> Hey Jonathan, I think you are on the right track with these metrics and in > understanding that many audiences, like economic development groups (and > public companies) need to be able to translate their involvement into a > tangible ROI. Metrics are essential to this. This doesn't mean that one > has to abandon the community focus as priority #1, #2 and #3. It just means > we need to be able to translate our story appropriately depending on the > audience. Sorry for preaching to the choir. I've seen it work first hand > in securing the active support of a local Mayor, who then put real dollars > behind paying members fees, just to bring more entrepreneurs to her City. > Would love to share more details. Are you heading to Austin next week? > > Mark Gilbreath LiquidSpace
> > > On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 1:04 PM, Jonathan Yankovich < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> > Jonathan said: >> > > for local/regional/state/national groups interested in coworking, to >> support >> > > the cause and show people the real value using numbers as opposed to >> the >> > > more ephemeral attributes that we're talking about here. >> >> Alex said: >> >> > To what end? *Sounds* great but most governments and coworking space >> > owners/operators/founders won't have a clue what to do with these >> "metrics" >> > other than throw them at the EDCs and, well, I've already written about >> > that: >> http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/12/on-economic-development-centers-and-coworking/ >> >> I think its more about communicating the value of this new model to >> the people who hold the purse strings in communities when it comes >> to. In Madison, our city economic development champion "gets" >> coworking and sees it as the future, but recognizes that few of the >> people who are generally involved with economic development decisions >> and about how to spend government money really understand it the way >> we do. >> >> Some of the questions I've been asked: >> >> - How many sqft does a space need to be successful? >> - How quickly does membership typically grow? >> - How many members can be supported per sqft? >> - How many "jobs" and "businesses" are generally created and over what >> period of time? >> >> Answering these kinds of questions will give "EDC's" information that >> they can understand in the context they're used to. These folks are >> used to things like business plan contests (not coworking), >> "incubators" (not coworking), and tax subsidies for small businesses >> (not coworking). If we want them to understand the value of >> coworking, we have to present information about it in a way that they >> can "get". I was hoping that by gathering metrics we could do this, >> but based on feedback from many people on this list, it sounds like a >> problem that we perhaps shouldn't even try to solve ... for now. >> >> But to answer your question - To what end? To the end of getting >> funding, tax breaks, etc from cities to promote the growth of >> coworking. >> >> _jonathan yankovich >> >> -- >> 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.
