Hi all, The first thing I thought about when I saw this topic come through was "Great, yet another expense on top of all the other expenses we have."
As some of you know we operate Ignition Alley mostly as a service to our local startup and freelance community and much less to generate a profit. Attending a conference means probably $1000+ in travel expenses and that is not attractive. But then I thought "This need not be like commercial conferences, it could be in run like coworking itself as a collaborative for the benefit of those who participate and not as a way for someone to make money." So at a very high level I'd like to propose the following without having worked out all the details: -- Create a coworking facility co-op -- Each facility that wants to can participate in the co-op -- The co-op runs the conference -- Co-op members work to get sponsors -- The co-op markets to economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, and major corporations[1] for paid attendance -- Co-op members get their cut of the profits which help them pay to attend the event Thoughts? -Mike Schinkel Ignition Alley Atlanta Coworking http://ignitionalley.com [1] Major corporations are starting to look to the coworking model to be greener in facility use and to maximize worker/space density to cut costs. On Feb 3, 2010, at 10:30 PM, rachel young wrote: > > I think an annual coworking conference is a great idea, something dedicated > to coworking, not tacked on to another event. Something where we could focus > on coworking and community issues, meet each other, see one another's cities > and spaces. I'm in! > > There would have to be a lot of value to it in order to bring these already > busy and stretched folks our of their spaces for a few days, though, > something that could leverage our buying power for, I dunno, office furniture > or health care benefits or travel discounts or something. Something where we > can not only have those providers/suppliers sponsor the event to offset > costs, but to provide real value that would be worth traveling for. > > I've been involved in a few organisations that are spread across multiple > timezones or parts of the world, and they have decided on location in similar > fashions, which is basically that host cities post their proposals and the > community votes on where it should be, perhaps one vote per coworking > facility. We can build in assurance that it won't always be in the same > cities or parts of the country all the time so that people in, say, the west > coast don't alwyas have to travel to the east coast. (ie, establish general > zones and ensure the annual event rotates between zones) > > Anyway, I think it is certainly worth exploring, and being an event planner I > am all for it. > > I put your suggested starting topics onto a wiki page > (http://coworking.pbworks.com/Coworking-Conference), which I think would be > better to collaborate from there. I do think that this would take some time > to plan out properly (and give folks some time to save up some money), so if > you were thinking of escaping the winter conditions in the next few months, > then perhaps sxswi is your better option for this year. > r. > > > -- > rachel young > [email protected] > (416) 801-0196 > > Find us in person: > Camaraderie > 102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor > > Find us online: > camaraderie.ca/blog > twitter.com/camaraderie > > > Woodie Neiss <[email protected]> Jan 30 09:49AM -0500 > > Anyone want to get together for the first International Coworking Community > Annual Meeting in ummm let’s say a warm, sunny place like Miami? Sort of a > one day event where we could discuss best practices, set some protocols for > future coworking locations and formally organize ourselves so that we can > leverage our combined power? > > > > Suggested topics to discuss (feel free to edit/add to/delete/etc) > > > > 1) Keys to success > > a. pricing > > b. Serivices to offer > > 2) Managing the bottom line > > a. Financing the start up > > b. Negotiating lease agreements > > c. Managing monthly expenses > > 3) Marketing & PR > > a. Building awareness > > b. How to generate more buzz > > c. The power of meet-ups > > d. Leveraging your chamber of commerce > > 4) Creative suggestions from some of our winning locations > > 5) How to formally organize ourselves into an International organization > > > > Perhaps we could all complete some surveys prior, and then present the > results at the meeting as well? > > > Regards, > Woodie > > > > -- > 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. -- 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.
