Getting tenants out of their cubicles (or offices)

[Rob Williams]

Good afternoon everyone!

My name is Rob Williams.  I work for the University of Northern Iowa in a co-working space (Purple Cat Co-Work, http://purplecatcowork.com/).  Our incubator/co-work manager has tasked me to reach out to all of you and gather some thoughts about how we can better pull tenants out of their offices and hang with one another.  

Unfortunately, our space setup includes many traditional closed off offices that surround an open networking area.  What we have found is that tenants are working in their offices, and not getting out and interacting with one another.  Past attempts to get people to network have included: hosting regional networking events at our location, installing an X-Box gaming system and large TV in the open area, and encouraging connections between tenants to be formed through hosting lunch-time events, etc.  We have had limited success, and are now seeking other ideas.

Other co-working facilities in Iowa have used pool/foosball tables, dart boards, and beer fridges to get people up and interacting with good results.  Right now our incubator manager is leaning quite heavily toward purchasing a foosball table as our next step.  My question to you is two-fold: which of you have something like a fooseball table (and what has been your experience), and in what other ways do you get your tenants to network with one another in the co-work space?

Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions.  It is much appreciated!

-Rob Williams

p.s. If you'd prefer, please feel free to send your thoughts to us privately via rob.wi...@myentre.net.

[Alex Hillman]

A foosball table (or any amenity like it) is a band-aid on the bigger problem.

Your tenants aren't interested in each other.

Fix the problem at its source instead: 

Work to recruit new members who are already interested in each other. If you're lucky, your "tenants" may pick up on the habits of your new "members".

There's an awesome thread about renters vs. members (and the interactions of each) here:

http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/browse_thread/thread/3229e7ffaaba2bd3/7ed8fde027589f3c?lnk=gst&q=renters#7ed8fde027589f3c

Good luck!

-Alex

/ah
indyhall.org
coworking in philadelphia

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[Solomon Kleinsmith]

I'm not anything resembling an authority on this, as I am yet to even launch my coworking space, but I take a different tack on this than Hillman does.

I don't see what you're describing as any sort of failure. You're offering space, people are using it toward a productive end - in the way they want to. Your job doesn't have to be to push them to spend their time in a particular way, in this case more socially. You create the opportunity for them to interact with each other, but if they prefer to go into their office and get work done without socializing, what is that, in the words of Hillman, a symptom of a "bigger problem"?

Is your space there to be a resource for people, or are you there to tell people how they should be running their business, using their time, etc? Is it more important to you that people interact in the way you think they should, or that you're providing a valuable service? If they don't need help, and just want to get work done in private... I'm failing to see anything at all wrong with that, or the opposite... or somewhere in between.

SK