Steven, You've asked a bunch of great questions, many of which have been discussed and answered in this forum before. I suggest you search the group: http://groups.google.com/group/coworking and perhaps return with pointers to specific discussions or opportunities to ask new questions from what you can learn from those previous discussions.
Best, Alex Hillman, IndyHall, Philadelphia -- ----- -- ----- Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 12:03 PM, Steven Talcott Smith < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello Co-workers, > > I am a software consultant and sometimes entrepreneur based in Boca > Raton, Florida, and I am currently writing a report as a volunteer > project for a local economic development non-profit focused on tech > entrepreneurship. The report will cover what I think is necessary to > nurture a thriving local entrepreneurial tech community (from a > participant's perspective) and what I think the some of the > opportunities are for non-profits, for-profits and groups that don't > fit well in either category. There are many elements to this but one > thing I am looking at is the idea of a space or spaces, in locations > that are "places", that bring a stronger community aspect than > incubators and more conventional workplace setups. Community is one > of the missing elements here and I think the co-work movement has > something to say about that. I believe there is room for a lot of > different concepts and that they occupy different and potentially > mutually supportive niches. > > I became interested in co-work spaces through organizing my local Ruby > developers meetup. For a long time, until I moved into an incubator, > we lacked a place to meet. A number of us are freelancers and would > enjoy working together along with other creative professionals whether > or not anything we are working on would really qualify for an > incubator. We also continually find ourselves in need of design and > creative resources and we lack the community to make it easy to find > people we are comfortable working with. > > At RubyConf in Orlando last month, I ran into several other people who > were involved in co-work spaces in Minnesota and Washington State. > > I am primarily interested in creating a co-work space that would also > be the "natural place" for professional meetups and user groups to get > together. I am interested in what fellow co-workers think makes a > successful space and location. How important is the convenience of > public transit? How important is it to have potentially complementary > nearby (walkable) resources and businesses such as libraries, book > stores, cafes, etc? What are some surprising synergies you have > discovered? Have you seen the co-work space produce new and > successful relationships that would not have come about without it? > > Has anyone provided space for user groups to meet in the evening? Was > this successful in bringing membership and attention to the space? > How much did you go out of your way to accommodate these groups? When > the meetings break up do the members go home or do they stand outside > or go somewhere else? What about adding facilities for trainers to > use? Anyone who could teach a class on something technical or useful > professionally will struggle with finding an appropriate venue. What > about one that is designed for it? Could that be complementary to co- > working? > > How many anchor "members" (not tenants) do you need to have to begin > to realize the community benefits? > > I ask the members of this group to please point me to books I should > read or other resources you may know about that are relevant to my > report or to share personal experiences that might be enlightening for > us all. > > Very Much Appreciated, > > Steven Talcott Smith > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
