Congratulations to Austin’s new coworking space, Conjuctured.  This news clip explains the concept quite well.  

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!