Last night I was happy to present a quick 3-minute stint on coworking at Great City’s “What’s the Big Idea?” event.  This was the first time they’ve held an event like this, and it seems like they got enough positive support to host more in the future.

I was excited to share a big idea for Seattle, and am now happy to pass along some of what I presented.  Ideas are still very much in the initial stages, but if any of this catches your eye and you want to get involved or pick our brains about it, definitely get in touch!

Coworking Seattle: A Platform for Shared Working Spaces in Seattle
Coworking is a community-based approach to getting work done.  Coworking spaces exist to provide shared resources to independent workers and telecommuters to allow them a sustainable, local, professional option when it comes to trying to successfully “work from home.”  Seattle has put coworking on the map in the pacific northwest and has proven that it can succeed.  Coworking is recognized as a method by which cities can drive innovation and encourage collaboration – key success matrices when it comes to surviving difficult economic times. Worldwide, there are over 165 coworking spaces currently in operation, and coworking has attracted the attention of a wide spread of media outlets.

Why are coworking spaces a big idea for Seattle?  These spaces are a simple, resource-efficient way to address the transportation issue in our city. They encourage urban sustainability by encouraging individuals to work closer to where they live without sacrificing their sanity and professionalism by trying to work from their living rooms.  Coworking spaces enable citizens to get out out of their cars, save valuable commuting time, and keep their dollars local by supporting other neighborhood businesses.  Coworking spaces are economic generators for neighborhoods.

Seattle is current pouring huge amounts of tax dollars into building more roads and bigger transpiration systems to move people all over the Seattle region.  While this work is important, it also begs a question: when it comes to daily transportation needs, why not work on encouraging our citizens to stay closer to home?  Why push to do more when we could succeed by doing less? We have the technological capacity (access to the internet, virtual private networks, etc.) and city-sponsored programs to support increased telecommuting in our area. As the job market tightens, we see more and more individuals deciding to strike out on their own and start their own businesses.  Instead of asking these people to attempt to succeed by working isolated at home or amongst noisy cafes, why not support shared workspaces which not only allow individuals to work in their own neighborhoods, but also to share resources and save energy by sharing space?

There are an average of 210,000 cars going over and back on the floating bridges each day.  This is a shock, and an embarrassment to our city as we claim to be an environmentally friendly place to live.  Seattle can do better, and Seattle must to better.  Coworking spaces, whether for desk jockeys, caterers, woodworkers, or artists, are one way in which our city could take a strong step forward in making a difference.  In our current market, and with so many commercial offices spaces laying vacant, we cannot afford not to.  An effort which combines the energy of private coworking spaces and leverages their knowledge to support public spaces is going to be key to making these spaces available to all.

A good friend of mine just forwarded me an awesome article from Worldchanging on temporary spaces, creative infill, and the general concept of nomadic workplaces.  More and more each month, we are contacted by individuals and small groups who are interested in changing their work environment from something closed-off to something else that incorporates the community around them.   Over the past few years, it is becoming apparent that the very nature of workspaces is shifting, making room for creative space use and shared resources.  Here’s a little excerpt of what Worldchanging had to say:

The next time you’re waiting at an intersection, look around and imagine how much of the built (and furnished) environment stands empty and unused at any given time. Cafés in the financial district are closed at dinnertime; restaurants that specialize in dinner fare are silent until mid-afternoon; parking lots that fill during the workweek are largely vacant after 6pm and often on weekends.

Now imagine putting those darkened rooms, kitchens, galleries, cafés, outdoor spaces and more to use. What would you fill them with?

We’ve talked a lot about concepts that conserve embedded energy in the built environment by preserving historic buildings as re-imagined spaces instead of bringing in the wrecking ball and developing new. This idea, however, harnesses another kind of embedded energy — by creating meaning, activity and experience where there would have been emptiness, waste or worse. It’s about using up every bit of urban space to its fullest.

Beautifully said, and evokes images of split-personality spaces such as cafe-to-bar restaurants, office-to-art-gallery spaces, or Jacob’s favorite idea, office-to-bar facilities.  What would our cities look like if instead of having areas of town that “emptied out” at certain parts of the day or the week that those spaces simply flipped and were able to still maintain the vibrancy and energy that is so critical to an urban environment?

For us, coworking is only the beginning.  As we discuss so often with our coworking cohorts, the future of work as we know it is still very much uncertain.  We could think of this uncertainty as a huge risk, but in reality it could be a huge opportunity for collaboration, creativity, and urban revival.  So keep those good ideas coming, and let us know how we can help.

If you’ve ever heard of coworking before, you know that the folks who lead up coworking spaces all around the world are a bunch of folks who like to re-think the way we use space.

Well, fresh from the coworking Google Group is a new string of conversation about the creative reuse of closed pubs throughout the UK. Apparently, pubs in the UK are closing at a rate of nearly 6 per week, begging the question – what happens with these spaces once they are vacated?

Similar conversations are happening all over the world when it comes to commercial real estate – whether it’s pubs, restaurants, or other small businesses, the unfortunate truth is that many small businesses are unable to keep their doors open.  Obviously, saving them from closing down in the first place would be ideal, but in the end we will still lose some businesses during this tough economic environment. So what do we do with these empty spaces?

Coworking could be one answer (I know, I’m biased on this one).  What if these spaces could be rented out relatively cheaply (to keep at least some minimal income coming in for buildling owners) for workers to fill in?  Sharing costs of an office is one of the biggest perks to a coworking space for independents – these spaces could allow for that to happen in a wider variety of places than just traditional office spaces.  They could also allow for more neighborhood-based work options for individuals who are able to telecommute instead of commuting traditionally all over the place.

Beyond coworking, crowdsourcing these great spaces could provide a way for a group of independents to salvage and save these spaces from becoming bland fill-in businesses (do we really need another cash advance/payday loan store on our corners?), and enable them to be reflections of the people who live in the neighborhood.  Imagine co-owned woodworking shops, art spaces, community kitchens…the options are endless.

What would you do with a beautiful empty space like those photographed on the “Last Orders” photo set on Flickr?

Thanks to Flickr user camies for the use of this photo under the Creative Commons license.

Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. MySpace. Blogs. I know there’s a ton more social networking platforms and apps out there, so what am I forgetting? Oh yeah: Yelp. Discussion Boards. Flickr. YouTube. Viddler. Does that cover it? Nope, because I forgot the biggest, baddest, oldest, most important social network of them all: Word of Mouth.

It’s amazing isn’t it? Most of us who live and work online think and talk about and interact with social networking platforms all day, every day thinking all the time that the world of social networking is some new phenomenon that we need to learn how to manage. But humanity has been networking since we’ve had language and Ugg told Grog about that new warm and bright thing in the back of the cave.

A good friend of Office Nomads, Jeremiah Andrick, who happens to be a social media guru brought all of this to our attention yesterday with a post that says simply:
“We forgot about word of mouth.”

Often when I hear people talk about the how “Twitter is changing everything” I laugh because while I get that twitter and other social platforms are changing our ability to stay in touch, these tools are just enabling us to have conversations that we might have had by other mediums. Real change occurs not by a medium, but by people how people use it.

Take some time to read it. Jeremiah’s idea is pretty brilliant in it’s simplicity, and it’s definitely a D’Oh! moment because it reminds all of us who are in customer service (and which of us running our own business isn’t?) that every interaction is a social interaction, replete with all the opportunities and risks inherent in every social media platform there is.

Office Nomads is a member of our Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce.  And we are proud of it.  Particularly proud today, as the CHCC was featured in the Capitol Hill Times!

Why join your local chamber of commerce?  Let me give you a couple of reasons:

1. It gets you engaged on a local level. As a member of the CHCC, we get regular communication digests from the Chamber about interesting events, important happenings in our neighborhood, as well as updates on what the Chamber is doing to represent us as Capitol Hill businesses.  It’s a great resource, it’s well put-together, and it is a constant reminder of the world that is right outside our door.
2. They advocate for businesses. It may seem obvious, but one of the central roles of a Chamber of Commerce is to support the local businesses around them and ensure greater support from local government and individuals.
3. Increased visibility of your business. Being a member of the CHCC has provided us with a certain amount of visibility that we could never get on our own. The Chamber offers marketing and publicity for its members that is simple and speaks directly to our audience: our neighborhood.
4. Networking! I know, I know. There are a million outlets for networking these days. But the cool part about networking with your Chamber of Commerce is getting to connect and chat with businesses that are right around the corner. Some of them you know, and some of them you never would have heard of otherwise – the Chamber is a dynamic catchment system of businesses and organizations of all sizes and types that are all interested in supporting one another. It’s a no-brainer for us.

Got any other reasons you’d like to share?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!