As usual Alex says it all very clearly. On the subject of taking donations / fees I try to avoid calling it donations I tend to want people to think about the value they received personally so suggest people make a contribution based on value, we have some really cool people around who add great value by attending events and making other kinds of contributions and I don't want to discourage that just because they are skint.
Peter Koenig has some good thoughts on the whole money vs value thing: http://peterkoenig.typepad.com/ James McCarthy http://thewerks.org.uk On 30 Mar 2008, at 16:10, Alex Hillman wrote: > So we've been hosting a few different types of events since our > opening: > 1) Our own programming (educational) > 2) Our own programming (social) > 3) Someone else's event (that is just getting started) > 4) Someone else's event (that's been active for a while but desires > a "better" venue, and is interested in us). > > For our own programming, to date, everything has been totally free > for members and non members. Recently, our event schedule has gotten > a bit busier, we've put some more of our resources into them, and > have been thinking about charging. > > The decision was to use the donation methodology since most people > that attend our events really seem to like them. Generally (this > isn't a rule, just a trend), if someone likes the event they'd > donate more than we'd ask in the first place. We're going to start > accepting donations for our events (educational and social) to help > cover ongoing costs of managing and running them. Larger events that > take more planning, we may put a fixed door price on (with a reduced > rate for members)...but that really is only if we have large > materials costs to cover. > > I think of it this way: your events are marketing to get potential > users. Making them cheap or free is advantageous because you get > good turnouts (no barrier to entry, no excuses). Events are the only > thing we've ever had in our "marketing budget", and have had a good > deal of success. > > Hosting someone else's event is where things get interesting and > this one's up to your own philosophy. Since I'm not financially > loaded, I don't have money to contribute to local groups that are > doing things that we think are cool and align with our values. What > we do have, is space and time (ok, we don't have time, but I'm > getting good at faking it). So while I can't make a financial > contribution to a new meetup/social group that I like, I can donate > an evening to host their event while they get together some > sponsorship money. > > If the event has been running for a while and simply wants to use > our space regularly or from time to time, we deal with their > financials on a case by case basis. > > Again, recently, we've had an influx of such events. We've spoken > with the organizers and they've agreed to a similar model we have > with our own events: it's "free" while you're getting started, but > don't wear out your welcome...if you can pull together some $$ for > us, we can be sure that you have this place to have your event for > the long term. > > The organizers have been receptive and have been more than willing > to pull together money by their second event, and in some cases, by > their first. > > Also...don't be afraid to turn down events. If the event isn't > something that you think is cool, you're going to be pretty bummed > about hanging around late. Nothing is worse than resenting a group > for keeping you late at the office. There's nothing wrong with > saying no. > > The last thing I want to mention is that our methodologies are > rooted in the fact that we wanted to foster community in > Philadelphia, not just at IndyHall. > > -Alex, IndyHall, Philadelphia > > On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Tony Bacigalupo <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > wrote: > > Coworking space owners! > > I was wondering how you handled running events vis a vis your > membership systems. If you're running a lunchtime or evening event for > a couple of hours, do attendees need to have paid memberships and/or > pay for admission that day? > > It seems to me to be a bit of a tricky gray area between being an open > community space versus being a membership-based business. > > Thoughts? Tips? > > Thanks! > Tony > CoworkingNY > > > > > -- > -- > ----- > -- > ----- > Alex Hillman > round(3)media new! ask me about it > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > visual: www.round3media.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com > local: www.indyhall.org > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
