[Coworking] Software for room booking with additional resources?

[Geoffrey Badner]

I know conference room booking is a hot topic on here. I've searched 
through the archives and looked at many of the suggestions. Unfortunately, 
I cannot seem to find a tool that fit my specific needs.

I'm opening a collective photo studio where members can book space to shoot 
in for the day. A lot of the meeting room management tools cover this 
functionality, but I also allow members to book equipment to use within the 
space during their shoots (lights, stands, props, etc.). This is the part I 
can't seem to figure out. I have an equipment inventory from which people 
can select the items they want, but I need to ensure inventory items are 
not overbook.

It seems the logical office space parallel here would be things like 
projectors or rolling whiteboards, but I cannot find a tool that does this 
well.

Any suggestions?
~ Geoffrey

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Re: [Coworking] Software for room booking with additional resources?

[Glen Ferguson]

youcanbook.me has an option for services that could work. Set the service
length to zero for each equipment entry and click the option to allow
booking multiple services.


*Glen Ferguson*
Phone: 301-732-5165
Email: g...@coworkfrederick.com
Website: http://coworkfrederick.com
Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701

On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 8:07 AM, Geoffrey Badner 
wrote:

> I know conference room booking is a hot topic on here. I've searched
> through the archives and looked at many of the suggestions. Unfortunately,
> I cannot seem to find a tool that fit my specific needs.
>
> I'm opening a collective photo studio where members can book space to
> shoot in for the day. A lot of the meeting room management tools cover this
> functionality, but I also allow members to book equipment to use within the
> space during their shoots (lights, stands, props, etc.). This is the part I
> can't seem to figure out. I have an equipment inventory from which people
> can select the items they want, but I need to ensure inventory items are
> not overbook.
>
> It seems the logical office space parallel here would be things like
> projectors or rolling whiteboards, but I cannot find a tool that does this
> well.
>
> Any suggestions?
> ~ Geoffrey
>
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> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
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Re: [Coworking] Children in a coworking space

[Alex Hillman]

In my experience, this has a lot less to do with kids and more to do with
people taking consideration for others.

This isn't really that much different from the person who talks on the
phone all day, driving the person who sits next to them up a wall. If they
actually knew who the person they were sitting next to enough to care,
they'd take the call somewhere else. 9x out of 10, relative anonymity leads
to people being less considerate of the person they're affecting.

As more and more of our members have kids, we've gone out of our way to
think about them and their kids. Setting expectations of what's kid
friendly (if anything) and what isn't. Instead of making it about their
kids, make it about making sure that they're more aware of their
surroundings.

You specifically mentioned that this was guests for an event, vs. your
members. This is DOUBLY important because event guests rarely have an
introduction to the space and the community enough to have those
relationships where they'd think about who they're impacting. It's just an
event venue to them. Whenever we have guests, we go out of our way to
explain "what is this place" and focus on the fact that this is effectively
other peoples' home and so it's important to be respectful of their space,
belongings, time, and attention.

Don't be afraid to set the bar high, and let people step up to it. Sure,
some people will let you down, but you'd be surprised how often people will
surprise you in a good way. :)

-Alex


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On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 8:14 PM, Kate Kirwin  wrote:

> Hey everyone!
>
> Just wondering what everyone's policies are on kids? It hasn't been an
> issue before but recently we have had people come in for events and leave
> their 4/5 year old unattended in the space.
>
> I'm torn because I know its difficult for single mother entrepreneurs to
> find childcare (its expensive and its inconvenient) but at the same time a)
> an unattended child can easily hurt themselves on tables/running into
> things, cords, heavy doors b) a lot of members have their expensive tech on
> their desks which easily break if knocked over and c) they are often loud
> and disruptive. In addition to that, one of the events involved 100+ people
> and alcohol, which is a big risk area for a small kid.
>
> We don't have a dedicated area for children, and as far as I know there is
> nowhere around here for daycare.
>
> How do we stop kids coming (and how do we manage it when they are already
> here)?
>
> I'd love to know everyone elses policies on this!
>
> Kate
>
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Re: [Coworking] Re: Slack for Coworking

[Alex Hillman]

<3 thanks for the GroupBuzz love, Jon.

That onboarding process is right on the money, it's worked beautifully well
for our communities that have transitioned from Facebook Groups, Google
Groups, and other various platforms that weren't working for them. We've
also worked with lots of our communities to help them get new online
communities off the ground.

I got a lot of questions at the Coworking Europe conf about how an online
community fits into the picture of a coworking space, so if anyone else has
questions about GroupBuzz, either shifting from another platform or
starting an online community from scratch, let me know :)

-Alex


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*The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.*
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast

On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 4:29 AM, Jonathan Markwell <
jonathan.markw...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Elizabeth,
>
> It's brilliant that you've managed to get that many of your members into
> Slack already. It's not easy getting a 75% success rate on sending
> invitations out.
>
> It's also really interesting to see your thoughts on what an ideal system
> would include. I see the challenge of getting people to use any new online
> system as very similar to that of getting people to use our coworking
> spaces in the first place. It can be quite a slow process. It took about a
> year for Slack to become the primary means of communication at The Skiff.
> And it still doesn't suite everyone.
>
> GroupBuzz continues to be the best service we've ever used for threaded
> email based discussions: http://groupbuzz.io I can't imagine Slack ever
> getting to the stage where we don't need GroupBuzz too. GroupBuzz has
> created a brilliant on boarding process that anyone who is familiar with
> email can understand. It's much less of a leap for our less technically
> savvy members than Slack is. I also feel much more comfortable with all our
> community's most important discussions taking place there. Since GroupBuzz
> is bootstrapped (no evil venture capital funding) and owned by Alex Hillman
> we can trust that our data and our users are safe.
>
> It would be fantastic for us as community founders to be able to
> communicate with all of our members via a single system with a single
> message. But I don't believe that's ever going to be possible. Our
> communities aren't drawn together by a common interest in a single way to
> communicate online. It feels like a bit too much to ask to expect them to
> all change all of their communication preferences to match each other. When
> we want to reach as many of our members as possible we send email
> broadcasts using tools like MailChimp, alongside announcements in Slack and
> GroupBuzz. Sometimes we'll even use posters in the space, SMS and/or a
> telephone call to make sure.
>
> Here's a process I'd recommend for getting members into a new online
> system (I'm probably stealing some of this from GroupBuzz's onboarding
> process):
>
> 1) Identify 10 people who are super keen. Maybe they already use the
> system with another community.
> 2) Invite each of them into the new online system.
> 3) Ask them (one at a time) something specific that they could each do to
> introduce themselves or start a conversation.
> 4) Once some habits have formed with the first 10 using it regularly
> you'll probably have more people asking about joining it.
> 5) Brief the founding members to be particularly helpful to new joiners.
> 6) Invite the next 10 people in and give it a week or two for everyone
> adjust to the growing community.
> 7) Continue the process until you've added all your members.
>
> Taking this approach means that most people joining will immediately see
> some activity that they can get involved with. But it should also make sure
> that you don't have a sudden spike in an off putting amount of activity
> that then fizzles out.
>
> Once you have an active community in Slack it makes so many aspects of
> running a coworking space easier. Having a way to instantly message members
> turns out to be far more effective than email for many little things that
> can add up to be annoying.
>
> Slack's integrations make it particularly useful. We're using one (that we
> made ourselves) to start solving the member directory problem you
> described: http://theskiff.coworker.directory/ It stays up to date with
> the profiles members maintain in Slack.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Jon
>
>
> On 12 November 2015 at 23:19, Elizabeth Trice  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> We just invited everyone to Slack a little over a month ago. We have 60
>> of 80 members on Slack, but we don't have a sense of how many people are
>> actually using it, and I'm not sure if it's the right platform, or if so
>> how to get it used.
>> Ideally, an internal communication system would:
>> 1. Provide links to email, phone, photo and bios for each member
>> 2. Have threads, so someone can follow 

Re: [Coworking] Hey Mr (and Ms) DJ!

[Alex Hillman]

Looove this thread.

Spotify - love it or hate it - is probably the best for playlist sharing.

First, before I dive into sharing our music...*source your playlists from
actual members. *Sharing music is a great way for members to connect and
contribute based on something that makes them, them. Don't throw away that
opportunity for the sake of playing what another coworking space is
playing.

The music varies quite a bit from day to day at Indy Hall. Sometimes we'll
base the day on an artist or song that's inspired by a conversation that
day. Other times we'll do something thematic. Wednesdays have been Hip Hop
Humpday for quite a while, and we periodically do "Funk Fridays" too.
Making music an "event" can even help people plan their attendance. And of
course, if they don't love what's playing, they can always put their
headphones on and listen to their own music instead.

We also mix in days of jazz, classical, and other non-lyrical ambient music
too. Classical and jazz can be great for productivity. Spotify has lots of
playlists organized by genre and *mood* but a lot of the more "chilled out"
playlists get complaints of being "too sleepy" so that's a thing to
consider too. Techno probably gets the most complaints from people in our
chat room...though interestingly not as a genre, but for individual tracks
being irritating or distracting.

Spotify also has a "weekly recommended" auto-generated playlist that
figures out what you listen to and every week, creates a new playlist of
music you HAVEN'T heard. It's remarkably good, and is a very cool way of
keeping things fresh.

The biggest problem with playlists is that if they're played often, it's
easy to get sick of hearing the same songs over and over and over. So a mix
of playlists and radio stations is the winning option for us.

We do have an eclectic collection of public playlists visible on our Spotify
profile page , though we've
retired many of these they do resurface from time to time :) Frankly, I'm
sick of some of these playlists but if they're new for you...enjoy!

-Alex

--
*The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.*
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On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 4:51 PM, M Goldman  wrote:

> I wanted to put this question out to the brain trust.
>
> Anybody inspired to share your kickest-butt coworking playlists? There
> have been threads about what music services people use (Spotify, Rdio,
> etc.), but I haven't seen anything about exactly *what* we're listening
> to.
>
> I know that work music taste is very personal, and sound levels need to be
> low so as not to overwhelm. There are tons of pumped up workout playlists
> online, but I haven't seen as much for "brain work" workouts. This seems
> like the perfect curatorial job to crowdsource! What the best site for
> playlist sharing these days? And what's your favorite playlist, either for
> headphone use or room-wide?
>
> This is for a new micro coworking experiment in Brookline, MA that we're
> calling WorkShop. I'm working on this alongside Lisa Wasserman Sivan, an
> architectural and interior designer (and long-time coworking enthusiast)
> who has created a fantastic space within an amazing historic building here.
> Lisa is connected to tons of independent professionals in town who have
> been waiting for a place to work within walking distance of home. We'll see
> where the wind takes us!
>
> Melissa T.G.
>
>
> __
>
> Melissa Tapper Goldman
> meli...@workshopbrookline.com
>
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[Coworking] Re: Software for room booking with additional resources?

[Adrian Palacios]

Hi Geoffrey,

We work with a good number of spaces renting similar resources, like shared 
photo and video studios, kitchens, lab equipment and maker tools.  Many of 
them allow you to, not only book the resource itself, but also request or 
buy additional items which go with the booking. Many of these items are 
limited in the number of them which can be booked at any given point.

As you mention, in the meeting room world, this happens when rooms bookings 
come with things like flip-charts, catering or other additional services to 
the room itself. Each of these items has a stock in the system, which 
handles how many of them can be booked at any given point.

This is who the users see it:





More details on nexudus.com.




On Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 2:28:45 PM UTC+1, Geoffrey Badner wrote:
>
> I know conference room booking is a hot topic on here. I've searched 
> through the archives and looked at many of the suggestions. Unfortunately, 
> I cannot seem to find a tool that fit my specific needs.
>
> I'm opening a collective photo studio where members can book space to 
> shoot in for the day. A lot of the meeting room management tools cover this 
> functionality, but I also allow members to book equipment to use within the 
> space during their shoots (lights, stands, props, etc.). This is the part I 
> can't seem to figure out. I have an equipment inventory from which people 
> can select the items they want, but I need to ensure inventory items are 
> not overbook.
>
> It seems the logical office space parallel here would be things like 
> projectors or rolling whiteboards, but I cannot find a tool that does this 
> well.
>
> Any suggestions?
> ~ Geoffrey
>

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[Coworking] Re: iPad Receptionist

[Lisa Anne Logan]

We're huge fans of Envoy: www.signwithenvoy.com
We were their first coworking space and have helped a lot with feature 
development for the specific needs of a shared environment. The team is 
just down the street and super responsive, caring, and smart. Our space is 
19k sq ft and 4 floors, so Envoy has been a lifesaver for us in terms of 
notifying members of their guest arrivals. Other awesome features include 
badges, NDAs, photo capture, and more. Highly recommend!

On Monday, November 16, 2015 at 11:35:06 AM UTC-8, Todd Greer wrote:
>
> Greetings:
>
> Has anyone used "The iPad Receptionist" to run the front office for their 
> space? THis looks like it could fit some of the things we have been looking 
> for here, but didn't want to drop the cash until I heard feedback from 
> others.
>
> https://theipadreceptionist.com/
>
> Any other ideas if not this?
>
> Thanks!
> Todd Greer
> The Exchange@202
> www.exchange202.com
>

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[Coworking] New Coworking Space & Benefits

[Ehmandah R.]

My friend and I are opening a coworking space.  We are considering 
providing printing but it looks like most of the smaller spaces don't offer 
this benefit.  Is it common to offer printing? Does the average member need 
printing?  ThoughtsComments...Please and Thank you

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