Sunday Jacob and I got our first chance to take Office Nomads out for a spin in the world of sustainability. And what a day it was! As part of Sustainable Capitol Hill, we’ve been spending a lot of time recently helping to plan “Imagine Capitol Hill.” The day could not have been better - incredible weather, fun participants, and a bustling farmer’s market to join in made the day a smashing success. The day was filled with cooking demonstrations from local chefs, live local music, recycled art projects, and incredible learning experiences with local environmental- and community-minded organizations. This festival was built to be different than traditional sustainability festivals. We wanted more than just another pamphlet shuffling event. Building a sustainable community means more than just recycling and walking more. It is about creating a supportive community that collaborates together to make meaningful change. So what better way to get the community out and about interacting together than inviting them to eat together, learn together, and even dance together? (the photo above shows free salsa lessons from the amazing folks at Century Ballroom)

Office Nomads was psyched to demonstrate how we contribute to building a local community of independent workers, this time with a focus on how it all connects to sustainability. So much of what ON is about is allowing people to have all of the advantages of working closer to home (as part of a more sustainable lifestyle - kicking their commute goodbye, having more time to do things they’d prefer to do, etc.), but to not have to go it alone while doing so. As part of a wider picture of workplace sustainability, coworking offers a way to make environmentally friendly choices a bit more appealing than they have been in the past. We’re excited to be a part of the movement.

Instead of waxing poetically forever about what an incredible day it was (HUGE thanks to our incredible team of volunteers and organizers…what a crew!), I’ll let some of our booth visitors speak for me. Here are just a few little snippets of what people suggested they’d do with their time if they didn’t have to commute:

• “Eat breakfast at home, not on the run!”
• “Meet friends for dinner.”
• “Spend more time with my daughter.”
• “Drink more beer!

What a great way to make some fantastic connections between what we do at Office Nomads and the greater conversation about sustainability in our neighborhood. Thanks to the great team at SCH for a wonderful day! If you’d like to read more, you can check out the P-I article that came out about the event on Monday.

If you’ve spent any time at Office Nomads since March, or if you’ve kept an eye on our calendar of events,  you’ve probably heard of Imagine Capitol Hill. Not only has Susan been hosting planning meetings for this weekend’s street fair at ON, she’s been one of the major planners of it. The street fair, which organizers hope will inspire participants to imagine what Capitol Hill could be like as a more sustainable community, promises to be a really great time.  I don’t know all the details, but according to the Sustainable Capitol Hill site, it’ll include an outdoor street café with free tea & coffee, sustainable cooking demonstrations and a bike repair clinic (which I desperately need to attend).

But wait, there’s more. Office Nomads will also have a booth there. Susan and Jacob will spend the day extolling the virtues of having a commute-free workspace in the neighborhood. They’ll have couches out for folks who feel the need to take a load off or want to chat with their neighbors (and maybe even get some work done on a Sunday, if they want), displays about the space and, most fun of all, an interactive art project.

The art project will ask folks to put their thinking caps on and imagine (get it?) what they would do with all the time they’d save by not commuting to work by working at a coworking office in their neighborhood. An array of colorful post-its will, I’m sure, have some pretty awesome ideas. We’ll report on the best next week.

So if you’re in the ‘hood, drop by Imagine Capitol Hill this Sunday between 11 am and 4 pm and make sure to say hi to Jacob and Susan!

Last week Susan and I went to BizJam Seattle 2008 and I have to say it was impressive.  We held down the fort at the Office Nomads Networking Lounge for both days of the conference and the people we spoke with were inspiring.  The energy was flying and the connections were priceless.

There were a lot of great workshops and even though we only saw a couple we got to enjoy all the conversations people were having afterwards.  We just sat on our pretty couches and took it all in.  Biznik is an amazing resource for the indie business crowd and we are lucky to have them in our back yard.

It’s not a Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae bailout or anything, but in England, at least one local government body is getting on the coworking train. Why is the Advantage West Midlands regional development agency trying to convince employers in the city of Birmingham to set up “tele-hubs” in the suburbs? They’re trying to cut down on commuting trips as a way of lowering carbon emissions.

Sound familiar? It should, Susan posted recently about the idea of neighborhood coworking centers as a trip-reduction strategy. We’re such leaders here at Office Nomads. Well, according to the blog that brought the Birmingham effort to our attention, Office Nomads is a “good example” of a coworking office!

Anyway, more on the Birmingham idea:

Birmingham commuters will work from shared offices located in the city’s suburbs in the future under plans being drawn up to tackle climate change.

The radical measure will see employers working side by side with staff from other firms at specially equipped out-of-city centre work hubs in a bid to cut down on carbon emissions caused by travel.

Cool huh? Too bad our government has so much to worry about right now, it could be a better way to reduce the price of oil than increasing drilling off our coasts. But then, that’s just me.

It’s all over the news these days. Gas prices are up (in Seattle an average of $4.30/gal or so at the moment), commute times suck (on a good day you can get to Redmond from Seattle in 38 minutes one way), and people are looking for ways to still do the jobs they love (or not from time to time) and not spend a ton of time and money getting there and back. Conversations are starting up around Seattle and beyond on how employers can start encouraging their employees to get out of their cars and into public transportation.

But here’s a question for you all to chew on: what if you could get rid of the commute altogether?

Dude. I know. Exciting.

What if instead of a commute you just worked from a coworking space or other shared office space in your own neighborhood? Coworking is just coming on the map, and I hope that part of its impact is on making commuting as we now know it a thing of the past. In preparation for the upcoming Imagine Capitol Hill sustainability festival on Sunday July 20, Office Nomads has been doing a lot of thinking on how we can get residents in our neighborhood to think what life would be like if they didn’t have to commute. It begs questions about how we use the time in our life to best reflect our priorities. What would you do with that hour or so each day that you spend in the car or on the bus? Could that time be spent actually getting work done? Even better yet, spending time with your friends or family? Taking up a new hobby? Exercising? Taking a cooking class?

It’s all part of an important conversation we’re participating in about changing the way we think about how we can get work done. Taking a step back and looking from a wider angle, it’s about sustainability and how we can each have a hand in making a difference. Cutting down on transportation time and energy can make a drastic impact by reducing carbon emissions. Supporting local businesses by grabbing lunch at the nearby cafe keeps dollars local and engages residents with their neighborhood.

Not to feel like I’m standing on my high horse, but I really think coworking is a part of the future of working and sustainable neighborhoods. Working at home has been a great answer for some, but for others who give it a try, it becomes a lonely, isolating practice that leads individuals heading back towards company offices. Coworking provides a balance, and a half-way place for the new nomadic workforce.

What do you think?

[thanks to flickr user Burning Image for the shot!]

Don’t worry. We don’t mean to imply that you should work without pay. No, what the message we’re trying to get across with that headline is that Monday, July 7 is Free Drop-in Day at Office Nomads. It’s something new we’re doing so you can experience the joy of coworking for yourself.

So if you’ve been meaning to come and check out Office Nomads and to find out if coworking will work for you, July 7 is is your chance to try it out, no-strings attached. As an added bonus, that’s also the first Monday of the month which means it’s also our monthly Game Night so at the end of the day, you can hang out, drink beers (or whatever) and enjoy any of a number of fun, unique games (no Monopoly here).

Of course, your first day of working at Office Nomads is always free, so if you can’t make July 7 and you’ve been meaning to check it out, don’t let your budget stop you from experimenting. But even if you’ve been in before, working on July 7 is gonna be free.

As always, Office Nomads will be open for drop-ins from 8:30 am until 6 p.m. on Monday July 7 for free. And as always, we’ll offer free high-speed Internet access, free prints and faxes and free coffee, tea and water. Any questions, please let us know.

That’s right, it’s true. Seattle is one of the 12 most innovative cities in the world according to FastCompany.com. The reasons they give include $1 billion (!) in VC funds a year, Google’s new Fremont campus attracting a new group of tech startups to the city and the new Olympic Sculpture Park. Somehow they missed the fact that Seattle is also turning into a nexus for co-workers thanks to the efforts of Office Nomads, Start Pad and Giraffe Labs. Weird.

This video might not be related to innovation, but I thought it was worth sharing. Heck! It is innovative. in what corporate office could you see anything nearly as cool as this? This is what makes co-working the wave of the future.

Big news this week folks! Office Nomads welcomed our tenth monthly member! As the kids say, “W00t!”

We’ve been planning to profile each of our monthly members for some time now, but you know how things can get put off? Right, well since signing up the 10th member is big enough news for posting, we decided to start doing it here and now. Why, we thought, should we start with the first one? He gets all the press.

So please welcome Henrik to the Office Nomads world. He’s a software product manager for Pace Systems Group and an all around cool guy. I think he’s going to fit right in. The first thing he did when he signed up was to choose his desk which ended up being right next to mine. While we were talking on his first day, it took less than five minutes for him to tell me how he’ll probably like hearing me be on the phone all the time because he’s been stuck at home and isolated for so long.

A true Office Nomad.

As you can see, Henrik comes complete with a dog. Her name is Stella and she’s a sweet as can be (she also gets along famously with Cortez the Killer). He’s got a wife who stopped by the other day to give her approval of the new space (she liked it). Right now, he’s trying to get back into soccer-playing shape. (Ask him how his legs are feeling two days after his first game in a long time.)

Welcome Henrik (and Stella), to the Office Nomads fold!

This weekend Seattle is having our first BarCamp event at the Adobe Conference Center in Fremont. For those of you unfamiliar with BarCamp it is “an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants”. How it works is we have lined up the venue and the sponsors (free t-shirts & lunch) and the content of the conference comes with the attendees. First thing Saturday morning people who want to give a talk, or facilitate a discussion sign up on the big board in the room/time slot they choose. Throughout the day there will be all sorts of presentations on a wide range of topics. The event is free for everyone and runs Saturday from 10AM-5PM and Sunday from 10AM-1PM. Saturday night there is also a big party at The Red Door. Susan and I are planning on talking about Coworking on Saturday around 2PM and we’ve invited all the regional spaces to join us. It is going to be a great weekend.

Tonight we are having a volunteer meeting at Office Nomads at 7PM. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer so please come if you would like to help out. For more information on the event visit http://www.barcampseattle.org.

It’s important to us to create an environment that is comfortable, friendly and welcoming at Office Nomads. For some, coworking can only be a reality if they’re able to bring their dogs along with them, so we have an open-door policy for pups (with the right to veto loud yappers, hyperactive sprinters, and those who like to leave little “presents” around wherever they go). Recently we have had the pleasure of Cortez the Killer’s company, rockstar Nomad Ryan’s new puppy. Cortez spends most of his days at the office either entertaining us with various small-dog antics or quietly napping in Ryan’s lap while he works. He’s a joy. In fact the other day I let him take charge of greeting folks from the front desk, and personally I think he did a great job. We like him so much we thought we’d give him a little shout out on the ol’ blog.

He might be pint-sized (ok maybe not even that big), but he sure is a tough cookie…I mean, killer.