Re: Coworking Annual Meeting???
rachel young
I think an annual coworking conference is a great idea, something dedicated to coworking, not tacked on to another event. Something where we could focus on coworking and community issues, meet each other, see one another's cities and spaces. I'm in!
There would have to be a lot of value to it in order to bring these already busy and stretched folks our of their spaces for a few days, though, something that could leverage our buying power for, I dunno, office furniture or health care benefits or travel discounts or something. Something where we can not only have those providers/suppliers sponsor the event to offset costs, but to provide real value that would be worth traveling for.
I've been involved in a few organisations that are spread across multiple timezones or parts of the world, and they have decided on location in similar fashions, which is basically that host cities post their proposals and the community votes on where it should be, perhaps one vote per coworking facility. We can build in assurance that it won't always be in the same cities or parts of the country all the time so that people in, say, the west coast don't alwyas have to travel to the east coast. (ie, establish general zones and ensure the annual event rotates between zones)
Anyway, I think it is certainly worth exploring, and being an event planner I am all for it.
I put your suggested starting topics onto a wiki page (http://coworking.pbworks.com/Coworking-Conference), which I think would be better to collaborate from there. I do think that this would take some time to plan out properly (and give folks some time to save up some money), so if you were thinking of escaping the winter conditions in the next few months, then perhaps sxswi is your better option for this year.
r.
--
rachel young
rac...@camaraderie.ca
(416) 801-0196
Find us in person:
Camaraderie
102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor
Find us online:
camaraderie.ca/blog
twitter.com/camaraderie
- Woodie Neiss <woo...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
Anyone want to get together for the first International Coworking Community Annual Meeting in ummm let’s say a warm, sunny place like Miami? Sort of a one day event where we could discuss best practices, set some protocols for future coworking locations and formally organize ourselves so that we can leverage our combined power?
Suggested topics to discuss (feel free to edit/add to/delete/etc)
1) Keys to success
a. pricing
b. Serivices to offer
2) Managing the bottom line
a. Financing the start up
b. Negotiating lease agreements
c. Managing monthly expenses
3) Marketing & PR
a. Building awareness
b. How to generate more buzz
c. The power of meet-ups
d. Leveraging your chamber of commerce
4) Creative suggestions from some of our winning locations
5) How to formally organize ourselves into an International organization
Perhaps we could all complete some surveys prior, and then present the results at the meeting as well?
Regards,
Woodie
coworking
There are pros and cons for a separate event vs. extending to a "ready
made" event. If coworking "founders/workers" are already going to SXSW
and all we have to do is add an extra day/two to it, why would we want
to have, yet another flight/drive?
Different locations are a plus to be able to experience different
coworking locations. Not having to "always be the one" to travel from
a distant location is a plus, too. Who will do all this marketing to
gather sponsors, hotel room block discounts, etc.? How will we decide
who the event planner/manager will be? I'm not aware of a "formal"
coworking association with dues or marketing management for all of us.
I'm sure there are other issues that will need to be worked out if
your suggested approach is endorsed. Just some food for thought.
Most cordially at your service,
Denise Reed
www.theconciergelevel.com
> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> Woodie Neiss <wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
CollegeMoneyMan
us considering formally starting a co-working environment; namely
marketing information understanding local demographics. My friends and
I are eager to learn more about the marketing dimension of co-
working.
Regards
JR
> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> Woodie Neiss <wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
todd@c4workspace
I get that many folks attend SXSW but do all 200 catalysts or founders
attend? We need to be open to the idea that coworking is moving beyond
the IT, Web, Design community.
So we need a place for about 100 people in an affordable, cheap to fly
to, warmish weather location.
How about counter programming to SXSW and hold it in the early Fall?
With Texas' coworking space growth in the past year I nominate the
Republic as a suitable location. Dallas is easy to get to from
anywhere. San Antonio is pretty nice in October! :-) Austin is...
well, you know, wierd.
I had bounced this idea around to the Texan spaces late last summer
but got too busy to follow up.
I was even thinking of a mini-camp on Saturday afternoon at SXSW prior
to the Meetup. We could take the idea out for a test drive.
NOW I'm getting juiced up for SXSW! See many of you soon!
Todd O'Neill
Catalyst/Partner
C4 Workspace
San Antonio Texas
Jerome Chang
100 people here at BLANKSPACES? np.
warm? It's L.A. not just warm, but not hot or cold. always 70.
People in SF could easily drive down or take a <$100 flight.
:-D
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Coworking" group.
> To post to this group, send email to cowo...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com
> .
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en
> .
>
rachel young
Nope, I haven't been to SXSW. I've been to a wide range of conferences before, have planned conferences and tradeshows, and am looking forward to NXNE finally adding interactive to the Toronto event this year. I know that SXSWi has a comfortable and familiar feeling to it, and it is a popular destination among the tech crowd. I don't completely know first hand what I'm missing out on. What I do know is that it is already a blended conference - music, film, and interactive. Does it really need to be the department store of a conference destination by adding coworking to it as well? Some people might not want to tack on an extra 2days away from home and their space to attend a conference when they could space it out their professional conference activities to include a coworking conference at another time of year, in another across the country or in a difference country.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging coworking get togethers at SXSW, or sessions about coworking, or socials between coworking folks. I think all of that is awesome, and I look forward to your stories about them. But I do love the idea of a separate business conference specifically for coworking. We have an already strong industry that many of you have already put in a lot of footwork, and we have the potential to continue building this industry, and could possibly leverage our buying power as a collective to do so.
And yes, I recognise that I've been fairly quiet in this group for 2yrs and now that I've announced our space I come in with blazing support for a separate conference, but please don't take my quiet nature as passive or disinterested all this time. I've been thinking of planning a conference for the Canadian coworking facilities for over a year, I just haven't verbalised it. But why do it only for a few handful of spaces if it could be for so many more?
In keeping with the idea of moving it around different regions each year, it means that each city coordinates the conference themselves after winning the vote of the collective, and that city planning committee could be one individual space or a group of spaces working together. They take care of all of the planning and logistics - and it doesn't have to rest solely on the shoulders of space owners; it could be a member who wants to swap space for service, or they could hire a conference planner to take care of all of it. If it is operated as a collective, then there isn't a need for a formal coworking association, at least not to start.
I see it as a great opportunity to not always be the ones who travel (as you said), and to have the opportunity to see spaces and meet many of you without the distraction of another conference or event.
r.
Alex Hillman
--
Drew
There will be a Cowo Brainstorm at Conjunctured (Austin) the Sunday (I
think that's 14 March) of SXSW (~3-5pm), where we will have a graphic
facilitator scribing the conversation for all of us to have going
forward. Informal, all are invited, and before the evening's drinks
commence... Sort of a powwow of interested folks who are in town.
There will be a wiki posted next week for folks to post topics/
interests in advance so that we can cover as much ground as possible.
Hope to see tons of you there!
Cheers,
Drew
> > On 4 February 2010 12:31, coworking <i...@theconciergelevel.com> wrote:
>
> >> Rachel, have you been to SXSW?
>
> >> There are pros and cons for a separate event vs. extending to a "ready
> >> made" event. If coworking "founders/workers" are already going to SXSW
> >> and all we have to do is add an extra day/two to it, why would we want
> >> to have, yet another flight/drive?
>
> >> Different locations are a plus to be able to experience different
> >> coworking locations. Not having to "always be the one" to travel from
> >> a distant location is a plus, too. Who will do all this marketing to
> >> gather sponsors, hotel room block discounts, etc.? How will we decide
> >> who the event planner/manager will be? I'm not aware of a "formal"
> >> coworking association with dues or marketing management for all of us.
> >> I'm sure there are other issues that will need to be worked out if
> >> your suggested approach is endorsed. Just some food for thought.
>
> >> Most cordially at your service,
> >> Denise Reed
> >>www.theconciergelevel.com
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "Coworking" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to cowo...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > coworking+...@googlegroups.com<coworking%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
Alex Hillman
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
Drew
Info Design (in Austin), is a friend of Conjunctured, and last year
was one of the official graphic facilitators at TED. She will be
there on the Sunday, and she is awesome.She has recently helped SHIFT
tremendously, and I'm a huge fan of her's. She is in the same head
space and is one of coworking's biggest fans!
p.s. dig the pictures from the town hall meeting. Johnny is great
too!!! Sunni takes really clear pictures of her handiwork, and it will
be great for all of us to have the same visuals to work from as we get
back to our busy lives. I'm hoping it will be a Yantra to focus
coworking's energy towards something transformative in 2010! Look
forward to your leadership in the moment!
dj
On Feb 5, 11:16 pm, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Visual recording is awesome! One of our members does it and he took notes
> during our last town hall meeting:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/dangerouslyawesome/4053220205/in/photost...
>
> -Alex
>
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> coworking in philadelphia
>
> > <coworking%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com<coworking%252Buns...@googlegroups.com>
Cody Marx Bailey
on coworking, though I manage an office. The Creative Space is a labor
of love and isn't set up to make money. Honestly, I don't think I'd
put doing a whole trip just for coworking in my plans because frankly,
I get enough info from my peers around the state and the somewhat
large meetup during SXSW. While I agree with Todd that coworking isn't
and shouldn't be strictly IT/Web based, SXSW isn't either. SXSW has
become a hotbed for all kinds of things. Hell, even this year there's
a healthcare conference being held in conjunction (http://
www.sxsh.org/).
I understand that some folks won't be making it to SXSW this year for
whatever reason, but I don't know if many more folks will be able to
make a separate trip to some city for a few days to just talk about
coworking. I think it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and use SXSW as
the base for a national meet up. Perhaps grow the event from 2 hours
to a whole day before SXSW gets ramped up and going...
Thoughts?
Donna Snow
Donna 'SnowWrite' Snow
Space Catalyst in San Jose, CA
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
To post to this group, send email to cowo...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
MaxBuck
would be attractive to me.
Maybe there's a possibility of piggybacking a coworking session onto
NAIOP? Or standalone.
MaxBuck
> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> Woodie Neiss <wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
Ryan Price
The best possible next step is for one person to just announce a date
and time, and see how many people show up.
South by Southwest was a big success last year - particularly because
there were folks from North American, European and South American
Coworking spaces represented (at least that I met). It was (and
probably will be again) the biggest collection I know of that involved
people from so many different coworking spaces. Please correct me if
I'm wrong.
I will be at any Miami meetups - it's a 4 hour drive from here - so
hopefully things keep getting announced on the list.
Peace,
Ryan Price
rpr...@ryanpricemedia.com
@liberatr
407-484-8528
FloridaCreatives.com
Orlando Happy Hour: Feb 15th @ Crooked Bayou
Next Likemind: Feb 19th @ Drunken Monkey
FL DrupalCamp: Feb 20th + 21st
http://2010.fldrupalcamp.org -- @fldrupalcamp
On Feb 7, 2010, at 10:04 AM, MaxBuck wrote:
> NAIOP
Mike Schinkel
The first thing I thought about when I saw this topic come through was "Great, yet another expense on top of all the other expenses we have."
As some of you know we operate Ignition Alley mostly as a service to our local startup and freelance community and much less to generate a profit. Attending a conference means probably $1000+ in travel expenses and that is not attractive.
But then I thought "This need not be like commercial conferences, it could be in run like coworking itself as a collaborative for the benefit of those who participate and not as a way for someone to make money." So at a very high level I'd like to propose the following without having worked out all the details:
-- Create a coworking facility co-op
-- Each facility that wants to can participate in the co-op
-- The co-op runs the conference
-- Co-op members work to get sponsors
-- The co-op markets to economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, and major corporations[1] for paid attendance
-- Co-op members get their cut of the profits which help them pay to attend the event
Thoughts?
Jerome Chang
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
Mike Schinkel
Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all coworking facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to an org that returns them benefits, etc.
Jerome Chang
Jerome
rachel young
Well, my first few thoughts were:
1. Do you mean an actual legal entity that is an association or co-operative, or more of an unofficial collective?
2. Regardless of whether it is a traditional or modern concept, what about the rest of us that are not in the USA? There are so many restrictions for such organisations that would be great for americans (or just canadians if it were a canadian co-op, or just british if in england, etc) but useless for the rest of us. So, if something were to exist, we could only participate if it was structured as an international association.
3. This would also cost money. If the cost of a conference is an issue, then additional dues, fees, etc would also be an issue, even if they went exclusively to conference costs.
I do, however, like the idea of some sort of association, if it were international, and I do love the idea of the association (or co-op, or whatever) being the organisation that runs the conference.
r.
Mike Schinkel
I have been collaborating with the head of ABCN already. That org is a global network of exec centers. Coworking technically falls under a niche within biz centers and I've just proposed to ABCN to create a new, separate group. We utilize their experience with alliances and therefore their infrastructure.Any thoughts or serious objections?
My own bias would be to move in our own direction because we'll likely disrupt their member's business models and it would be better for us to be purely coworking rather than based on a legacy organization. But again, my bias.
Well, my first few thoughts were:
1. Do you mean an actual legal entity that is an association or co-operative, or more of an unofficial collective?
Not sure. Probably needs to be a legal entity because someone somewhere has to take the money, sign up for the facility, pay the vendors, etc. But the less heavy it can be the better IMO.
2. Regardless of whether it is a traditional or modern concept, what about the rest of us that are not in the USA? There are so many restrictions for such organisations that would be great for americans (or just canadians if it were a canadian co-op, or just british if in england, etc) but useless for the rest of us.
What restrictions do you refer to?
So, if something were to exist, we could only participate if it was structured as an international association.
I'm not sure I understand the specific distinction between an international association and one that is not. If it states it's mission to be international, is that not enough?
3. This would also cost money. If the cost of a conference is an issue, then additional dues, fees, etc would also be an issue, even if they went exclusively to conference costs.
What specific expenses do you envision prior to collecting sponsorships? Legal fees? Can probably get that handled pro-bono. Other?
I do, however, like the idea of some sort of association, if it were international, and I do love the idea of the association (or co-op, or whatever) being the organisation that runs the conference.
:)
BTW, I'm just brainstorming and might be way off base on some of these thoughts and ideas.
Jerome Chang
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
On Feb 7, 2010, at 8:06 PM, Jerome Chang wrote:I have been collaborating with the head of ABCN already. That org is a global network of exec centers. Coworking technically falls under a niche within biz centers and I've just proposed to ABCN to create a new, separate group. We utilize their experience with alliances and therefore their infrastructure.Any thoughts or serious objections?My own bias would be to move in our own direction because we'll likely disrupt their member's business models and it would be better for us to be purely coworking rather than based on a legacy organization. But again, my bias.
On Feb 7, 2010, at 9:49 PM, rachel young wrote:Well, my first few thoughts were:
1. Do you mean an actual legal entity that is an association or co-operative, or more of an unofficial collective?Not sure. Probably needs to be a legal entity because someone somewhere has to take the money, sign up for the facility, pay the vendors, etc. But the less heavy it can be the better IMO.
2. Regardless of whether it is a traditional or modern concept, what about the rest of us that are not in the USA? There are so many restrictions for such organisations that would be great for americans (or just canadians if it were a canadian co-op, or just british if in england, etc) but useless for the rest of us.What restrictions do you refer to?
Angel
go to the spa or gym instead of the sessions anyway ;)
I think the global coworking community could rock the way that
multiple entities interact around the world.
What about having a global coworking e-unconference? We'd pick a
weekend or a week, many coworking facilities around the world "host"
the surrounding coworking communities (say, I could hold one in Denver
and then about 5-6 coworking locations/owners/members could reasonably
drive there (thereby skirting airfare.) Then we get the internet and
back channels working for us and stay linked together via video,
wikis, twitter...you name it.
This would be more of an unconference than a conference(which I think
is the best invention in my lifetime) and quite frankly, I think it
solves all the problems of travel, cost, etc. Hell, we could even
hold it asynchronously so each week a new geographic region is
unconferencing and then building on the content from the previous
week.
Thoughts?
-Angel
> <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> Woodie Neiss <wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
Tonya Surman
Please forward through your networks
CSI is Buying a Building!
(well, we're trying to!)
The Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) is exploring the purchase of a new building at 720 Bathurst Street, in the Bloor and Bathurst area. The existing CSI isn�t going anywhere � this new building would be in addition to our space at 215 Spadina Avenue.
�
The
(potential!) new space is made up of five floors and totals 36,000
square feet. The building is two blocks from the subway line, has
plentiful light and�a gorgeous brick/beam interior, and is in close
proximity to an array of restaurants and services.
Our
Vision
Our
vision is a dynamic space that�s bursting at the seams with creative
and entrepreneurial energy. The first floor will be a community
gathering place, with event spaces and plenty of unstructured social
space to hang out and connect. The second floor will be a vibrant mix
of desks and hot desks, hosting an incredible diversity of members in a
beautiful and open collaborative environment. Floors three through five
will be a mix of offices, desks, and themed incubation spaces focussed
on improving our city and bringing new projects to life.
�
We Need Your Help!
Buying
a new building is a big step! And to make it happen,�we need to raise
$1.5 million. The good news is that we�re half-way there. For the
balance, we can offer a solid financial and social return for investors
capable of contributions of $100,000 or more. If you or someone you
know might be keen, please email csi...@socialinnovation.ca. If this is way out of your league,
stay tuned for more word on our community bond initiative.
If you�re potentially interested in becoming a tenant of the new
building, let us know by signing up at www.socialinnovation.ca/csi720/member.
The more people who express interest, the stronger claim we can make to
investors.
If you're intrigued by what you hear, please send your thoughts and ideas to csi...@socialinnovation.ca.�
James Hackett
I have been collaborating with the head of ABCN already. That org is a global network of exec centers. Coworking technically falls under a niche within biz centers and I've just proposed to ABCN to create a new, separate group. We utilize their experience with alliances and therefore their infrastructure.Any thoughts or serious objections?
Alex Hillman
James Hackett
Jacob Sayles
Jacob
---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500
Hi Co-workers.... we thought that you might be interested to see what we are doing vis a vis co-working in Toronto....
Please forward through your networks
CSI is Buying a Building!
(well, we're trying to!)
The Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) is exploring the purchase of a new building at 720 Bathurst Street, in the Bloor and Bathurst area. The existing CSI isn’t going anywhere – this new building would be in addition to our space at 215 Spadina Avenue.
The (potential!) new space is made up of five floors and totals 36,000 square feet. The building is two blocks from the subway line, has plentiful light and a gorgeous brick/beam interior, and is in close proximity to an array of restaurants and services.
Our VisionOur vision is a dynamic space that’s bursting at the seams with creative and entrepreneurial energy. The first floor will be a community gathering place, with event spaces and plenty of unstructured social space to hang out and connect. The second floor will be a vibrant mix of desks and hot desks, hosting an incredible diversity of members in a beautiful and open collaborative environment. Floors three through five will be a mix of offices, desks, and themed incubation spaces focussed on improving our city and bringing new projects to life.
We Need Your Help!
Buying a new building is a big step! And to make it happen, we need to raise $1.5 million. The good news is that we’re half-way there. For the balance, we can offer a solid financial and social return for investors capable of contributions of $100,000 or more. If you or someone you know might be keen, please email csi...@socialinnovation.ca. If this is way out of your league, stay tuned for more word on our community bond initiative.
If you’re potentially interested in becoming a tenant of the new building, let us know by signing up at www.socialinnovation.ca/csi720/member. The more people who express interest, the stronger claim we can make to investors.
If you're intrigued by what you hear, please send your thoughts and ideas to csi...@socialinnovation.ca.
--
Jerome Chang
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
Jerome Chang
work in this case?
Jerome
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
Tonya Surman
Tonya
On 08/02/10 1:15 PM, Jacob Sayles wrote:
Wow that is super exciting! �I'd love to know more about the process of raising that much cash.
Jacob
---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Tonya Surman <to...@socialinnovation.ca> wrote:
Hi Co-workers.... we thought that you might be interested to see what we are doing vis a vis co-working in Toronto....
Please forward through your networks
CSI is Buying a Building!
(well, we're trying to!)
The Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) is exploring the purchase of a new building at 720 Bathurst Street, in the Bloor and Bathurst area. The existing CSI isn�t going anywhere � this new building would be in addition to our space at 215 Spadina Avenue.
�
The (potential!) new space is made up of five floors and totals 36,000 square feet. The building is two blocks from the subway line, has plentiful light and�a gorgeous brick/beam interior, and is in close proximity to an array of restaurants and services.
Our VisionOur vision is a dynamic space that�s bursting at the seams with creative and entrepreneurial energy. The first floor will be a community gathering place, with event spaces and plenty of unstructured social space to hang out and connect. The second floor will be a vibrant mix of desks and hot desks, hosting an incredible diversity of members in a beautiful and open collaborative environment. Floors three through five will be a mix of offices, desks, and themed incubation spaces focussed on improving our city and bringing new projects to life.
�
We Need Your Help!
Buying a new building is a big step! And to make it happen,�we need to raise $1.5 million. The good news is that we�re half-way there. For the balance, we can offer a solid financial and social return for investors capable of contributions of $100,000 or more. If you or someone you know might be keen, please email csi...@socialinnovation.ca. If this is way out of your league, stay tuned for more word on our community bond initiative.
If you�re potentially interested in becoming a tenant of the new building, let us know by signing up at www.socialinnovation.ca/csi720/member. The more people who express interest, the stronger claim we can make to investors.
If you're intrigued by what you hear, please send your thoughts and ideas to csi...@socialinnovation.ca.�
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
To post to this group, send email to cowo...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
Angel
coworking is different from exec. centers (since everyone here is
familiar with exec centers). If we affiliate under that umbrella,
then it just gets messy.
> > On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:13 PM, Mike Schinkel <mikeschin...@newclarity.net>
> > wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all coworking
> > facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to an org that returns
> > them benefits, etc.
>
> > So, do you think "traditional" is good or bad?
>
> > -Mike
>
> > On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:16 PM, Jerome Chang wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all coworking
> > facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to an org that returns
> > them benefits, etc.
>
> > ______________
> > BLANKSPACES
> > "work wide open"
>
> > <http://www.blankspaces.com/>www.blankspaces.com
> > <http://ignitionalley.com/>http://ignitionalley.com
> > <rac...@camaraderie.ca>rac...@camaraderie.ca
> > (416) 801-0196
>
> > Find us in person:
> > Camaraderie
> > 102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor
>
> > Find us online:
> > <http://camaraderie.ca/blog>camaraderie.ca/blog
> > <http://twitter.com/camaraderie>twitter.com/camaraderie
>
> > <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> > Woodie Neiss < <wood...@gmail.com>wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Jerome Chang
I spoke to the head of ABCN today and got some good feedback and
assurances, so please let me know if you're open to the following:
1. A national coworking gathering this October (2010) in S.F. They
already have a 3-4 day conference for about 150 people for exec
suites, but would dedicate 1-2 full days toward coworking. This
location seems so ideal given that SF has the most # of coworking
locations, let alone Sacramento, and the entire West Coast cities that
are just an hour or two away by plane.
2. The ABCN team already is organizing the conference and could
accommodate us with our logistical needs (actual scope should still be
clarified).
3. The coworking agenda would primarily set by us, not ABCN, as they
already readily recognize that their coworking knowledge is limited.
Here are some notes from our discussion that demonstrates their
experience in planning these conferences:
A. 1 day won't be enough, if that's what some of you were thinking.
It's important to capture the attention of all attendees across a 2+
days via social and professional activities so people feel comfortable
enough to collaborate, etc. Essentially, we want to form a retreat.
B. ABCN always strives for a high ROI for every single activity/
presentation, on the order of 10x the cost to attend. This ensures
each attendees feels the trip/attendance was worth every penny. For
us coworking people, ABCN can see a need to gauge the worthiness of a
conference by a sort of ROC, return on community. What that is is up
to us to determine now or later.
C. ABCN estimates about $300-$450/day for most professional
activities, including snacks, lunch, etc. Even though that might seem
high to us coworking people, ABCN insists they almost never break even
on these conferences, but know they should still have these
conferences. Still, their last conference in NYC was $745, which
included a gala dinner/party and open bar on some cruise. We could of
course cut out the gala and/or figure out our own conference fee.
D. ABCN believes coworking has really succeeded in getting
interesting people to join, vs. stuffy exec center. ABCN could
therefore get good speakers and sponsorships through their national
contacts.
E. ABCN already has something very similar to our Coworking VISA,
with which members of one location can utilize another location,
including reservation and payment systems. Typical exec centers earn
10x their $225/monthly dues. We could of course set out our own
monthly fees, if any. We of course would NOT have to join ABCN and
form some monthly dues for coworking facilities, but should WE WANT
TO, it's there for us to utilize.
F. As much as we like to think that coworking is entirely new or
distinct, I still believe we do have enough common traits with exec
centers to LEARN from what them, sort of like learning from parents/
grandparents. In fact, the exec centers thought they themselves were
all so new way back when, and as a result, made mistakes that they
could've easily avoided had they learned from others. Ie., they were
all initially collaborative between "brands"/companies until a lot of
facilities opened up next door to another and competition set in. Had
they figured out how to maintain that collaboration/friendliness early
on, they wouldn't have the cutthroat competition they have now.
Ok, sorry so long, but I wanted to make sure I could include all notes
from our lengthy discussion.
Jerome
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
> .
>
rachel young
2. Regardless of whether it is a traditional or modern concept, what about the rest of us that are not in the USA? There are so many restrictions for such organisations that would be great for americans (or just canadians if it were a canadian co-op, or just british if in england, etc) but useless for the rest of us.What restrictions do you refer to?
Oh, I meant that it include things like the way some co-ops here are created they can only have members from Canada and not individuals or corporations from outside of Canada (and other countries may do it the same), or if it were an association and there were dues/membership fees to pay then taxation laws might restrict some countries from allowing those dues/fees to be written off if the association was a "national" association in a nation that was not ours.
But Jerome also said - and I don't think that it was meant to be malicious in any way - that:
So, if something were to exist, we could only participate if it was structured as an international association.
I'm not sure I understand the specific distinction between an international association and one that is not. If it states it's mission to be international, is that not enough?
Yes, maybe, but depending on where the association is set up, the laws of that country might state that if the association were to include international individuals or corporations as members then the association must be structured in a particular way. I ran into this when consulting with a client who formed a co-op and they wanted to include international members but couldn't because they structured their co-op in a particular way when they incorporated, so we had to make a change to their corporate filings to restructure their co-op. It was quite a hassle.
3. This would also cost money. If the cost of a conference is an issue, then additional dues, fees, etc would also be an issue, even if they went exclusively to conference costs.
What specific expenses do you envision prior to collecting sponsorships? Legal fees? Can probably get that handled pro-bono. Other?
Hrm, I can't find it now, but I thought someone had voiced some concerns about the cost of a separate conference, and so it doesn't matter if the money is going directly to conference costs or to conference costs by way of dues, it is still money leaving our pockets. However, to answer your question, if funds were going directly to the conference, it would be airfare, accommodations, food, ground travel, wifi time to blog about the new body scanners at the airport, etc. If the funds were going to dues/fees, then it could be just as expensive. And of course, back to taxation, conference fees would likely be treated differently by your accountant than membership fees.
I do, however, like the idea of some sort of association, if it were international, and I do love the idea of the association (or co-op, or whatever) being the organisation that runs the conference.
:)BTW, I'm just brainstorming and might be way off base on some of these thoughts and ideas.
No worries. I re-read my first e-mail and realised that I wasn't clear enough. Can I chalk that up to posting at the end of a long day?
r.
Eli Malinsky
is the right move...i think it confuses the picture and also situates
the coworking movement within a very typical association model (and
subordinates it to a larger industry). i think an annual conference is
great and the idea of doing something unique, unconferencey, and
distributed is directly in line with coworking values.
Eli Malinsky
Centre for Social Innovation
> > On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:13 PM, Mike Schinkel <mikeschin...@newclarity.net>
> > wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all coworking
> > facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to an org that returns
> > them benefits, etc.
>
> > So, do you think "traditional" is good or bad?
>
> > -Mike
>
> > On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:16 PM, Jerome Chang wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all coworking
> > facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to an org that returns
> > them benefits, etc.
>
> > ______________
> > BLANKSPACES
> > "work wide open"
>
> > <http://www.blankspaces.com/>www.blankspaces.com
> > <http://ignitionalley.com/>http://ignitionalley.com
> > <rac...@camaraderie.ca>rac...@camaraderie.ca
> > (416) 801-0196
>
> > Find us in person:
> > Camaraderie
> > 102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor
>
> > Find us online:
> > <http://camaraderie.ca/blog>camaraderie.ca/blog
> > <http://twitter.com/camaraderie>twitter.com/camaraderie
>
> > <http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/t/85443a86ec7592c2>
>
> > Woodie Neiss < <wood...@gmail.com>wood...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM
Alex Hillman
Hi.
I spoke to the head of ABCN today and got some good feedback and assurances, so please let me know if you're open to the following:
1. A national coworking gathering this October (2010) in S.F. They already have a 3-4 day conference for about 150 people for exec suites, but would dedicate 1-2 full days toward coworking. This location seems so ideal given that SF has the most # of coworking locations, let alone Sacramento, and the entire West Coast cities that are just an hour or two away by plane.
2. The ABCN team already is organizing the conference and could accommodate us with our logistical needs (actual scope should still be clarified).
3. The coworking agenda would primarily set by us, not ABCN, as they already readily recognize that their coworking knowledge is limited.
Here are some notes from our discussion that demonstrates their experience in planning these conferences:
A. 1 day won't be enough, if that's what some of you were thinking. It's important to capture the attention of all attendees across a 2+ days via social and professional activities so people feel comfortable enough to collaborate, etc. Essentially, we want to form a retreat.
B. ABCN always strives for a high ROI for every single activity/presentation, on the order of 10x the cost to attend. This ensures each attendees feels the trip/attendance was worth every penny. For us coworking people, ABCN can see a need to gauge the worthiness of a conference by a sort of ROC, return on community. What that is is up to us to determine now or later.
C. ABCN estimates about $300-$450/day for most professional activities, including snacks, lunch, etc. Even though that might seem high to us coworking people, ABCN insists they almost never break even on these conferences, but know they should still have these conferences. Still, their last conference in NYC was $745, which included a gala dinner/party and open bar on some cruise. We could of course cut out the gala and/or figure out our own conference fee.
D. ABCN believes coworking has really succeeded in getting interesting people to join, vs. stuffy exec center. ABCN could therefore get good speakers and sponsorships through their national contacts.
E. ABCN already has something very similar to our Coworking VISA, with which members of one location can utilize another location, including reservation and payment systems. Typical exec centers earn 10x their $225/monthly dues. We could of course set out our own monthly fees, if any. We of course would NOT have to join ABCN and form some monthly dues for coworking facilities, but should WE WANT TO, it's there for us to utilize.
F. As much as we like to think that coworking is entirely new or distinct, I still believe we do have enough common traits with exec centers to LEARN from what them, sort of like learning from parents/grandparents. In fact, the exec centers thought they themselves were all so new way back when, and as a result, made mistakes that they could've easily avoided had they learned from others. Ie., they were all initially collaborative between "brands"/companies until a lot of facilities opened up next door to another and competition set in. Had they figured out how to maintain that collaboration/friendliness early on, they wouldn't have the cutthroat competition they have now.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
Woodie Neiss
I'm all for taking this offline so we aren't bombarding people with emails. Is there a way to move this discussion into a subfolder on the google groups and then we can take it from there?
Regards,
Woodie
Alex Hillman
Alex Hillman
Mike Schinkel
I can't see us aligning with the goals or values of an executive business center organization, and so, I can't see us working with one. This feels like potential for serious confusion for prospective coworking communities, and a distraction for ones that are already in progress.
I completely agree. As is typical, Alex said it better and more succinctly than I could.
For what it's worth, I definitely don't think an association with ABCN
is the right move...i think it confuses the picture and also situates
the coworking movement within a very typical association model (and
subordinates it to a larger industry). i think an annual conference is
great and the idea of doing something unique, unconferencey, and
distributed is directly in line with coworking values.
+1
By the way, a few exec biz centers are adding/converting spaces over
to "coworking". I doubt they'll have the events and collaboration, but
nonetheless, they think that having a few desks constitutes coworking
and they're labeling themselves as such. This will add confusion to
the public.
My thoughts are that is a really good reason not to have the coworking conference at ACBN because we need to differentiate ourselves from business centers that are rebranding themselves as coworking and I couldn't see ACBN hosting that discussion. I could be wrong but I think most people who opening coworking spaces do so for very different reasons than people who open business centers. I just don't see those two mindsets being compatible.
I spoke to the head of ABCN today and got some good feedback and assurances, so please let me know if you're open to the following:
1. A national coworking gathering this October (2010) in S.F. They already have a 3-4 day conference for about 150 people for exec suites, but would dedicate 1-2 full days toward coworking. This location seems so ideal given that SF has the most # of coworking locations, let alone Sacramento, and the entire West Coast cities that are just an hour or two away by plane.
That works great for West coast people, awful for East coast and Europe.
Not that I'm against SF, it might be right for a first one, but I'd hope it wouldn't always be there. Personally I've been to SF so many times to attend conferences that every time I have to go back I wish I could be going somewhere else.
2. The ABCN team already is organizing the conference and could accommodate us with our logistical needs (actual scope should still be clarified).
BTW, I have run a conference company in the past and in one of my businesses with an event planning partner we plan to launch some conferences in 2010 in Atlanta. It the issue is running the conference, we can consider doing it.
Just as a consideration, I have connections here in Atlanta where I can get a great venue that handles 400 attendees with a 220 person auditorium and all A/V for around $1000.
B. ABCN always strives for a high ROI for every single activity/presentation, on the order of 10x the cost to attend. This ensures each attendees feels the trip/attendance was worth every penny. For us coworking people, ABCN can see a need to gauge the worthiness of a conference by a sort of ROC, return on community. What that is is up to us to determine now or later.
C. ABCN estimates about $300-$450/day for most professional activities, including snacks, lunch, etc. Even though that might seem high to us coworking people, ABCN insists they almost never break even on these conferences, but know they should still have these conferences. Still, their last conference in NYC was $745, which included a gala dinner/party and open bar on some cruise. We could of course cut out the gala and/or figure out our own conference fee.
Those are exactly the types of approach and fee structure I'd want to avoid.
E. ABCN already has something very similar to our Coworking VISA, with which members of one location can utilize another location, including reservation and payment systems. Typical exec centers earn 10x their $225/monthly dues. We could of course set out our own monthly fees, if any. We of course would NOT have to join ABCN and form some monthly dues for coworking facilities, but should WE WANT TO, it's there for us to utilize.
Don't understand where "Typical exec centers earn 10x their $225/monthly dues" comes from.
F. As much as we like to think that coworking is entirely new or distinct, I still believe we do have enough common traits with exec centers to LEARN from what them, sort of like learning from parents/grandparents. In fact, the exec centers thought they themselves were all so new way back when, and as a result, made mistakes that they could've easily avoided had they learned from others. Ie., they were all initially collaborative between "brands"/companies until a lot of facilities opened up next door to another and competition set in. Had they figured out how to maintain that collaboration/friendliness early on, they wouldn't have the cutthroat competition they have now.
Learn from them yes, but not assimilate ourselves into them.
Oh, I meant that it include things like the way some co-ops here are created they can only have members from Canada and not individuals or corporations from outside of Canada (and other countries may do it the same), or if it were an association and there were dues/membership fees to pay then taxation laws might restrict some countries from allowing those dues/fees to be written off if the association was a "national" association in a nation that was not ours.
Yes, maybe, but depending on where the association is set up, the laws of that country might state that if the association were to include international individuals or corporations as members then the association must be structured in a particular way. I ran into this when consulting with a client who formed a co-op and they wanted to include international members but couldn't because they structured their co-op in a particular way when they incorporated, so we had to make a change to their corporate filings to restructure their co-op. It was quite a hassle.
Okay, I think maybe my email implied details already figured out that I hadn't intended. The idea was to discuss a co-op in concept, not any specific type of legal entity. IANAL so I'm not an expert on those details anyway.
Hrm, I can't find it now, but I thought someone had voiced some concerns about the cost of a separate conference, and so it doesn't matter if the money is going directly to conference costs or to conference costs by way of dues, it is still money leaving our pockets. However, to answer your question, if funds were going directly to the conference, it would be airfare, accommodations, food, ground travel, wifi time to blog about the new body scanners at the airport, etc. If the funds were going to dues/fees, then it could be just as expensive. And of course, back to taxation, conference fees would likely be treated differently by your accountant than membership fees.
I guess then my proposal wasn't clear. In a co-op the members share profits as well as they provide expenses. So if there were 25 members and the conference made $25k, we'd each get $1000 to pay our own expenses (these are not projections, I'm just using simple numbers for the purpose of making the math simple.)
On Feb 9, 2010, at 10:07 AM, Alex Hillman wrote:
First, I want to say I appreciate you doing the legwork on this communication, I know it's time consuming and you've done a great job of relaying information back to the group.
Agreed, thanks Jerome.
That said, I have a bunch of issues with the direction this is heading. Among them, the biggest is that we've gone from talking about a collaborative, idea sharing, peer learning, and mentoring event to one that incurs large per-head costs to cover unnecessary overhead, to have people "talking at me". I've been on all sides of that coin: attendee, organizer, and speaker, and it's never of as much value as having something mentorship and discussion based.Mentoring is why this group is so strong, and that needs to be the tone of this "conference" or event if it's going to be a success, in my opinion.Rather than being able to convert the fact that we get people in our doors to bring "big name speakers", that should be able to be parlayed into our attendee base. That entire pitch feels off to me.Long story short, I see ABCN having much more to gain from being the organizers than us, the community, and that always raises a red flag for me.I DO believe that this event, whoever organizes and leads it, should have some degree of "return TO community" effort...it in some way should be able to give back to the community members who could not attend.
I could not agree more with this.
I'm still unclear who this event is for, though: people interested in coworking, people who cowork, people who lead coworking communities, or people who own coworking facilitates. Obviously there's overlap, but defining the "why" will lead and inform the "who".
I'm going to assume it would be: owners of spaces and people wanting to open spaces including community economic developers and larger corporations looking to downside facilities for the same number of staff.
The people who *really need this conference* won't be able to attend if there's big price ticket attached to it, and the people who show up are likely to gain the least because they don't need it as badly. That's a shame, but a very real challenge we need to creatively overcome.
Further, I'm going to add to my proposal that there be multiple classes of membership, one for each type of member and that the members who are not affiliated with an entity that subsidizes them (i.e. not affiliated with government of a fortune 1000 company) are the ones that are able to participate in the profit sharing as the others are the ones that would end up providing the needed funds.
Bottom line: as Eli points out below, this needs to align with the coworking values or else it's not worth it. Accessibility is one of those things, and introducing $500 ticket prices to what could easily be facilitated for MUCH less removes that quality.
To quote some new friends we made at Turnstone a few weeks back, "this shouldn't be about reducing the price, but increasing the attainability".
Exactly.
Anyway. JMTCW (and not necessarily the views of my partner at Ignition Alley; he's been preoccupied lately so haven't discussed with him.)
-Mike Schinkel
Jerome Chang
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
Darryl F. Howard
All I know is that the people that run these executive centers are very
aware of coworking movement. I am pretty sure they are nervous and want to
learn more. Some of them have real deep pockets. Maturing markets bring
competition and shake out. Believe we should real cautious about any
information we share. My 2 cents.
Darryl F. Howard
Space Logix
Alex Hillman
Glen Ferguson
If we went this route and some content was aimed at people interested in coworking or people that currently cowork, our own cowork centers could have the opportunity to host, via big TV or projector, that presentation for their members. It could be turned into a global coworking awareness event. If it draws in some new members, that's all the better.
Glen
www.coworkfrederick.com
resourcesuites
your own. I recently presented Frank of ABCN a mindmap of the
industry. email me and I can send
On Feb 8, 6:23 am, Jerome Chang <jer...@blankspaces.com> wrote:
> Hi - see below.
>
> Jerome
> ______________
> BLANKSPACES
> "work wide open"
> c
> >> On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:13 PM, Mike Schinkel <mikeschin...@newclarity.net
> ...
>
> read more »
Steven Heath
<dan...@resourcesuites.com> wrote:
> I think your group is screaming for uniformity, but should develop on
> your own. I recently presented Frank of ABCN a mindmap of the
> industry. email me and I can send
screaming for uniformity?
I think not. if you think all of us want to be just like each other
you are sadly mistaken. We share a common belief and have general
agreement on values etc. Other than that we all have our unique stamp
and approach and any 'uniformity' is not wanted, or needed.
For instance last night I had a 2 person company sign up for AltSpace
mainly due to the other people here and the openness we offer, both
physical and mental.
--
Steven Heath
Director, Foxbane Consulting
Founder, AltSpace
Cell: +64 21 706-067
www.foxbane.co.nz
Level 22
Plimmer Towers
2 Gilmer Terrace
Wellington
AltSpace.co.nz - Shared office space in Wellington for home based
workers, freelancers, or nimble companies
MaxBuck
objectives. Nothing wrong with that, either. Some are very much co-
op kinds of people; others are motivated by profit potential. I think
there's room in the tent for both, personally.
> ...
>
> read more »
todd@c4workspace
to the Texas Coworking Coalition meeting (actually been mulling it
since the summer.)
I like the idea of a community driven event. We're too spread out to
make a "conference" happen with out LOTS of structure. But organizing
a Camp event with jobs farmed out could be doable. It could be web
streamed for those who can't make it.
Why not talk it out during SXSW with whoever is interested and whoever
is in attendance?
Cheers!
Todd
mark roeland de castro
I think an annual coworking conference is a great idea, something dedicated to coworking, not tacked on to another event. Something where we could focus on coworking and community issues, meet each other, see one another's cities and spaces. I'm in!
There would have to be a lot of value to it in order to bring these already busy and stretched folks our of their spaces for a few days, though, something that could leverage our buying power for, I dunno, office furniture or health care benefits or travel discounts or something. Something where we can not only have those providers/suppliers sponsor the event to offset costs, but to provide real value that would be worth traveling for.
I've been involved in a few organisations that are spread across multiple timezones or parts of the world, and they have decided on location in similar fashions, which is basically that host cities post their proposals and the community votes on where it should be, perhaps one vote per coworking facility. We can build in assurance that it won't always be in the same cities or parts of the country all the time so that people in, say, the west coast don't alwyas have to travel to the east coast. (ie, establish general zones and ensure the annual event rotates between zones)
Anyway, I think it is certainly worth exploring, and being an event planner I am all for it.
I put your suggested starting topics onto a wiki page (http://coworking.pbworks.com/Coworking-Conference), which I think would be better to collaborate from there. I do think that this would take some time to plan out properly (and give folks some time to save up some money), so if you were thinking of escaping the winter conditions in the next few months, then perhaps sxswi is your better option for this year.
r.
--
rachel young
rac...@camaraderie.ca
(416) 801-0196
Find us in person:
Camaraderie
102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor
Find us online:
camaraderie.ca/blog
twitter.com/camaraderie
Woodie Neiss <woo...@gmail.com> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500
Anyone want to get together for the first International Coworking Community Annual Meeting in ummm let’s say a warm, sunny place like Miami? Sort of a one day event where we could discuss best practices, set some protocols for future coworking locations and formally organize ourselves so that we can leverage our combined power?
Suggested topics to discuss (feel free to edit/add to/delete/etc)
1) Keys to success
a. pricing
b. Serivices to offer
2) Managing the bottom line
a. Financing the start up
b. Negotiating lease agreements
c. Managing monthly expenses
3) Marketing & PR
a. Building awareness
b. How to generate more buzz
c. The power of meet-ups
d. Leveraging your chamber of commerce
4) Creative suggestions from some of our winning locations
5) How to formally organize ourselves into an International organization
Perhaps we could all complete some surveys prior, and then present the results at the meeting as well?
Regards,
Woodie
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
To post to this group, send email to cowo...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.