Citizen Space's drop-in table is awesome (having used it myself), but I wanted to point out another important element of communal tables.
Indy Hall is actually composed of over a dozen "clusters" of desks, that to some effect, each behave as community tables. Each cluster is also a mix of full time and flex members usage. That is, there's no such thing as an "only full time" cluster, or "only drop in" cluster. At least, we strive to avoid it. The reason? We wanted to make it so that it was difficult/unlikely that you'd find yourself sitting alone. After all, if you wanted to sit alone, you could have stayed in your dining room. By making our entire space a mix of communal tables, but each communal table having anchors in some of our full time/resident members, we've encouraged a pretty fascinating and powerful churn of people interacting. This intentional mix is one of the few "rules" we have when desks are being occupied, but how its executed is totally up to members. Any time we mix up desk arrangements (which are often designed/initiated by members), we remind them to try to keep at least one desk in any cluster available for drop-ins. As for hours...Jesse nailed it. Find ways to be open when people will actually be there. Creatively rewarding members for leading things like early/late hours has worked well for us in the past. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 12:39 PM, jesse <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Isaac, > > re table set up: > At Citizen Space, we call it the "Communal Table" or the "Drop-In" > Table and it's been wildly popular. Maybe because for Drop-Ins it's > free/donation, but as a resident/former manager of the space, I > noticed folks like sitting around a large table. It fosters discussion > and a sense of work solidarity. Our main set up is individual desks > for full-time members (the entire space is open plan), but having that > group table is truly an anchor, and for a beginning coworking space in > your situation, building community is crucial. > > And I'm going to borrow a line from Alex Hillman regarding your > hours: ask your members! Maybe the person who favors an 8am open > time can be the one to spearhead that initiative. :) You can always > change them once you get rolling. At Citizen Space, full-time > residents have 24/7 access, Drop-Ins and daily visitors are advised > to aim for 10-6. > > Hope that helps, > Jesse Taggert > > (former manager Citizen Space and coworking enthusiast) > http://www.taggert.net @jtag > http://citizenspace.us @citizenspace > > > > On Jul 26, 9:41 am, Cotec <[email protected]> wrote: > > I just started a coworking space in seattle and had a question on the > > best hours. Someone I am working with beleives we should open at 8am. > > I personaly don't won't to get moving until 10am. I was wondering what > > other spaces have seen in tbe past. > > > > When do you find the peak "coming in" time is? > > > > Also another question is table set up. I personally want to make one > > large table for people to work at with some side space in case people > > want to be more private. Are there any spaces with just a large shared > > table? And what do you think about that? > > > > Thanks everyone, > > Isaac > > -- > 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. > > -- 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.
