Nope, I haven't been to SXSW. I've been to a wide range of conferences before, have planned conferences and tradeshows, and am looking forward to NXNE finally adding interactive to the Toronto event this year. I know that SXSWi has a comfortable and familiar feeling to it, and it is a popular destination among the tech crowd. I don't completely know first hand what I'm missing out on. What I do know is that it is already a blended conference - music, film, and interactive. Does it really need to be the department store of a conference destination by adding coworking to it as well? Some people might not want to tack on an extra 2days away from home and their space to attend a conference when they could space it out their professional conference activities to include a coworking conference at another time of year, in another across the country or in a difference country.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging coworking get togethers at SXSW, or sessions about coworking, or socials between coworking folks. I think all of that is awesome, and I look forward to your stories about them. But I do love the idea of a separate business conference specifically for coworking. We have an already strong industry that many of you have already put in a lot of footwork, and we have the potential to continue building this industry, and could possibly leverage our buying power as a collective to do so. And yes, I recognise that I've been fairly quiet in this group for 2yrs and now that I've announced our space I come in with blazing support for a separate conference, but please don't take my quiet nature as passive or disinterested all this time. I've been thinking of planning a conference for the Canadian coworking facilities for over a year, I just haven't verbalised it. But why do it only for a few handful of spaces if it could be for so many more? In keeping with the idea of moving it around different regions each year, it means that each city coordinates the conference themselves after winning the vote of the collective, and that city planning committee could be one individual space or a group of spaces working together. They take care of all of the planning and logistics - and it doesn't have to rest solely on the shoulders of space owners; it could be a member who wants to swap space for service, or they could hire a conference planner to take care of all of it. If it is operated as a collective, then there isn't a need for a formal coworking association, at least not to start. I see it as a great opportunity to not always be the ones who travel (as you said), and to have the opportunity to see spaces and meet many of you without the distraction of another conference or event. r. On 4 February 2010 12:31, coworking <i...@theconciergelevel.com> wrote: > Rachel, have you been to SXSW? > > There are pros and cons for a separate event vs. extending to a "ready > made" event. If coworking "founders/workers" are already going to SXSW > and all we have to do is add an extra day/two to it, why would we want > to have, yet another flight/drive? > > Different locations are a plus to be able to experience different > coworking locations. Not having to "always be the one" to travel from > a distant location is a plus, too. Who will do all this marketing to > gather sponsors, hotel room block discounts, etc.? How will we decide > who the event planner/manager will be? I'm not aware of a "formal" > coworking association with dues or marketing management for all of us. > I'm sure there are other issues that will need to be worked out if > your suggested approach is endorsed. Just some food for thought. > > Most cordially at your service, > Denise Reed > www.theconciergelevel.com > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
