Patagonia vests, kombucha, and a punch in the throat.
Happy Friday London Coworking Community Builders!
What happened at Space4
On Tuesday at Space4, I watched people's shoulders drop.
Nobody had to explain what their job title meant. Nobody had to justify why they care so much about a building full of people who aren't even their employees. You sat down, looked at the person next to you, and started untangling the actual friction of running a workspace.
All enabled by PONT, Nexudus, Coworks, Baseworx, Spacebring Welcome Gateand Cobot | Coworking Software - they all funded supporter tickets to make the event accessible and inclusive foreveryone who needed to be in it.
What kept coming up - in the breakout groups, over lunch, in the corridor afterwards - was that this is an education problem, not a marketing problem. You cannot hand the council a sharper brochure and expect them to suddenly see civic infrastructure where they have been trained to see commercial property.
The argument has to be built differently. And it has to be built together.
Why the London Coworking Assembly exists
Running an independent space is a lonely, high-wire act. Solving every problem alone is a fast track to burnout.
But London is not an island. Every operator in this country is having this argument alone. Explaining the value of their space to a different council officer. Proving it with different spreadsheets. Defending the same truth in isolated rooms.
The exact same friction you are facing right now is being solved by someone in Germany, Spain, or Canada.
The Coworking Alliance Summit - June 3rd
Ashley, Hector, and I are bringing together the people who run coworking assemblies, alliances, and events from all over the world. This is the fifth year we have done this, and it builds a bit more every time. Three hours, fully participatory.
If you were in one of the breakout groups at Space4 on Tuesday, it is like that - but online, with people from around the world.
Over the years, these collaborative sessions always help you meet someone who saves you from reinventing the wheel six times in six months. Show up. Share what you know. Take home what you need.
Check with your coworking alliance for a code, or grab your ticket below.
Neurodiversity and the coworking image problem
I am wildly neurodivergent. I have sensory issues in coworking spaces and around big groups of people. At Creator Day in Poole last week, Rosie Sherry and I spent parts of the day hiding in a quiet corner even though we were loving every minute of it.
Amanda Perry posted this week about working from a coworking space and calling it "sensory hell."
Over 200 reactions and 137 comments. She pointed out that 55% of business owners identify as neurodivergent - roughly 2 million people - and asked why we are still building spaces that do not work for them.
The comments are worth reading. Not because they are comfortable. They are an absolute punch in the throat.
But they are what people think about coworking.
So many of the comments describe an industry that looks like a beautifully Instagrammed life.
Beautiful people in Patagonia vests with perfect teeth, all smiling their arses off sipping kombucha.
(I say this as a man who loves his Patagonia jacket, but you know exactly the vibe I mean).
That is the public perception of coworking that we do not really want to listen to. Meanwhile society is crumbling around us and we are in denial.
Read Amanda's post and the comments on this link here.
If inclusion is on your radar, Felicia Fai and Stacey Sheppard are running a workshop on inclusivity in coworking at GCUC UK Manchester on June 4th-5th. Emilie Lashmar shared all the details inside the LinkedIn Coworking Group. Head over there to read her post and join the conversation:
Head over there to read her post and join the conversation:
StoryBrand and Unreasonable Hospitality - London, June 10th-11th
Dr JJ Peterson was on the podcast recently. He helped Will Guidara write the Unreasonable Hospitality certification and runs StoryBrand workshops with Donald Miller.
His take: marketing makes the promise, hospitality delivers it. If the experience does not match the promise, people leave.
He told a story about a waiter who noticed a customer was left-handed and quietly rearranged the entire table setting. Said nothing about it. That is the version of hospitality that costs nothing and changes everything for micro-businesses like ours.
On June 10th and 11th he is in London at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in Holborn with Sonya Whittam and Julie Firth from Story22. Day one is StoryBrand. Day two is Unreasonable Hospitality. You can do one or both.
Use the code coworkingvalues for the mates rate.
The LinkedIn Coworking Group
A lot of the conversations in these newsletters also happen in the LinkedIn Coworking Group. Amanda's post, the Summit, Emilie's post about GCUC Manchester, the podcast episodes - they all get shared and discussed there.
One last thing
That argument you keep having alone with the council officer, the landlord, or the member who does not understand why the kitchen matters - someone in that Summit room on June 3rd has already had it. And won it. Or lost it and learned something you need to hear.
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