Global Workspace Association

[Toni Hogan]

Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...

[Alex Hillman]

I'm a member of the LinkedIn group. Most of the discussion trends to the real estate side of the conversation, but there's periodically a good link or comment. One guy in particular, Ray Lindenberg, writes EPIC long posts but they're thoughtful and interesting.

Met some of the regulars (including Ray) at the Coworking Unconference in Austin, but that's as much as I've interacted with them.

-Alex

-- 

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

On Monday, July 30, 2012 at 11:33 AM, Toni Hogan wrote:

Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...

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[Toni Hogan]

Thanks! I received a call this morning. I always check out everything!
Looking at the membership rates on their website. Interesting...

TH

On Jul 30, 10:38 am, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm a member of the LinkedIn group. Most of the discussion trends to the real estate side of the conversation, but there's periodically a good link or comment. One guy in particular, Ray Lindenberg, writes EPIC long posts but they're thoughtful and interesting.
>
> Met some of the regulars (including Ray) at the Coworking Unconference in Austin, but that's as much as I've interacted with them.
>
> -Alex
>
> --
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> coworking in philadelphia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, July 30, 2012 at 11:33 AM, Toni Hogan wrote:
> > Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.

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> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com (mailto:coworking+...@googlegroups.com).

[Alex Hillman]

I honestly didn't even know that they had a website :)

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

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[Alex Hillman]

Heh, as I hit "send" I got an email from them.

Looks like they're doing a push into coworking spaces as we speak. Anybody else get a call?

On Monday, July 30, 2012 11:56:04 AM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote:

I honestly didn't even know that they had a website :)

-- 

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

On Monday, July 30, 2012 at 11:53 AM, Toni Hogan wrote:

Thanks! I received a call this morning. I always check out everything!

Looking at the membership rates on their website. Interesting...

TH

On Jul 30, 10:38 am, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>

wrote:

I'm a member of the LinkedIn group. Most of the discussion trends to the real estate side of the conversation, but there's periodically a good link or comment. One guy in particular, Ray Lindenberg, writes EPIC long posts but they're thoughtful and interesting.

Met some of the regulars (including Ray) at the Coworking Unconference in Austin, but that's as much as I've interacted with them.

-Alex

--

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

On Monday, July 30, 2012 at 11:33 AM, Toni Hogan wrote:

Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...

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[David Singer]

The Global Workspace Association was formerly known as the Office Business Center Association International.  Their website is here: http://www.globalworkspace.org/ 

And they have an annual conference (though way pricier than AGCUC!!!) - That link is here: http://www.globalworkspace.org/26th_annual_gwa_conference/index.php 

Some interesting panels -- some overlap with the AGCUC but this association appears to be mostly aligned is promoting and networking among BC owners and service providers.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/StYmL-ESzq4J.

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--
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(914) 980-7301 - Cell

[Toni Hogan]

I could tell from the intro on the website that they just "stuck"
coworking spaces in. :-)

On Jul 30, 11:02 am, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com>

> > mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com <cowo...@googlegroups.com>).

> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> > coworking+...@googlegroups.com (
> > mailto:coworking+...@googlegroups.com<coworking+unsubscribe@googleg roups.com>
> > ).

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://
> > groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
>
> > --
> > 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.

[Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking]

I am also part of the LinkedIn group and they do have some good interesting links to offer every once in a while. As Alex said they do tend to focus on the real estate but they are open minded and willing to listen to people. I think this is a good organization that first focused on Executive Suites but trying to adapt and willing to learn about coworking. Check it out.

I believe they are holding a conference in Baltimore later this fall and a few of our coworking friends will be attending.

Craig

[John Saddington]

i'm a little late to this thread... but is it only me that's bothered by the idea that it was just a "tack on" to an existing org? Why not create an entirely new one dedicated to our space and movement? I doubt this legacy org would serve us well globally...

just 2 cents....

[Jerome Chang]

GWA was not a tack-on. It was renamed from OBCAI. 

There is no "coworking org". Been tried and failed, particularly at a gathering of some 30 coworking veterans last year. Some strongly feel the very existence of a national org felt institutional and goes against the organic, starfish structure that has grown this grassroots movement this successfully. Some strongly advocated toward an infrastructure and economies of scale. 

The result was a non-decision. 

Jerome

www.BLANKSPACES.com

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[John Saddington]

so you're saying that the movement isn't strong enough to sustain it's own affiliation like that of a GWA? perhaps sometime in the future?

i'm all for the organic development... in fact, coworking for a number of reasons and perspective not institutional. good convo here. thanks jerome!

[Alex Hillman]

I think the point is that there won't be one association. There will probably be a few, as we've already seen emerge, LEXC being one of them.

Along those lines, and the point I think you were making originally, is that whatever successful association(s) emerge are likely reflect coworking values, rather than simply follow association models because they already exist. 

I'm one of the proponents of Starfish-style alliances where there's limited centralization. There are downsides as well, but I think the upsides outweigh them not just in terms of growth, but resilience.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Starfish-Spider-Unstoppable-Organizations/dp/1591841437

-Alex

--

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

building a community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/iSzv4rBMjUEJ.

[Steve King]

I was at the Global Workspace Association Annual Conference two weeks ago in Baltimore.  It was quite good.  I wrote a blog post on what I felt were the key learnings.  It's at:  http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2012/09/learnings-from-the-global-workspace-association-conference.html 

The coworking world was represented with Nextspace, Workbar and a few others attending.

I was very impressed with the group and the level of interaction.  A lot of smart folks were in the room.  And a lot of the business centers are doing interesting things.  

Steve

[John Saddington]

steve,

thanks for this. great post! very interesting findings about corps allowing their employees to work at coworking spots.

Steve

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Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
 
 

--
John Saddington

http://john.do

[Alec Grant]

All,

I'm all in favour of there being multiple groups or associations to help drive the coworking movement. But what I'm afraid of is the unnecessary duplication of effort that might occur because of this. If multiple groups are all doing exactly the same thing then it will take longer for us all to get closer to whatever the end goal is. There will clearly be localised or regional issues and these would clearly make sense to be dealt with a specific group. But for common issues I think we should probably try to deal with them together.

Regards,

Alec

[Alex Hillman]

Duplication is going to happen regardless, it's unavoidable. 

The alternative is constant stalemate due to disagreements. That's why there's no "one" entity that makes sense. 

So long as people are still communicating and sharing, plenty will be captured and accomplished!

-Alex 

--
/ah
indyhall.org
coworking in philadelphia

[John Saddington]

I'm with alex on this as there's very little that can be done. enterprising (and profiteering) will occur as a natural course of people's ambition - all we can hope for is that collaboration will continue to grow and innovation will be borne out of institution.

[Leif Utne]

Yup, duplication breeds resilience.

Sent from my iPhone

[manuel zea - coworkingspain.es]

I just take a look globalworkspace.org.

It looks nice, but there is not any location listed in europe.

I think we should make our own global association with coworking philosophy and that means that the association has to be born from the differents coworkings countries community. 

Not just USA

I think a great step to make it possible, its starting talking with those who are reference in their own countries and make this association possible with all this people.

[Anni Roolf]

I agree with you, Manuel. Global must be decentralized. Anni

--

[Miles Fidelman]

Anni Roolf wrote:
But networked!

> I agree with you, Manuel. Global must be decentralized. Anni
>
> Am 02.10.2012 13:02, schrieb manuel zea - coworkingspain.es:
>> I just take a look globalworkspace.org.
>> It looks nice, but there is not any location listed in europe.
>> I think we should make our own global association with coworking
>> philosophy and that means that the association has to be born from
>> the differents coworkings countries community.
>> Not just USA
>> I think a great step to make it possible, its starting talking with
>> those who are reference in their own countries and make this
>> association possible with all this people.
>>

>> El lunes, 30 de julio de 2012 17:33:31 UTC+2, Toni Hogan escribi�:

>>
>> Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...
>>
>> --
>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
>>
>>
>
> --
> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
>
>

--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra

[Alex Hillman]

I've said it before in this thread but I'll say it again:

If you haven't already, consider reading http://www.amazon.com/The-Starfish-Spider-Unstoppable-Organizations/dp/1591841437

Especially to succeed globally, where culture and language varies so widely, there are many legs to the starfish but a decentralized neural network that allows for any one leg to be damaged or fractured and the starfish is able to regenerate. As Leif said, it's a layer of resilience on top of the growth. It's a model at use in coworking spaces, and it makes sense for our version of "coworking associations" to learn from.

-Alex

--

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

building a community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

On Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Miles Fidelman wrote:

Anni Roolf wrote:

But networked!

I agree with you, Manuel. Global must be decentralized. Anni

Am 02.10.2012 13:02, schrieb manuel zea - coworkingspain.es:

I just take a look globalworkspace.org.

It looks nice, but there is not any location listed in europe.

I think we should make our own global association with coworking

philosophy and that means that the association has to be born from

the differents coworkings countries community.

Not just USA

I think a great step to make it possible, its starting talking with

those who are reference in their own countries and make this

association possible with all this people.

El lunes, 30 de julio de 2012 17:33:31 UTC+2, Toni Hogan escribió:

Has anyone ever heard of this organization? If so, do tell...

--

Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com

--

Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com

[John Saddington]

read it. amazing book. +1 on that alex!

John Saddington

http://john.do

[Jeannine]

I think we have a global organization already.  I think we need more, as Anni says, networking.

I also think that we should have, as Alex says, a europe-centered coworking group, as part of the Global group.  The closest we have so far is a Facebook group.  Which is a good start, but we can do better than that.

I would also like to see much more from Asia: but Asia is also an entire continent with many languages and cultures and so forth to contend with.

In the US, they don't have language issues and so forth to contend with, at least not on the same scale.  So it all goes easier, there is more interation, more gets done faster.  This means we have to have some more effort from our side.  Not to separate; but to bring together in its fullness.

That's my goal, anyway.

Jeannine

[Jacob Sayles]

Yes we do have a global organization and a very effective "association".  We all associate with the word "coworking".  For such a vastly diverse group of people this is more then enough.  This is beautiful.  Our success in Seattle is amplified because of our association with all of you.  We express our appreciation for this group by giving back in every way we can.  

Can we collectively do more?  Yes, but it can't be all in the same direction.  We have exploded on the world because we are going in all directions, and quickly.  It is also important to note that there is more then enough energy in this movement to overcome any need for efficiency.  

We have many tools to work with and we can be most effective if we use and appreciate each one for its strengths.  Globally we are bridging the connections between all of us.  Locally we bond together and get things done.  We are united.  We are Coworking.  Each one of us can take that home and set a damn good example of what we personally believe that means.  

Jacob

---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com -  (206) 323-6500

--

[rachel young]

I don't think it's about strength at all. We've certainly proved with 1800+ spaces around the world that there is strength in numbers. But rather, there's no agreement on how to form and structure an association, if an association is needed, and what is the purpose of the association, how we network/connect, etc. Many people have many ideas.

We've discussed this topic at various times on this list. Some people have very strong opinions against an association, some have a strong interest in starting one, some in both camp have left the industry, some are brand new. Our movement is still young, and I think that starting in our own backyards is a great step towards something bigger (again, if the bigger is even necessary). On a smaller scale we can work out best practices, try projects, think about protocols and iron out purpose. Then maybe we can start linking them together in future. 

Toronto was ready to band together and raise the profile of coworking locally, then we started CoworkingOntario so that spaces in the farther reaching areas in our province could connect and meet up, but the province also affects policy for small businesses, and together we could be be effective as one provincial-wide group. Now I'm sending out a message to all of the Canadian spaces about a national group that could develop into an actual national association because I see a different need for all Canadian spaces to be recognised as one cohesive legal entity. And some spaces might not want to participate, and that's fine. Others will. But each of our coworking groups, municipal, provincial, and federal, has a different and distinct purpose than the other, and a continental or global organisation would also be something different.

I highly recommend at least regional groups or associations or collectives. Band together with your local coworking spaces in your city or state or province and do some great things together. Nothing bad can come from getting together as one cohesive group that can be recognised locally. It's all to raise the profile of coworking in your area. Every area is unique. Prove the model on a smaller scale and see where that takes you.

r.

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[Anni Roolf]

@Jacob: Beautiful statement.

@Jeannine & all:

Do you all already know all the continental groups on facebook (for sure also for Asia)?

Coworking Asia: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowoasia/
Coworking Africa: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowoafrica/
Coworking Australia Oceania: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowoaustraliaoceania/
Coworking Europe: https://www.facebook.com/groups/coworkingeurope/
Coworking Northamerica: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowonorthamerica/
Coworking Southamerica: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowosouthamerica/
Coworking Worldwide: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowoworld/

Let's continue to weave global coworking networks ... :-)
There are so different ways to do it. Fascinating to observe this process.

Best, Anni

[Alex Hillman]

I love what Anni has done with the continental Coworking groups on Facebook and that she's taken the reigns. 

Part of my vision for http://discuss.coworking.com is a similar effort for longform discussion, where we can "fake" sub-forums. I can add additional google groups to the nav easily, so we could have regional groups with their own moderation, etc, shown along side this global and more general group. It's additive, not duplicative. 

I'd need to know that the regional lists are going to be tended to and not just left to rot - we all know that communities need gardening - but I'd love to accelerate and add more "sub-groups" alongside this one on the Discuss site. 

Thoughts?

--
/ah
indyhall.org
coworking in philadelphia

[Anni Roolf]

@Alex: Do you mean continental & country groups for the mailing list? I would support it.
Could be a strong accelerator.

I'm interested to include not only the classical coworking regions.

[Alex Hillman]

Yes - basically create coworking-europe, coworking-africa, coworking-northamerica, etc groups. 

They'd each have their own subscriber base and their own moderators. It's a LITTLE clunky because you'd have to manage multiple subscriptions, but so long as all of the groups run basically the same join/moderation policies it'd be pretty easy. 

And of course if it doesn't work, we can kill off the "dead" groups and let the growing ones thrive. 

-Alex

--

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

building a community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

[Anni Roolf]

Why not starting it today? ;-) What do we need to start it?
A moderator / a team of moderators for each continent?
What else?

-Anni

[Alex Hillman]

That's it. :)

--

/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

building a community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org

[Justin Harley]

Guys 

The enthusiasm is amazing ! Keep it up

I was at the global workspace association and I am from London  and there were people from all round the world ! 

I thought it so cool how Accenture described their vision for their employees! What an insight and what a business opportunity for co working - we must learn how to take advantage so it affects the bottom line!

As coworkers we need to learn how to tap this market - I say thanks gwa I learnt lots  - my question is how would we involve them do we can tap their experience and knowledge ?

Any ideas

Justin

Sent from my iPhone

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[Stefania Burra]

Hi all, sorry for being late on the discussion.

In Italy coworking is spreading, let you know where you can participate to the discussions

coworking italia google group coworkin...@googlegroups.com

facebook italia group (sharing and discussing on italian coworking movement) http://www.facebook.com/groups/coworkingitalia/

facebook Espresso Coworking group (1st italian unconference about coworking and work, now sharing local/global coworking projects) http://www.facebook.com/groups/espressocoworking/

Have a nice day, Stefania

2012/10/2 Anni Roolf <anni...@gmx.de>

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