Hey gang,
During the call I hosted yesterday to talk through the real-time challenges of closing our coworking space due to COVID19, I recommended folks come over and check us out here on the Global Coworking Forum.
Then I realized…since a lot of people have the virus and related questions on their minds, it would probably be useful to have a specific area of the forum for that discussion to help avoid overwhelming other valuable and productive conversations.
So this morning I configured a new category called 
COVID19 Response and moved all of the existing conversations into there to make them easy to find and point to as more people come looking for help.
I also want to add that my urging people to close your space to help slow the virus is NOT a call to stop supporting your members. Quite the opposite, in fact, when this is a time that our members may need us ever before…just in different ways from providing them with space.
If you have members who run essential, life sustaining businesses, then a) I applaud you and b) encourage you to support those people and their businesses however is the safest and does not put others in harms way.
However, if you’re like MOST spaces where members can work from anywhere but they prefer working in your space together, my call is to consider the many different ways “together” can be executed and remember that physical space is only one of them, and possibly not even the most valuable one.
I’m not suggesting this will be easy, but I firmly believe that the way through this is by NOT changing our goals of supporting people by bringing them together to do their best work…but instead responding strategically to change and adapt the way we reach our goals.
If that sounds impossible, know that right now hundreds if not thousands of spaces around the world are figuring this out in real time. You can too. I shared some of my own experience yesterday and more than the techniques and advice that I shared, people have expressed how glad they are to realize they aren’t dealing with this alone.
You aren’t either. We’re here for you.
-Alex