Hi Liz, Some spaces within the CoworkingToronto collective ran a trial passport program last year. The Passport Program<http://www.coworkingtoronto.ca/passport/>was a 9month promotion intended for those new to coworking to try out several different spaces at one cost (a significant discount from the cost of a day pass at each of the 7 locations), by way of a cardstock passport (a photo is here<http://www.coworkingtoronto.ca/2012/03/announcing-passport-program/>). None of the spaces financially benefited directly from the program itself, since all of the money went back into the marketing budget for our collective, however some spaces did get members sign up as a result of the program.
We sold it for $75 at participating spaces, of which there were 7 (or $82 if they bought it online and wanted it mailed to them), and then for the last third of the promotion we also ran a daily deal with ethicalDeal<http://ethicaldeal.com/deal/67-off-a-coworking-passport-valid-for-1-day-each-at-7-office-sharing-locations-($75-value)>for the passport to sell at $25. I managed that project, including designing and printing the passport, writing the participation agreement, established a tracking system using a Google docs spreadsheet that all spaces had access to, and coordinated the media relations and the ethicalDeal promotion. We also made it transferable, so even though there were downtown spaces, east end spaces, and west end spaces, if someone only lived in, say, the east end but had a friend in the west end, they could give it (or sell it, I suppose) to their friend to use the remaining spaces. We also ensured that it was the size of a credit card so that it could fit into their wallet easily. This was the first real project that we worked on as a collective of spaces in our city. We had attended a few events together, but it was a great effort with promising results for when we do another one and garnered us some good media attention as well (here<http://www.thegridto.com/city/local-news/coworking-it-out/>, here<http://www.techvibes.com/blog/coworking-toronto-launches-passport-a-program-to-help-discover-collaborative-work-spaces-2012-03-01>, here<http://www.shareable.net/blog/toronto-coworking-spaces-launch-passport-program>, and here<http://craigbaute.com/collaboration-builds-awareness-the-coworking-passport-in-toronto/>). Plus it provided us with some money to do things collectively the rest of the year that didn't have to come out of our pockets. We've talked about doing another one, either paper again or as an app, and we learned a lot from running that promotion - from what to do if spaces close during the promotion, to how to onboard another space when there's an available spot on the passport, to promotion, to realising the sheer benefits of working together as a collective. We've discussed whether we'd do a short or longer length next time, and whether it would be paper or digital, if we'd piggyback on another service, how we'd make some changes, if we'd charge again (we now collect nominal annual dues for the collective, which is what now fuels our marketing budget), etc. And this reminds me that I should put this on our agenda for our monthly meetup on Wed. :-) Though I'd really curious to see how the Seattle Collaborative Space Alliance's 5visit mug promotion turns out too. I'll leave that to the Seattle folks to explain, but do let me know if you have any questions about the Toronto passport. r. *____________________ rachel young *rac...@camaraderie.ca *We're now at 2241 Dundas St W, 3rd floor* *(between Bloor and Roncesvalles)* *Toronto, ON M6R 1X6* *See details at http://bit.ly/MovingToRoncy.* *Find us online:* Website/blog <http://camaraderie.ca> and Newsletter<http://bit.ly/camaraderienewsletter> Google+ <http://bit.ly/CamaraderiePlus>, Twitter<http://twitter.com/camaraderie> , Facebook <http://bit.ly/9zv3Fx>, and LinkedIn<http://bit.ly/CamaraderieGroup> On 19 August 2013 15:47, Liz Tracy <ltr...@hubraleigh.com> wrote: > We are looking to link some of the local coworking spaces together under > one passport. We are already a member of the Coworking Visa for national > use, but wanted to start something locally as well for spaces that our > members would use more frequently. Does anyone have suggestions of models > that have worked? We are looking at the amount to charge, hours allowed in > those spaces, how to verify membership, etc. > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
