So we've been hosting a few different types of events since our opening: 1) Our own programming (educational) 2) Our own programming (social) 3) Someone else's event (that is just getting started) 4) Someone else's event (that's been active for a while but desires a "better" venue, and is interested in us).
For our own programming, to date, everything has been totally free for members and non members. Recently, our event schedule has gotten a bit busier, we've put some more of our resources into them, and have been thinking about charging. The decision was to use the donation methodology since most people that attend our events really seem to like them. Generally (this isn't a rule, just a trend), if someone likes the event they'd donate more than we'd ask in the first place. We're going to start accepting donations for our events (educational and social) to help cover ongoing costs of managing and running them. Larger events that take more planning, we may put a fixed door price on (with a reduced rate for members)...but that really is only if we have large materials costs to cover. I think of it this way: your events are marketing to get potential users. Making them cheap or free is advantageous because you get good turnouts (no barrier to entry, no excuses). Events are the only thing we've ever had in our "marketing budget", and have had a good deal of success. Hosting someone else's event is where things get interesting and this one's up to your own philosophy. Since I'm not financially loaded, I don't have money to contribute to local groups that are doing things that we think are cool and align with our values. What we do have, is space and time (ok, we don't have time, but I'm getting good at faking it). So while I can't make a financial contribution to a new meetup/social group that I like, I can donate an evening to host their event while they get together some sponsorship money. If the event has been running for a while and simply wants to use our space regularly or from time to time, we deal with their financials on a case by case basis. Again, recently, we've had an influx of such events. We've spoken with the organizers and they've agreed to a similar model we have with our own events: it's "free" while you're getting started, but don't wear out your welcome...if you can pull together some $$ for us, we can be sure that you have this place to have your event for the long term. The organizers have been receptive and have been more than willing to pull together money by their second event, and in some cases, by their first. Also...don't be afraid to turn down events. If the event isn't something that you think is cool, you're going to be pretty bummed about hanging around late. Nothing is worse than resenting a group for keeping you late at the office. There's nothing wrong with saying no. The last thing I want to mention is that our methodologies are rooted in the fact that we wanted to foster community in Philadelphia, not just at IndyHall. -Alex, IndyHall, Philadelphia On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Tony Bacigalupo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Coworking space owners! > > I was wondering how you handled running events vis a vis your > membership systems. If you're running a lunchtime or evening event for > a couple of hours, do attendees need to have paid memberships and/or > pay for admission that day? > > It seems to me to be a bit of a tricky gray area between being an open > community space versus being a membership-based business. > > Thoughts? Tips? > > Thanks! > Tony > CoworkingNY > > > -- -- ----- -- ----- Alex Hillman round(3)media new! ask me about it digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.round3media.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
