Hi there,
I currently help manage two very different coworking spaces. One is a very social, elite “social club” where we filter membership applications to build an intentional community. The other is a quiet, independent space. We allow anyone interested to get a desk in the latter and, as a consequence, we tend to get members who just want a place to work with very little networking or community building. We’ve got some plans to help build a community (member-led presentations, office happy hours, etc.), but are there other inexpensive ways to build community and market the space to get more members? Does anyone have experience managing this type of space?
Thanks so much!
Chris
I’ve been wondering the same thing for a while. My space has been open for a year, we’ve had strong growth and our members always tell us they love working there, but nearly everyone seems totally uninterested in socializing or networking. We try doing happy hours, game nights, film screenings and speakers but everyone really just wants to come in and get their work done.
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On Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 11:51:42 AM UTC-5, Chris Lindsey wrote:
Hi there,
I currently help manage two very different coworking spaces. One is a very social, elite “social club” where we filter membership applications to build an intentional community. The other is a quiet, independent space. We allow anyone interested to get a desk in the latter and, as a consequence, we tend to get members who just want a place to work with very little networking or community building. We’ve got some plans to help build a community (member-led presentations, office happy hours, etc.), but are there other inexpensive ways to build community and market the space to get more members? Does anyone have experience managing this type of space?
Thanks so much!
Chris
Hi Chris and Jensen,
I have a little bit the same issue, I can’t really give you a solution, but I can share my experience.
People really enjoy working at Laptop, the communication is really word of mouth and apparently a not too bad SEO strategy thanks to articles on coworking.
But my community wants to keep this place quite private and hate we’re organising too many events.
I don’t select people (maybe I should?) but people chose us throughout the lunch integration process and spending time together during our drinks, people think they could be part of the community or not, those who stay are great for the whole community, they truly bring something new!
And so we work on lots of projects together because we like each other and we try to combine our different skills which makes our teams very original and pluridisciplinary. We’re thinking about creating a cooperative company together.
So in one hand, it tends to be like a coworking agency which goes well, and in the other hand a coworking place with very high quality events once a month (100-200 people attending), drinks once a week (5-20 people), lunches every day (from 5 to 15 people) attracts not a big crowd but just enough to pay the rent and all the rest.
But is there anything wrong with wanting a quiet space in which to get work done? 
As a writer, I actively seek that, and if you’ve got a great space that allows me to do that, chances are good that I’ll tell others about it. Even though I can get a lot of work done in cafes, I’d sometimes like an option other than Starbucks, because whiel I like working at home, I sometimes go a bit stir crazy. Why do you think you need to “build community”? Genuinely curious–trying to learn.
Cynthia
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On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 12:48:28 PM UTC-7, Jensen Yancey wrote:
I’ve been wondering the same thing for a while. My space has been open for a year, we’ve had strong growth and our members always tell us they love working there, but nearly everyone seems totally uninterested in socializing or networking. We try doing happy hours, game nights, film screenings and speakers but everyone really just wants to come in and get their work done.
On Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 11:51:42 AM UTC-5, Chris Lindsey wrote:
Hi there,
I currently help manage two very different coworking spaces. One is a very social, elite “social club” where we filter membership applications to build an intentional community. The other is a quiet, independent space. We allow anyone interested to get a desk in the latter and, as a consequence, we tend to get members who just want a place to work with very little networking or community building. We’ve got some plans to help build a community (member-led presentations, office happy hours, etc.), but are there other inexpensive ways to build community and market the space to get more members? Does anyone have experience managing this type of space?
Thanks so much!
Chris
Hi Cynthia,
We’re on the same line: keeping the space quiet to keep focus is the priority 1 here at Laptop!
To tell you how much the calm counts for our community is that I had to invest on another space next to the original one to keep the openspace highly quiet and give the space for noise, discussion, collaboration, workshops, trainings…
But building a community is also very important in parallel to develop expertises synergy between coworkers, it develop business opportunities, build stronger relationships and friendships. It makes the space alive and brings boldness to the group.
Happy to discuss more about “building community” benefits for a space, coworker, owner and one of the condition of happiness at work! This is a wide topic, it has probably been commented many times in this coworking google group!
Cheers,
Pauline