I'd like to chime in as a manager of an economic development organization (EDO) that is making an investment in coworking in our community.
I work for the Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, a community of over 800,000 people spread across three cities with distinctive personalities. AEDC is a little different from other EDO's around the country in that we own property. One of our buildings has hosted a small business incubator since 1989 and over the past few years, a variety of factors led to an organizational interest in collaborative workspace. We started off by looking at hackerspace, and have since started working toward the creation of coworking space. We started off on the wrong foot (I am sure that I asked Alex some of the questions that he would rather not answer), but after following along here and visiting other space, I feel like we are headed in the right direction, i.e. focusing on the people rather than the space. I would submit two things in defense of EDO's getting engaged in coworking space. One is that despite Alex's assertion that if you are an institution you are not leading the revolution, there are people working for institutions that are pursuing revolutionary objectives. If coworking as a concept is as democratic as I believe it to be, the catalyst of space can come from an architecture, web development, graphic design, consulting or economic development. I could go on--and I certainly have reservations about the motivation for other EDO's-- but I don't think that one should universally shun involvement with local EDO's if they appear to get it. Secondly, an important role for an EDO in the creation of coworking space is education. If AEDC were not leading the charge for coworking in the Lehigh Valley, we might not see it happening here for a long time. Most of our members had not heard of coworking when we first suggested it, but have strongly embraced it since they started. Finding the critical mass in your community can be difficult without someone to convene. Again: not all EDO's are prepared to effectively support coworking. But don't write them all off. On Mar 3, 6:21 pm, Derek Neighbors <[email protected]> wrote: > Jonathan, > > It seems you are focused on the wrong things if you want to engage with > Economic Development professionals. I will be at the coworking unconference > in Austin and would be willing to talk with people about this. Gangplank > has significant partnership with it's city and in process of launching > additional sites as partners with other cities. Alex/Jerome I think your > assertions are on the right track, but I can promise that you don't have to > create a traditional coworking space in order to get the attention of the ED > in your city. In fact, doing so probably hurts you more than it helps you. > > -- > Derek Neighbors > Gangplank > > > > On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Jerome Chang <[email protected]> wrote: > > Look everyone. I know that some of you are very ambitious and creative to > > convince, say, an EDC to invest in coworking. But to provide industry-wide > > metrics for traditional-minded views is tough when this "industry" has just > > begun. Besides, the data is going to be all over the place. There hasn't > > been any "formula" for ramp-up, square footage effectiveness, composition of > > memberships (full-time vs. part-time, etc.)...Every facility is going to be > > different, and even if similar, probably hasn't been around long enough to > > provide any meaningful metric. > > > The only way to get meaningful metrics is for some academic grant or some > > philanthropic benefactor to finance the resources to gather such fragmented > > and very early data. > > > So like Alex has recommended many times over, just focus on your facility, > > your community and use your common sense to adjust as req'd. > > > Jerome > > ______________ > > BLANKSPACES > > "work FOR yourself, not BY yourself" > > >www.blankspaces.com > > 5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) > > Los Angeles, CA 90036 > > > 1450 2nd Street (@ Broadway) > > Santa Monica, CA 90401 > > > 323.330.9505 (office) > > > On Mar 3, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Alex Hillman wrote: > > > 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. > > > Maybe it's just a philosophical difference but we've intentionally gone the > > OTHER direction, building things in a way that doesn't require or need the > > city for growth. In fact, most of our interactions with the city (and > > they're happening regularly) involve a conversation that goes something > > like, "We love what you guys are doing, and more importantly, that you're > > not doing it with your hand out." To us, NOT needing them is just as > > important as helping them. Needing them in order to help them isn't really > > helping them in the long term. > > > 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? > > > I get these too. 3-5 times a week. Just because they ask a question doesn't > > mean answering that question is the right answer. > > >http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/11/where-jobs-come-from/ > > > Giving them answers that satiate them is nice and all, but there's SO much > > more value in pushing them to rethink the questions they're asking. When > > folks from these organizations (private or public sector) want to understand > > coworking better, I give them the same answer that I give members interested > > in coworking: *just show up.* > > > -Alex > > > /ah > > indyhall.org > > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 3:04 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... > > >> 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. > > > -- > > 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. 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