New Coworker Welcome Packet

[Austin Storm]

Something I've observed in our relatively new coworking space (almost a year old!) is that many members originally join for pragmatic reasons - treating it as office space. They realize the benefits of the community over time, if at all. In fact, whether people make that transition is the best indicator of whether people will be around for the long haul.

We're trying to find ways to personalize our signup process - to start things off on the right foot and make signup feel less /transactional/ and more welcoming and personal.

Do you have any special welcome process in your space? Membership card? Does anyone do a 'welcome packet'? I think we could get local businesses (coffeeshops, the pizza place, arthouse theater) to underwrite or even donate gift certificates for something like that, but does that have the wrong feel?

Austin Storm

Brick & Mortar

[elliott williams]

we are starting to archive all information for our coworking space in
a git repo here:
https://github.com/catapultpgh/main

But an example of the direction we are going: "ask someone to put you
on the calendar list to reserve the conference room"

What that means basically is that instead of me signing them up for
the conference room calendar, or automating it, I'm creating a chance
for a real human interaction with a functional context.

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[Eli Malinsky]

We do a monthly orientation session for all new members. Helps them learn the ropes and also build some early connections in the space.

Eli Malinsky
Centre for Social Innovation
New York City

[Alexa Lightner]

This is a timely discussion for us at Workbar, because we're in the throws of creating a new member kit. We can relate to wanting people to understand our community values as quickly as possible, and we want to make all our members feel welcome and comfortable. 

We already have some on boarding things, such as Google groups lists for social and business topics that we add new members to, as well as a new member interview/chat with our CEO. 

Our kit is going to be a branded notebook with our manifesto printed on the first page. It's going to have a USB stick attached to it with files that have things like our community norms, how to set up the printer, best places to eat nearby, parking, etc. We're also going to include a few deals from local businesses (preferably online coupon codes that we can include in a file on the USB).

Hope that's helpful!

[Austin Storm]

That is enormously helpful, thank you. We're going try to incorporate some of these ideas and see how they work.

[Rena Tom]

We have a kit we give to new members on their first day. It's more for fun, but does has some basic rules and info included. It's member-designed and I think we'll have a different member redo it next year, to keep it fresh. http://ohmyhandmade.com/2012/contributors/making-do-for-makeshift-society/

As part of onboarding, we also set them up on our private Google Group, give them a shout out on Twitter, and give them places to share what they do (member directory and a Pinterest board). We just started a blog and are beginning to do interviews of members, as well as letting them contribute a blog post on an  business/creativity topic, if they like.

Rena

Makeshift Society

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 12:01 PM, Austin Storm <austi...@gmail.com> wrote:

That is enormously helpful, thank you. We're going try to incorporate some of these ideas and see how they work.

[Austin Storm]

That is downright gorgeous!

[Angel Kwiatkowski]

Hi Austin,

I know this thread is super old but I've only recently implemented an orientation packet for our new members. It has been amazing so far in terms of getting everyone on the same page from the moment they get their welcome email. We give it to them digitally in that first email and then they get a paper folder with the packet, a Cohere sticker and my contact info. I published our packet as a resource for other coworking operators to review for free. http://coherecommunity.com/shop/coworking-orientation-packet I'd love feedback from folks who look it over!

Angel

ps. also randomly, I just learned of a pop-up restaurant in Fort Collins, CO called Brick & Mortar!