The "information-night-a-couple-of-weeks-before" is great. Many people encourage me to do that.
Also if you can, invite someone in the media area that could publish something on a blog, newspaper, radio or even TV. If you do that, you'll need a website, and on the website you can also capture interested members that can apply for early membership reservations. On Oct 11, 12:43 am, dbradby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Tony, > > While I am still in the process of setting up a space (in Melbourne, > Aus) I can give you some insights into our progress and the advice I > have received here previously. > > We have currently signed a (multi-year) lease without having any > members provide any commitment. In the early stages this seemed like a > risky thing to do, but all my communications with interested people > (which is so far getting near 50!) confirmed that no one wanted to > commit to anything without physically seeing the space. Initially I > was frustrated that I would have to be the one who makes the long term > commitment on the lease while everyone else held back and waited. But > when I was honest with myself I knew I would feel the same way. The > reason we can make that long term commitment was that we had control > over the location and layout of the space, where potential members > didn't. > > What we did do (on a suggestion from someone in the group) was run an > information night a few weeks back and got everyone together who has > expressed interest. This worked very well as it allowed us to gauge > each person's interest individually and face to face. It also allowed > the potential members to get all the info they have been after from > me, ask questions and provide us with feedback about their specific > requirements. I would encourage you to do the same, maybe not even > something so formal but instead meet down at the pub? > > Yes you do need to take a bit of a leap of faith to do it this way, > but we felt happy based on the feedback from the info night that we > would certainly have enough people to sustain a space once we > officially opened the doors. Good luck! > > Daniel Bradbywww.jtribe.com.au/openhub > > On Oct 11, 11:06 am, "Tony Bacigalupo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > Hello all, > > > I'm looking into what it would take to self-fund a new permanent coworking > > space in NYC. > > > To space owners who have gone through this already, I know some of you have > > already had members lined up before you committed to a space. Did you ask > > those members to commit to membership in writing with a deposit or anything > > before signing your lease? > > > I know of several people who are interested in joining, but I would want to > > have some kind of dependable, quantifiable measure of interest before > > committing to a lease. > > > What have your experiences been in this capacity? > > > Thanks! > > Tony --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
