Best line in here: "This cost us some more existing and potential members, to be sure, but they were the kind who breeze in on clicky heels, march into a conference room to meet with clients for three hours, and march out without saying howdy- do to anyone."
Yes, we know those breezy, clicky heels very well. I call them" customers" because unlike members, they don't come with the intention of belonging, but rather to consume services and be waited on. I've noticed that people with the customer mentality don't cope well with the inevitable disruptions you're going to get in a shared work setting. In fact, we had one fellow ask us if we'd compensate him for his downtime when we had an internet outage. For the first time, we began entertaining the idea of breaking up with a member. "I'm sorry, it's not us, it's you." I'm glad to say that some of our dearest members first come to us as mere consumers of space. It's all they know. But at some point they have a conversion. I haven't figured out what the magic moment is, the words that are spoken, that causes the change of heart, but it's good to keep in mind that it's always possible. Trek, your story was super helpful and inspiring. Reminds me of what an Open Space facilitator once told me: that she wasn't responsible for people's experience at, say, an unconference, but that the participants were responsible for their *own* experience. I feel like we're talking about much the same thing... Thanks, all! d. Don Ball CoCo coworking and collaborative space Minneapolis & St. Paul -- 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
