Thanks Tatjana, The question of non-profits has come up before. There's an inordinate amount of them in our smallish city, over 430 at last count. I think your "Friends of" idea could work well and is a natural evolution of what our early brainstorming conversations were proposing. You certainly have helped that conversation along.
*Glen Ferguson* Phone: 301-732-5165 Email: [email protected] Website: http://coworkfrederick.com Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701 On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 4:28 AM, TatjanaRose <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Glen, > > Just to jump in here, when we first opened we had a number of large > established meetups contact us about using the space for free - we heard > the same phrase over and over again about how we would gain exposure etc. > however, we quickly worked out that this simply wasn't true and I later > discovered that some of these same networks had paid venues in the past and > also had venue sponsorship coming through. After that we decided no free > event space - our members receive up to 50% room hire discount and we > quickly found that there were groups and individuals who are happy to pay, > and who value your space. > That been said about six months ago we decided to take another look at > this approach, our front room area was being used more and more as a > meeting space by our members and we also had some established not for > profits booking space with us. As a CiC we decided to create a 'Friends of > the Guild' membership where we invited 20 not for profits to become > members, we didn't charge and they got access to our front space where they > could meet a guest for free and 50% room hire discount. Of the 20 invited > about half took up the offer and we now see many of them using the front > space, which helps create a buzz in there, we also noticed more importantly > that they were booking our charged rooms more and more as they felt > encouraged, supported and a certain amount of loyalty in doing so. > > We did check and this is something that our members supported, in fact > they recently suggested widening the offer to students. > > In regards to meetups and networks we have a policy where if they are ran > by one of our members then they can use the front space for free - no > staffing is provided and a member needs to be on site at anyone time. Again > as a result we have noticed an increase in bookings from those attending. > > Hope that helps. > > Tatjana > > On Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 8:43:13 PM UTC+1, Glen Ferguson wrote: >> >> Thanks Tony & Alex, and thanks for some new ideas I can offer. I'll see >> how they go over. >> >> >> >> >> *Glen Ferguson* >> Phone: 301-732-5165 >> Email: [email protected] >> Website: http://coworkfrederick.com >> Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701 >> >> On Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 7:38 PM, Alex Linsker <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi Glen, I can totally relate to what Tony wrote about costs and valuing >>> a place. At Collective Agency, we started out with a no charge option, and >>> that worked great until many unintented consequences happened. >>> >>> I'm very happy to rent out conference rooms for meetups and user groups. >>> Members get 3 hours per day in conference rooms. Non-members pay. Event >>> space rental is always paid, for up to 45 or up to 125 people, and only >>> after hours. >>> >>> I do not think groups or boards or companies can be responsible for an >>> event. I think individuals can be responsible. If one person isn't >>> responsible for something, no one is responsible, is a belief I have. But >>> individuals can work together, and responsible decisive responsive leaders, >>> and setting assertive limits, and systems and processes, is the best. >>> >>> Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon >>> >>> -- >>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Coworking" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
