Great article...only thing I would push back on is: "Give people what they ask for"
As many spaces have experienced, what people ask for and what the actually want are two different things. CubeSpace in Portland suffered because of this. People wanted offices and cubes and photocopiers and their dedicated phonelines, etc. They worked with the local community to determine that these things were in high demand. But when they opened, they struggled to keep people in the space...most of them headed over to Souk, which is mostly open space, has no dedicated phonelines, limited copying/printing resources and very different from what ppl filled out on the survey. At the end of the day, it isn't "Give people what they ask for" nor is it "Force something you want on people" - it's something different. Community. Understanding what people really need. Creating an atmosphere. An experience. A reason for people to want to get out of their PJ's and trudge over to a space to work with others. Hell, if that is offices blended with open space, so be it. But the blend doesn't always work - even when people have asked for it. T On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 1:45 PM, Clark Covington <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi, > > Cowork space owner, and active reader of this Google Group here. Let > me preface this note by explaining that I absolutely love this group. > It is a wonderfully rich well of knowledge that I dip into often as > the owner of a new coworking space. Many people in this group have > personally helped me including Mike from Ignition Alley, Tara via her > book Whuffie Factor from Citizen Space, and the folks at CoLab Orlando > to name just a few. So by no means am I trying to argue with those > that know far more about this concept than I. However, from what I’ve > seen the genuine need in what people are at least telling me they want > out of a workspace is the hybrid model of having both private offices > and common space. > > I’ve written a blog post fleshing out my feelings about what people > really want in a coworking space here. After talking with dozens of > building owners, leasing agents, possible tenants, current tenants, > and other facility owners this post was my conclusion of where the > demand truly exists. If you have time over the holidays I’d be > thrilled if you’d give it a look. > > > http://clarkcovington.blogspot.com/2009/12/give-them-what-they-want-or-go-home.html > > Thanks and Happy Holidays, > Clark Covington > > -- > > 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]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > -- tara 'missrogue' hunt Book: The Whuffie Factor (http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com) Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://horsepigcow.com) Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missrogue phone: 514-679-2951 -- 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.
