Fantastic discussion. I love to hear what everyone is sharing, and am keeping track of the discussion as I am working on a research piece on coworking. I am interested in particular in how coworking is changing the way business is done and people select careers and employment.
On a couple of the points discussed: Ownership not just by space owners: There is an interesting synergy between coworkers but also between the people who get involved in the space. As Alex said, inviting people to come with rollers starts to give them ownership of the space. I was talking to an employee the other day who mentioned that being appreciated helps her take ownership of her job. This applies to coworkers in that we find thanking our members for being part of our community helps them to reach out to other groups. Events for connections/membership: Also, events bring the connections faster than just inviting to work. We utilize events to bring in new members and create opportunities for people to chat with each other. Often are newer members aren't quite sure how to start discussions until they have met people in a social setting or class. Our events tend to have an educational component i.e. round table discussions, marketing bootcamp, 18hr startup, etc. These are interactive events, not just a have a speaker in and everyone sit and listen. Of the people who come to our roundtables, we have 50 - 75% sign up as members within 2 weeks of the round table discussion. Finally: Meetups are great way to introduce people to your events when you are unknown. They also can serve to bring more people in as you grow. Just my 2 cents... Felicity Cubes&Crayons Outside the Cube In San Francisco and Silicon Valley On Nov 1, 11:48 am, Mike Schinkel <mikeschin...@newclarity.net> wrote: > On Nov 1, 2009, at 1:15 PM, Alex Hillman wrote: > > > Having people involved in the space from the get-go sets this > > example. We signed a lease on a Tuesday, and sent out an e-mail that > > day asking people to show up on Saturday with rollers to start > > painting. The following week, a desk-building party. Turning tasks > > into social events sounds sneaky, but it's worked really well at > > helping people identify with a sense of ownership. They're more than > > paying members, they have an emotional attachment to the space > > because they've contributed to its existence. They're proud of it. > > > The beauty of this is that it's the first shove in a cycle of > > creating more of this mentality. The people with that sense of > > attachment lead by example, and new members that join see that > > activity and the reward (public thanks and recognition is the > > simplest reward), and the cycle continues. > > Excellent. We didn't do enough of that from the get-go. Hopefully we > can course-correct. > > > Tying needs to special interests helps, too. One of the topics at > > the Town Hall was regarding the installation of Bike storage. > > Someone who actually rides his bike every day has a vested interest > > in seeing that happen. I gave him the contact info of our landlord > > to see if they're interested in supporting the idea before we do it > > ourselves. He gets to run with it and not only fulfill his own self > > interest in having a bike rack, but now he's a hero for the other > > bikers. > > Great point! > > > The bike rack project is one example. Designing and installing sound > > baffles to cut down on echo is another. > > > I think the #1 way we've established project leads was to pair > > peoples' interests and areas of expertise, with their own self- > > interests, with the greater benefit of the community. It takes some > > massaging sometimes, but more often than not, the opportunities > > present themselves as the diversity of the community and its' needs > > grows. > > That example was what I needed, thanks. > > > Monkey see, monkey do. :) > > > Before some members started collaborating out in the open, people > > more or less kept to their own projects, socializing but less on the > > idea exchange. Once a few members started showing that it wasn't > > only safe, but beneficial to work out in the open, share ideas, and > > find partners...collaboration and teams started to form MUCH more > > often. > > So the point is to look for things people want in the space and get > them to start making them happen, right? > > How have you handled things that need funds? Established a budget? > > > Core values aren't shared 100% across the board. There's no > > requirements that you need to identify with any, or all, of those > > things in order to be a member of IndyHall. What we believe is that > > the greatest value from involvement is when some, or all, of those > > values are considered. There are also lots of people outside of the > > paying membership that identify with those values. They tend to be > > the ones that we align best with as an organization. Tend. :) > > So the first FAQ are your core values you speak of? > > http://www.indyhall.com/coworking-faqs/ > > > How to define the community's best interests is tough, but what it > > means in this case is that it was the community and not any one > > individual's best interests. Does that help? > > To clarify here, when you say "the community" you are referring to the > community of your members and not the broader community of Philly, > right? > > > We use Basecamp in the same way that you've used a google group, and > > even in that case, you end up with some people paying more attention > > than others. > > Not a fan of 37 Signals... > > > A lot of our members are on Twitter, and we broadcast a lot of > > messages/updates that way, but it's not 100%. > > Do you use a hashtag so people can go back and find the updates? > > > We have a bi-weekly newsletter that we distribute with Newsberry. > > Ha! I see you are using a Philly company. We use MailChimp, and > Atlanta company. :-) > > > We have a Campfire chat room that gets used in waves. Geoff is a big > > proponent of Campfire but I haven't seen adoption pick up enough to > > make it consistently used. > > Hmm. Interesting. > > > E-mailing me, while old and funky, is tried and true :) > > True, but that only works for member-to-operator, but not member-to- > member. > > > I've seen Ning groups born and die. I've seen Facebook groups born > > and die. > > Yeah, wasn't thinking those would work well either. > > > There's a very real problem, especially as you grow, with keeping > > communication moving when members (and owners/catalysts) are not in > > the space every day. It's something we continue to try, and I'm > > always interested in new ideas. > > We are seeing that problem now. > > > The only thing that's CONSISTENTLY kept people in touch was > > events...not tools. > > Funny you mention. We plan to start coordinating lunch & learns once > we hit 100 members. My Meetup organizer background is emerging here. > > > Introducing regular ritual events help. One of our newest is a > > regular group lunch, every Friday. It's focused on new members > > meeting people, but not exclusive to it at all. > > Good idea. I'll have to see what my partner thinks of that. > > > I think that the act of opening a coworking space in the public > > fashion we've been talking about, itself, is bold. That's a really > > good question, though. I'd need to come back for some more specific > > examples. > > LOL! I guess you are right there; many locals have been telling us > essentially that. > > Funny thing is, people I either "get" it right away or no amount of > describing it can get me to think they really get it. That tells me > the concept of coworking has a long way to go before the mainstream > understand it (if they ever will, and if we even want that, dunno.) > > > Our focus was initially on independents and mobile/remote workers, > > which was easy, because I was (am) one. We're actually NOT focused > > on startups, but we are focused on business in Philadelphia. I think > > by showing that there was an alternative way, not just place, but > > WAY of working...we garnered interest from the general business > > community in Philadelphia (and elsewhere). > > Sorry to ask so many questions, but... you focused on "business", how > has the general business community embraced this? I mean, you don't > have tens of thousands of members. > > And by focused on business, are your members mostly doing freelance > work for larger organizations in Philly? > > And how diverse is your membership? Do you have developers, > designers, lawyers, artists, writers, marketers/pr, lawyers, > accountants, etc. etc., or are you more specialized in your membership? > > Or maybe I should just plan a trip to see your space. :-) > > > Improving the visibility of a quickly growing industry is > > economically valuable. Our biggest goal, and so far success, has > > been changing the perception of Philadelphia from both the inside > > and the outside. Internally, it's a morale booster, which translates > > into more people doing things (developing groups, projects, > > businesses, etc). Externally, its a marketing tool on behalf of the > > city. The fact that people outside of Philadelphia know what's going > > on here, where 2 years ago, people IN Philadelphia barely knew what > > Good point. Besides this list where have you been showcased to people > outside your city? > > > No, I think you nailed it. We've used the term clubhouse. But it's > > interchangeable with community center. > > > What's "greater" than that is the fundamental shift of mentality > > that comes as a result. People consider what they are capable of > > differently when that clubhouse and support network exists. That > > mind-shift was what we really wanted. Space along the way is an > > extremely valuable bi-product of the process. > > Gotcha. I think we're on the right track with it then. > > > Collaboration, though, is tough to impose.It's environmental, but > > it's also organic. I think space is a step towards opportunities for > > collaboration (acceleration of serendipity, if you will). I think we > > focused more on togetherness than collaboration (until we formed > > IndyHall Labs, which IS in fact about aiding collaboration), but > > collaboration came as a more organic bi-product. > > So true! We are planning to do things to simply catalyze, and learn > from what is effective and what isn't to improve over time. > > > WHEW! That was fun. > > And very enlightening for me, thanks. Hope it was helpful for the > rest of the list too. > > > As a sidenote, I'd love to turn this dialogue into something a bit > > more readable so it can be republished. If anyone's interested in > > taking that on, I'd be happy to proofread for context and start > > sharing it around. > > One of my members has been pushing me to write a book about Coworking > with her help (she's more of an author who uses subject matter > experts.) I told her "I'm not the expert" but was thinking about you, > Tara, Tony, Jerome, and several others on this list. > > If you are really interested, I think she would be interested in > helping us get together to write a coauthored book entitled (something > like) "Coworking: The Future of Work and How You'll Love it." We > could do the Tim Ferris thing and use Google AdSense to do market > research for the title that would appeal the most. > > So if you are serious, let start a dialog. > > -Mike > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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