High fives Tom, awesome story, glad to hear things are pressing along. Keep on sharing as you continue to learn and explore making your town kick ass!
-Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia Got Community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org On Nov 7, 2012, at 10:32 AM, Tom Lewis <t...@coworkingbath.co.uk> wrote: > Hi all, I've just received my daily digest from the group, and thought it > would be a great time to jump in and say hello. We're Coworking Bath, and > we're working hard on opening a coworking space here in beautiful Bath in the > UK. If you've ever visited the UK from aboard then you may well have visited > for the day, if not then I highly recommend it, if you come to the UK for > work or a holiday then it's a great way to get out of London for a day or > longer and visit a world heritage site (and you can visit Stonehenge on the > same day!) > > Anyway, when I arrived in this city 2 years ago I didn't know a single > person, and I thought that the best way to get to know interesting people was > by starting a networking group. After ignoring all the usual naysayers > telling me that it wouldn't work/ there were already networks here/I didn't > know what I was doing, I got together with someone and we threw our first > evening event- we put 100 tickets on meetup and they sold out within minutes. > Fast forward 2 years and we've just hit 500 members (see > http://www.bathspark.co.uk/), and we've now grown to include breakfast > meetings, and an annual awards ceremony which was attended by no less than > Peter Gabriel! > > So, Bath has another great community to go with the existing ones devoted to > creatives, and other tech groups too, and as I've always wanted to create a > place where these groups come together, it was only logical to seek out a > place where we could create a coworking hub. I thought it would be easy, but > given the unique nature of this city (it's very old and very small, and the > buildings are owned by a very small elite), it has been tough. But I've > refused to give up and refused to take no for an answer, and I've now won a > £500,000 grant to redevelop part of the town hall into an amazing series of > spaces for these communities. It's a historic building right in the centre > of the city, and in total is around 4000 sq feet (350 sqm). I've taken on > help, and now have a team of 3, and together we are currently designing the > space, engaging the communities, and mobilising for the launch of what is > already a huge story for the city- right now we're aiming for March 1st 2013, > and the building has already been vacated ahead of the developers moving in. > > I've personally met with almost 100 potential members, one on one (and I've > bought each one a coffee), I've asked what they want to see, and how they see > the space working for them. I've been to see dozens of hubs in the UK, and > spoken to hub owners all over the world. We've poured over our figures, > reached out for help now and again from people like Alex and Tony (thanks for > your patience guys), and I think we've got a great business model, we're > engaged with all the communities here in Bath, they all eagerly await our > next email update, we're in the local paper regularly, all eyes are on what > we can do (no pressure). We're using Pinterest to great effect as mood > boards for our various rooms (see http://pinterest.com/coworkingbath/) and > we're engaging with people who don't have time to meet or chat on the phone > via our forum at https://getsatisfaction.com/coworkingbath. We also have > around 100 people already pre registered for the space, and over 200 others > on the mailing list who are interested. > > So that's us, we're Coworking Bath, we're building something amazing that > will change this city forever, we're creating a physical beacon for all the > incredibly diverse tech and creative groups down here, and we'd love to > welcome you as our guest if you ever visit Bath for the day. I'm happy to > share any of my experiences, answer any questions, or help the cause any way > I can. > > Take care > > Tom > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
