Constant Networking at The Network Hub

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I have just attended another one of The Network Hub’s monthly meet-ups. The meet-up is all about just that – meeting other business minded people, exchanging business cards and having a lot of fun. The event was a success. Over 60 people showed up, and I got to meet very different professionals from all walks of life. This was the second meet-up that I have attended and I think my favorite part of the whole process is telling people about co-working. It’s amazing to see people come into the space and ask about what goes on here. Plus I love the look on the face of someone who hasn’t heard about co-working but thinks it’s a great idea and asks how they can get involved. I myself am new to co-working. When I first heard about it I was just like the people I talk to – definitely intrigued but not quite grasping the concept. When I joined The Network Hub team I didn’t think I was also joining a huge international community of co-workers. I started doing research to try and find out if there were other people interested in this idea. That’s when I came upon blogs, forums, groups and wikis dedicated to everything about co-working. With so much exposure over the Internet I couldn’t believe I wasn’t familiar with this trend earlier. Now I’m very excited to be part of this innovative community!

As for The Network Hub it feels like it’s growing every day. There are very different people and companies working side by side. It feels like we have a smaller version of the networking meet-up every day when we come in to work; you just never know how’s going to stop by the office. There are also challenges, as with any business. But personally, having others there for support and advice and adding new people to our little community every day is the biggest reward.

 

PS. Thanks to Tara Hunt for adding me onto this blog! I’m looking forward to continuing the co-working trend with all of you! And visit our website www.thenetworkhub.ca

 

Office Nomads @ BizJam

logo2.gifThis Saturday I’m going to be at BizJam, in Seattle, all day helping setup, handing out business cards, and getting people excited about coworking. We’ll have a 1/8 page ad in the conference program sporting our new logo and asking for support. It should be a great day mingling with independent business folk and making connections. BizNik has already been a great resource so I’m excited to see what Saturday brings. Anyone else planning on going?

NY Post Article: Creating a Wireless Hub

photo from NY Post article“It’s impossible to go through life with blinders on in New York City,” says Economopoulos. “You have to figure out how to live with millions of other people. That’s what coworking is about.”

when elliot winard transplanted himself to nyc, not only did he find a new city, but a new community of like minded folk. if you’ve been wondering what’s it like to cowork, read this great article by Kiera Butler in the New York Post.

Philadelphia Jelly = Cream Cheese Sessions?

This is a repost from my personal blog, dangerouslyawesome.com because I thought that the coworking community might be interested in this.

Cream Cheese Session

I just left the inaugural session of Philadelphia Jelly coworking. As per a suggestion from Jacob Patton, with a twist from one of the participants, I am considering dubbing this Philadelphian version, Cream Cheese Sessions. Alternatively, we could simply adopt something along the lines of “PhilaJelly”, but I’m a pretty big fan of Cream Cheese Sessions, especially if we can invent some kind of ridiculous back-story :-). I’m open to ideas in the comments.

At any rate, I would call the event a success. Over the course of the day, there were 8 on-site participants (most of whom were there for the entire day). The campfire backchannel that I set up was visited by about a half dozen off-site “drop-ins”, some from Philly, as well as one couple from Rochester that are moving to Philly soon and a friend of mine in Maryland. Additionally, Geoff from P’unk Ave dropped in during the class that he teaches at UArts, and I gave the class a quick overview on Coworking and Jelly via the campfire room.

The cafe that we crashed was the Chapter House at 9th and Bainbridge. Honestly, I felt kinda bad because I didn’t give them a heads up that we were taking over but they were kind enough to not kick us out, this time. Next time I’ll provide some warning and maybe arrange some kind of compensation. But we all bought drinks and most people bought some food.

The spread of talent and skills and “titles” was varied. Everything from designers, developers, project managers, general creatives…there was a good representation across the board. Really, anyone who works alone, or in a non-creative setting, could have benefited from today’s session. And really, you don’t need to even be an indie. A few of our coworkers either “worked from home” (and thats what we are, a home away from home), or took a vacation day to work on side projects.

The response was positive from all of the participants, and a few photos can be seen on flickr, as well as on the Independents Hall Homepage.

Will we do it again? Absolutely. As Roz said:

“I felt so much more productive working in an independent yet collaborative environment. I could focus on my work, but draw inspiration from the random moments where we’d all stop briefly and chat about an idea or concept. I hope to make coworking a regular part in my work process.”

And I’d agree.

I’m considering contacting twitter to set up a “PhillyCreamCheese” group that people can join, and I’ll send out an notice (or anyone, really) that I’m working from location “X” today, and anyone can join me. Impromptu Coworking at it’s finest, dontcha think?

This was a great experiment and I can’t wait to see where it takes us as we continue down the road to having an established coworking presence in Philadelphia.

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NASA and Coworking: Kickoff May 02 @ Citizenspace in San Francisco

So, NASA is co-working. Come find out all about it in San Francisco on May 2nd. Details and RSVP here.

How this happened: I’m a space geek (degrees as a planetary scientist) and also a grassroots communities geek (years working for CivicSpace Labs), and also I really care about our government being, well…. of, by and for US as citizens, and being efficient, transparent, benevolent, and effective. It annoys me when it’s not.

Here’s the thesis:

  1. Our bureaucratic government agencies have a lot to learn from the creativity, efficiency, and authenticity of entrepreneurial and grassroots communities in the Bay Area and beyond.
  2. Entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations can benefit a lot from easier access to the massive human resources, facilities, and funding, and other resources that are resident in our government agencies.
  3. By bringing entrepreneurial and grassroots communities together with a government agency through co-working, mutually beneficial bi-lateral exchange of knowledge, resources, and culture can occur.
  4. For this to succeed, a low-hanging-fruit place to start is with technology-driven organizations on both sides, because there is are pre-existing shared cultural and affinities and memes.

I found some like minded souls in my community of space friends and also at senior levels within NASA, and also in the techno-entrepreneurial world in the Bay Area. We created a new program called “CoLab” which is bringing these seemingly disparate worlds together through online community building, virtual co-working in Second Life, and now, physical co-working in San Francisco… we hope, to their…our… great mutual benefit.  Wait– is it “ours” or “theirs?”  Wait– that’s the point!

Come find out all about it on Wednesday– we need your help! 🙂

CoworkingLA meetup April 24

There’s been some recent activity on the Coworking mailing list seeking support towards the establishment of a coworking space (or spaces) in LA.

Heather has invited folks interested in the coworking concept to attend the 12th Geek Dinner coming up on April 24th at Shakey’s Pizza in Hollywood to discuss ways forward.

Harold Johnson has suggested talking to UnUrban, a smallish cafe that could use a boost in patronage while Heather has proposed Little Radio, the ongoing host of BarCampLA.

If anyone’s interested, do make an effort to attend the Geek Dinner or get in touch with Heather.

How to get involved…

Just as a refresher to those just joining us and since there were a couple of questions about this on the mailing list, here are a few ways you can get involved in the Coworking movement:

  1. Join the Google Group mailing list (and join in! ask questions!)
  2. Check out the wiki to see if someone in your area is interested in coworking (or already has a space or is in process of setting one up) and make a coffee date to chat about it!
  3. If there isn’t anything on the wiki that indicates activity in your area, start a page!
  4. Tell everyone you know about the concept: collaborative work environments/the coffee house meets office space…and how it’s growing!
  5. If you have extra space in your office, consider opening it up to be a coworking space
  6. If you know someone who has extra space in their offices, ask them to consider opening it up to vagabond coworkers
  7. Support your local coworking spaces by actually dropping by or even becoming a resident!
  8. Support your local coworking spaces by: telling everyone about them, donating office equipment, donating time/expertise (website? marketing? accounting? creating a piece of art?), holding your meetups/gatherings in their space…
  9. Put an ad in your local paper to see how many people work out of their living rooms/coffee shops – have a meetup and talk about the possibility of creating a shared space
  10. Talk to local reporters about helping you promote #9

There are lots of ways to get involved. It’s a super rewarding experience. 🙂

The results of the Coworking Survey

So…wow…we collected over 120 responses (including the first 11 via email that aren’t in the spreadsheet) and I spoke with quite a few people who said they didn’t get the chance to go take the survey, so I think this is representative of the fact that there is quite a bit of interest worldwide in coworking! Yay! Some great information, too…really telling us where we are at and highlighting people’s needs.

Some overview results for you:

Countries of respondents
Country Percent Total
USA 58.18%
Unknown 9%
Canada 6.36%
Ireland 3.64%
UK 3.64%
Italy 2.73%
Australia 1.82%
Croatia 1.82%
Germany 1.82%
New Zealand 1.82%
South Africa 1.82%
Afghanistan 0.91%
Finland 0.91%
France 0.91%
Poland 0.91%
Portugal 0.91%
Singapore 0.91%
Spain 0.91%
Switzerland 0.91%

NOTE: I’m guessing due to the anglo-centric discussions, we are getting much higher response in English speaking countries. This may present an opportunity for those in other countries to champion this movement themselves, by translating important text into their own language?

Stages of people on the list
Stage Percent Total
Are currently looking for a space to work from (wanting to be coworkers) 30.9%
Are interested in setting up a space (potential space owners) 25.5%
Other 18.2%
Are just watching the list (lurkers) 10.9%
Are in the process of setting up a space (future space owners) 10.0%
Are currently working at a coworking space (coworkers) 2.7%
Are currently running a coworking space (space owners) 1.8%

NOTE: The trick, for me, is to turn the 10.9% lurkers (and the 18.2% others) into either future space owners or coworkers and turn those potential space owners into actual space owners so the people looking for spaces have somewhere to work!

The order of importance of features in a space (rating out of 5)
Features Importance (out of 5)
Atmosphere 4.5
Community Feeling 4.3
Collaborative Environment 4.1
Location 4.0
Networking Opportunities 3.9
Excellent Coworkers 3.7
Meeting Spaces 3.7
Quiet Spaces 3.4
Security 3.2
24 hr Access 3.1
Event spaces 2.9
Privacy 2.8
Personalized Space (own desk) 2.6

NOTE: For those setting up a space, think of creating a really great atmosphere as the #1 thing to concentrate on. There is a great article here on seriously great workspaces. So, do you need art? Comfy chairs? Plants? Rugs? Flowers? Games? Yep. In the end, EVERYTHING was pretty important (nothing scored less than 50%), but Atmosphere and Comunity Feeling blew the others away.

So, how can we help the people trying to set up coworking spaces?

Immediate needs expressed
Needs Percent Total
Finding Space 13.6%
Money 10.9%
Partner 7.3%
Space Management Tips

 5.5%
Coworkers 5.5%
Structural Health 4.5%
Networking 3.6%
Other 2.7%

…if we could encourage the lurkers, maybe #3 (Partners) wouldn’t be such a big deal and they could help us find space (#1). Money? That’s a whole other issue. Anyone have good tips? For us, we decided to take fewer risks on the monthly rent (found a fix-me-upper that doesn’t have parking spots so the building rent is lower) to make for a better space and not as much pressure on us if we lose tenants…

What are they getting out of the coworking list?
Benefits Percent Total
Community 16.4%
Advice 14.5%
Support 10.9%
Promotio 8.2%
Mentor 5.5%
Coworker 5.5%
Other 2.7%

…aaaawwwww! Community, advice and support are awesome things to get out of this list and everyone should be proud of themselves for giving so much! 🙂

The rest of the answers are here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pVSaj5ixYmAyYm–dbRhgXw in long form. I’ve removed all of the personal information as far as I know…(like IPs and emails)

Enjoy!

New playgrounds for new play

Gerrit Visser blogs about A paradigm for Coworking:

There’s a chapter in the recently published Handbook of Experiential Learning about something called “Junkyard Sports.” The chapter, written by Bernie DeKoven, shows how creative play experiences like Junkyard Sports, can become powerful learning tools for the business world.

Bernie’s Junkyard Sports were originally developed for schools and youth programs. According to Bernie, a Junkyard Sport is any sport that’s played with the “wrong” equipment. He explains that in such events, the “sport becomes a vehicle for the creation of community, where the shared opportunity to play takes precedence over the game itself.”

In many ways, this is a paradigm for effective coworking. People who are seeking out new coworking environments are finding each other in “unofficial” spaces – warehouses, bakeries, lofts, studios, apartments. The people they find in these environments are not all working for the same company or even the same goals. The technological infrastructure is cobbled together from components that were never designed to work together – IM, chat, wikis, blogs, desktop-sharing, shared whiteboards, mindmapping software, calendering software. They share skills when they can, discovering that the diversity of interests, professions, personalities is the source of new insights, new ways to make work better, new opportunities to learn, to work, to play.

more on Junkyard Sports and CoWorking

This is a really interesting way to conceptualize coworking and the value of such spaces… since, after all, it’s not about the spaces themselves, but more about the community and collaborative opportunities that they afford the coworkers.