Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
We used to use an old classroom sized chalkboard but then we outgrew it and now have a large chalkboard painted on the wall. We also used to go to Wallgreens on the corner and have them printed for about $.08/print but at some point along the way switched to a Canon Selphy printer to the tune of about $.28/print… but we don’t have to order them and walk up to the store. I wouldn’t recommend this printer as it is kind of a pain but I’m not sure what else is out there. We have 180 members and we also put dog photos up there so it’s a lot of photos.
The other thing to think about is how you make sure the right photos are up there, and that exiting members come down. We use Nadine to alert us to take new member photos and when they leave it reminds us to take them down. Otherwise it’s easy to end up with old members that are on there forever.
Oh and we started a New Member board where we keep photos for one month. That has been well received.
On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 7:53 AM, Gretchen Bilbro [email protected] wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
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We use an instant camera here at Epicentral in Colorado Springs. I like it because I think it has a better feel than printed pictures, it has more of a personal touch. The only real drawback is the cost of film, and sometimes members want two or three pictures to choose from. If it is an instant camera or digital, I think the most important part is that you take the picture of the member. Having a member email you a picture to print takes away from an opportunity to interact with a new member face to face. To hang the pictures, we use cork tiles. This way you can expand the board as you add members and there is never a lot of empty space. Jacob, I love the idea of a new member board.
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 8:53:37 AM UTC-7, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
We used to print them and stick them to the Windows, but with more than 170 members it became too much work to keep it updated for very little actual value for the members. Now we just stick to online: betacowork.com/coworkers
I was inspired by bulletin boards at an office I used to work at, with photos of employees doing what they’re passionate about: fishing trip, silly faces on a plane, hugging their kids, etc.
At Collective Agency we have hallways with white walls, and as people come in, the photos are on the walls. Most photos have a series of questions and answers below that most members fill out the answers to when they join – a mini-interview. I use double-sided tape on the pages, which makes it easy to move them around, and add new members, and provide a sense of continuity and anyone-can-do-this relaxed feel.
We tried online bios years ago, but that quickly did not work – it wasn’t supporting the reasons why we exist (in the minds of the people who are willing to value us by paying), and actually detracted value.
Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon http://collectiveagency.co/
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:53:37 AM UTC-8, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
I’m also a big fan of offline, low-tech solutions…especially within the space itself. Photos of members’ experiences - things that show off life in and outside of the coworking space - sound awesome.
But we also ran into the problem with analog photos (using the Instax camera) getting dreadfully out of date…or running out of film…
And really, it wasn’t as useful as we’d hoped. The goal of having photos is to help people learn (or remember) names along with faces since that’s easily one of the hardest parts about joining. And for a long time, I was really really resistant to an online directory/bios, especially ones that focus on their skills. The big reason for THAT is because we want people to connect and have conversations about things other than what they do (see: Conversation Therapy | Alex Hillman)
But our community doesn’t just “happen" inside the coworking space. In fact, some of you have heard me say this year that 70% of our members use a desk less than once a month…but they’re still active in our online discussion community spaces between coworking days and events. Those members don’t get to see the analog photo wall when realistically they’re the ones who would benefit from it the most.
So one of our members started this project, which has been picked up as a collaborative effort led by one of our team members: http://hello.indyhall.org/member-wall/
It’s NOT online bios…just photos and names, and really nice photos! We currently only have around 20% of our community on here and it’s a slow process to add people, but it’s been worth it because these photos can live in lots of places.
Most recently, we brought the online photo wall back offline by connecting it to our Lounge TV via a Chromecast. It rotates through member photos with their names, and current events/announcements/reminders. Looks like this:
Still a work in progress, but it’s been working 
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com
On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 3:52 AM, Alex Linsker [email protected] wrote:
I was inspired by bulletin boards at an office I used to work at, with photos of employees doing what they’re passionate about: fishing trip, silly faces on a plane, hugging their kids, etc.
At Collective Agency we have hallways with white walls, and as people come in, the photos are on the walls. Most photos have a series of questions and answers below that most members fill out the answers to when they join – a mini-interview. I use double-sided tape on the pages, which makes it easy to move them around, and add new members, and provide a sense of continuity and anyone-can-do-this relaxed feel.
We tried online bios years ago, but that quickly did not work – it wasn’t supporting the reasons why we exist (in the minds of the people who are willing to value us by paying), and actually detracted value.
Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon http://collectiveagency.co/
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:53:37 AM UTC-8, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
–
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I also loved the analog idea and I don’t think that as coworking spaces we have to create any kind of virtual social network, but our online directory with search and easy connecting is very useful. From the beginning the idea of the online directory has been to showcase the members and help them connect and be found, and also to remove me and the rest of the staff as bottlenecks.
The public directory only displays about half of the members, but it is the 3rd most visited page of our site, mostly by members trying to find others with whom to speak or a name they forgot. A lot of visits come also from companies looking for freelancers to hire.
The private directory (members choose to display their profile publicly or only to other members) also has a contact form so that you can send an email directly to any member. Anything that makes it easier for members to connect is welcome
On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 6:08 PM, Alex Hillman [email protected] wrote:
I’m also a big fan of offline, low-tech solutions…especially within the space itself. Photos of members’ experiences - things that show off life in and outside of the coworking space - sound awesome.
But we also ran into the problem with analog photos (using the Instax camera) getting dreadfully out of date…or running out of film…
And really, it wasn’t as useful as we’d hoped. The goal of having photos is to help people learn (or remember) names along with faces since that’s easily one of the hardest parts about joining. And for a long time, I was really really resistant to an online directory/bios, especially ones that focus on their skills. The big reason for THAT is because we want people to connect and have conversations about things other than what they do (see: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2014/08/conversation-therapy/)
But our community doesn’t just “happen" inside the coworking space. In fact, some of you have heard me say this year that 70% of our members use a desk less than once a month…but they’re still active in our online discussion community spaces between coworking days and events. Those members don’t get to see the analog photo wall when realistically they’re the ones who would benefit from it the most.
So one of our members started this project, which has been picked up as a collaborative effort led by one of our team members: http://hello.indyhall.org/member-wall/
It’s NOT online bios…just photos and names, and really nice photos! We currently only have around 20% of our community on here and it’s a slow process to add people, but it’s been worth it because these photos can live in lots of places.
Most recently, we brought the online photo wall back offline by connecting it to our Lounge TV via a Chromecast. It rotates through member photos with their names, and current events/announcements/reminders. Looks like this:
Still a work in progress, but it’s been working
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com
On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 3:52 AM, Alex Linsker [email protected] wrote:
I was inspired by bulletin boards at an office I used to work at, with photos of employees doing what they’re passionate about: fishing trip, silly faces on a plane, hugging their kids, etc.
At Collective Agency we have hallways with white walls, and as people come in, the photos are on the walls. Most photos have a series of questions and answers below that most members fill out the answers to when they join – a mini-interview. I use double-sided tape on the pages, which makes it easy to move them around, and add new members, and provide a sense of continuity and anyone-can-do-this relaxed feel.
We tried online bios years ago, but that quickly did not work – it wasn’t supporting the reasons why we exist (in the minds of the people who are willing to value us by paying), and actually detracted value.
Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon http://collectiveagency.co/
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:53:37 AM UTC-8, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
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Ramon Suarez
Serendipity Accelerator, Betacowork
Author: http://coworkinghandbook.com
email & hangouts: [email protected]
Phone: +3227376769
GSM: +32497556284
Twitter:http://twitter.com/ramonsuarez
Skype: ramonsuarez
Try coworking: http://betacowork.com
This is a great post! I’m researching member walls (In my recollection, the idea originated from Office Nomads and Jacob and Susan shared it with many of us almost 5 years ago, in Santa Monica, but perhaps others were doing it at that time as well.) I’d love to see the photos of each of your member walls (the Office Nomads wall is still one of my favorites) and how you display them. This is such a visual aspect of the space that this conversation would be really helped by a visual representation.
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:53:37 AM UTC-8, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen
We have a members board just off reception which has polaroid photos of all our members + alumni, we actually have one of our old team members come in and take the photos and then get them printed up to look like polaroids as the cost of a camera and film outweighed the local printers. The members board works in a few ways - it helps members feel like part of the community instantly as they see themselves up on the wall with everyone else, other members can have a look to make sure they remember people’s names and its also great for potential members/investors to see the growing community visually. We have over 150 members and yet if you come in for the day on average you’ll see around 30-40 so the board really helps prove the concept.
As Alex said we don’t rely on the board, the photos just state the names of members. We also have a thriving online intranet which is where a lot of the community chat and share ideas. As I said on a typical day we can have 40 members in and some members we won’t see for months, however they don’t feel like they aren’t part of the community as they engage with everyone here.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Members Boards are great for non-members to see, but intranets are amazing for members and the community and they’re the real members board
On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 3:53:37 PM UTC, Gretchen Bilbro wrote:
Hi all,
What have you used to create your member boards? I have a giant old metal sign that I want to use for the board itself and place photos with brief write ups on with magnets for our member board. For those that have done something similar did you print photos on your printer or buy an instant camera for this purpose? I seem to recall hearing at GCUC last year that the instant camera idea was not the best option but can’t remember why or who said that. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Gretchen