about regional food delivery. That sense of spontaneous, live interaction is exactly what makes Clubhouse different from every other social app you have used. And if you want to understand where that energy comes from, look at events like keepaustinweirdfest.com – a celebration of oddity, community, and local culture that mirrors what Clubhouse does every day in its audio rooms. This article walks you through how to use Clubhouse step by step, building from basic setup to advanced hosting, all while keeping that weird, wonderful, festival-like energy alive in your own Australian community.
Starting Simple – Your First Clubhouse Profile Setup
Before you can join any conversation, you need to create your identity. In Australia, where word-of-mouth still carries real weight, your profile is your first handshake. Open the Clubhouse app on your phone, link your number, and choose a username that reflects your actual interests – not a random handle you will regret later. Think about how a festival organiser introduces themselves at a market stall: friendly, direct, and memorable. Your bio should do the same.
Add a clear photo of your face, not a logo or a landscape shot. People are here to hear you, but they also want to see who is speaking. In the next step, connect your Instagram and Twitter accounts if you use them. This helps friends find you, and it gives your profile a layer of trust. Australian users often skip this step, but it makes a big difference when you start joining rooms full of strangers from Perth to Hobart.
Once your profile is live, you will see the hallway – a list of active rooms. Do not feel pressured to speak immediately. Just listen for the first few sessions. Pick a room about a topic you know well, like AFL or local weather patterns, and observe how the moderators guide the flow. This is your warm-up lap. The more you listen, the more you understand the rhythm of who gets to speak, when to raise your hand, and how applause works (it is a simple hand emoji, but it means a lot).
Joining Your First Rooms – The Weird and the Wonderful with Clubhouse
Now that you are comfortable listening, it is time to raise your hand. In Clubhouse, you do not just comment in a text box. You tap the hand icon, wait for the moderator to invite you on stage, and then you speak live. For many Australians, this feels like moving from watching a festival parade to actually walking in it. Your first time on stage will be nerve-wracking, but the key is to start with small rooms of ten to twenty people, not the giant halls with thousands of listeners.
Search for rooms with names that spark curiosity. You might find a chat about regional radio history, a debate on the best beach in Victoria, or a room about converting vans for coastal trips. These are the ‘weird’ topics that keep the service alive. Just like the festival spirit behind keepaustinweirdfest.com celebrates unusual art and performances, Clubhouse celebrates unusual conversations. Do not shy away from niche topics. In fact, niche is where you will find the most engaged listeners.
When you do get invited to speak, introduce yourself with your name and your city suburb. Australians appreciate directness. Say something like, ‘Hey, I am Sarah from Geelong, and I have been following this thread about solar panels for rental properties.’ Then pause. Let others react. You do not need to fill silence. The moderator will guide you if the room has a structured format. If it is a free-flowing chat, just be natural. Remember that every room is recorded only if the host chooses to record, so do not worry about permanent mistakes.
Clubhouse – Building Momentum – Moving from Listener to Regular Speaker
After a few sessions where you have spoken once or twice, you will notice a shift. People start recognising your username. The hosts may greet you by name when you enter a room. This is the momentum stage. You are no longer an unknown voice; you are part of the rotating cast of regulars. To accelerate this, you should follow the same principle as any local festival: consistency and presence.
Set a schedule. If you join a Monday night room about Australian craft breweries every week, you will naturally become a familiar face. You can also send direct messages to speakers you admire, asking follow-up questions that you did not get to ask on stage. This builds connections beyond the live room. In Australia, where community networks are strong, these small gestures go a long way. People remember who showed up regularly, not just who had the loudest take.
Another way to build momentum is to use the ‘clubs’ feature. Clubs are dedicated communities within Clubhouse, similar to interest groups. You can join a club for Melbourne creatives, for Queensland remote workers, or for fans of classic Australian cinema. Once you join, you will see their scheduled rooms in your hallway. This makes it easier to find consistent conversations. Over time, you will start to feel like you are part of an ongoing local meetup that happens to be audio-only.
Hosting Your First Room – The Festival Organiser Mindset
Hosting a room is the next logical step, and it is where you truly capture that weird festival energy. You are no longer a guest; you are the organiser. Just as someone curates acts for a local arts festival, you curate voices for your room. Start small. Host a weekly room about your neighbourhood’s history, or a room about starting a community garden. Pick a topic you can talk about for at least forty-five minutes without notes.
When you create a room, you have a few options. You can start an open room, which anyone can join. You can create a social room, which is limited to people you follow. You can also schedule a room in advance, which sends notifications to your followers. For your first few sessions, schedule them at least a day ahead. Give your small community time to plan. Announce it in your bio, send a few direct messages, and mention it in other rooms you join. This is how you build your own little festival of ideas.
During the room, your job is not to dominate. Your job is to invite speakers, manage the flow, and make sure quieter voices get a chance. Think of a festival organiser who ensures the local busker gets a stage, not just the headline act. Use the moderator controls to mute people who ramble, to bring new speakers up, and to keep the topic from drifting too far. It is a skill, and you will improve with each session.
Advanced Techniques – Collaborative Rooms and Cross-Promotion at Clubhouse
Once you have hosted a few successful rooms, you can level up to collaborative events. This means reaching out to other hosts and proposing a joint session. For example, if you host a room about sustainable fashion in Sydney, you could team up with a host who runs a room about op-shopping in Melbourne. Combine your audiences. This is exactly how local festivals grow – different communities cross-pollinate and share their followers.
To do this, you can send a direct message to the other host, suggesting a topic that bridges both your interests. Keep it simple. Say, ‘I run a room about urban farming, and you run one about rooftop bars. How about we do a joint session on using rooftop spaces for growing food?’ Then agree on a time, a title, and who will moderate first. When you co-host, you both take turns inviting speakers, which keeps the energy fresh.
Another advanced technique is to use the ‘clip’ feature. After a live room ends, the host can create a short clip of an interesting moment. Clips are shared on the app and can be reposted to other social media. This gives your room a second life. If you have a particularly insightful guest, clip their thirty-second take and share it. This creates a snowball effect – new people see the clip, want to hear more, and join your next live session. This is how you turn a single good conversation into a growing audience.
Monetisation and Professional Use – Turning Voice into Value at Clubhouse
For Australian users, Clubhouse is not just a hobby. Many professionals use it to build their brand, find clients, or sell products. The key is to treat your rooms like a workshop, not a sales pitch. If you are a financial advisor, host a weekly room about budgeting for young families. If you are a fitness coach, host a room about training without a gym. Do not hard-sell in the room. Instead, let people who like your advice connect with you after.
You can mention your website or your other social channels in your bio. Some hosts offer paid ticketed rooms for exclusive Q&A sessions, using Clubhouse’s ticketing feature. This is more common in the US, but Australians are catching on. If you have a specialised skill, like tax law or wine tasting, you can charge a small fee for a private room where you answer questions directly. Start with a low price, like ten to fifteen Australian dollars, and see if people are willing to pay.
Another professional angle is networking. Many Australian startups have found co-founders or early employees through Clubhouse rooms. Because the conversation is live and spoken, you get a much better sense of someone’s personality and communication style than you would from a LinkedIn message. Use the service to expand your professional circle beyond your immediate city. A developer in Adelaide can easily connect with a marketer in Brisbane, simply by being a regular in the right rooms.