Give them easy opportunities to jump into the conversation with a minimal amount of fear. Open ended questions, more thought and opinion questions - Chris Geier

Pull in those Whole Foods lurkers with real food. :) Just kidding. I can tell who's in community live so I'll often ask them publicly for a response. Invite them personally to become involved. - Jeff Hurt

I like to do polls with crazy answers. Gets them involved because they can't resist. - Angela

That's a good example Angela. Doing something simple and fun, baby steps for them. - Sonny Gill

what do you use for polls - Chris Geier

An example might be: What do you think of Sarah Palin? Answers would be something like:A: I think she is one smart cookie. B: I think she should be running for president. C. She should have remained a soccer mom. D. Why should I waste time thinking about her? - Angela

Setting the right context (friendly, open, safe) is the best I know to do. You never know, though, what will cause someone to uncloak. - Jon Lebkowsky

I pull people in with questions like: "What was the scariest day of your life" and I tell some story about myself to get it started. - Angela

Have to second crazy or controversial polls as a way to suck in lurkers! We have had great success with polls...the answers/feedback lead to follow-up posts and features. - Lauren Vargas

So what is a good way/format to do polls? Just in a forum? - Chris Geier

Wide-open questions are one way "Does anyone know why..?" or "What is the big deal about..?" -- asking questions broadly, about questions with a broad range of appeal for your user group. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Steve: And I second that. I posted a blog a few weeks ago called: Why do people drive 15mph when it rains. Boy they gave it to me in that post. But it was worth it! 100 comments in less than 20 minutes. - Angela

A wide variety of topics that have opinion vs. factual answers has worked well for us to pull in lurkers. It seems one key area of not contributing is not wanting to be wrong in front of peers - when asking folks for their opinion, it makes the conversation much more neutral and tends to get them to jump in quicker. - Jamie Pappas

Jamie: Wow, it is great that you recognized that fear and found a way to create a better experience. I applaud that. - Angela