Hey Tony, At ON, we usually only offer up our space for events after our drop-in hours have ended. As we want members (both monthly and daily) to have priority over the entire space, we tend to not do events during the "prime" hours that they'd need them (so no lunchtime events for us...thus far). Monthly members always have priority on the space (they can reserve conference rooms as they need them), as they're able to be here 24/7.
For events, we've teamed with Biznik (http://biznik.com) to offer up events - we have both free and paid events in our space and do charge a minimal fee for use of our main conference room (holds 20 people max). It's worked out really well so far and hasn't yet caused a conflict with the folks in our space. Although this method can mean that Jacob or I are at the space during several weekday evenings, it has meant that we can bring great education events into the space as well as to get new faces in the front door - all great things for us (and our members). I think there are ways in which you can run your events so you still feel like an open community space but don't feel like you're just doling out free coworking space to folks. Perhaps think about how frequently this issue is coming up for you - is it a huge [financial] risk to allow people who come to your own hosted events to stay for free if they'd like to hang around and work? We find our free first day is a great way to get people associated with our space and feel welcomed here. We tend to prioritize having people feel like they're welcomed into the space, and have not yet run into situations where we feel like we're being taken advantage of. Long story short, go with your gut. :) Good luck! S On Mar 29, 11:27 am, 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 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
