Oh. Traditional is fine. I just thought having much further discussion
about a co-op would be reinventingte wheel. From what I've seen, we
have two related proposals:
1. National org/network/co-op
2. National conference
Forming #1 would assign the people/resources toward creating #1 and at
the same time, create add'l discussions/collaborations/benefits
throughout the year regardless of the conference.
I have been collaborating with the head of ABCN already. That org is a
global network of exec centers. Coworking technically falls under a
niche within biz centers and I've just proposed to ABCN to create a
new, separate group. We utilize their experience with alliances and
therefore their infrastructure.
Any thoughts or serious objections?
Jerome
On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:13 PM, Mike Schinkel
<[email protected]> wrote:
Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all
coworking facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to
an org that returns them benefits, etc.
So, do you think "traditional" is good or bad?
-Mike
On Feb 7, 2010, at 4:16 PM, Jerome Chang wrote:
Sounds like a "traditional" alliance or org that services all
coworking facilities. Members pitch in a monthly/yearly amount to
an org that returns them benefits, etc.
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"
www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)
On Feb 7, 2010, at 7:44 AM, Mike Schinkel wrote:
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 be
st practices, set some protocols for future coworking location
s 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
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